The Flyers had a chance to right the ship and snap a four-game losing streak Friday against the Hurricanes, but fell short in a 6-3 loss.
What started off as a semi-promising game, quickly turned into a matchup that exposed all of the Flyers’ flaws against one of the top teams in the league. The handful of bright moments throughout the 60 minutes for the Flyers were severely outweighed by the bad.
Off to a Flyer
The Flyers could not have asked for a better start. Just 50 seconds into the game, the top line came out hot. A top-notch shift ended with a screen from Sean Couturier, and the feed from Claude Giroux helped Ivan Provorov to his second goal of the season. A failed goaltending interference challenge by Carolina later, the Flyers were up 1-0.
With a delay of game from the Hurricanes, the Flyers had a chance to add to the early lead on the power play — but they generated absolutely nothing. Sitting 26th in the league with a man-advantage, it might be time to throw the units into a blender and see what comes out.
Shortly after, the Hurricanes had a chance to put their power play to the test when Oskar Lindblom was called for tripping. Luckily, with Carter Hart leading the way, the Flyers held down the fort and kept Carolina from getting on the board.
There are many goals that can leave you frustrated, but the tying goal from Sebastian Aho can’t be one of them. The Hurricanes capitalized on a turnover from Provorov and Aho’s quick release had that puck in the net before Hart even had a chance to react. Sometimes you just need to sit back and appreciate a shot.
The Flyers had to kill off another penalty late in the period and they did that and much more — well, Joel Farabee did. An unassisted highlight-reel-worthy goal put the Flyers up 2-1. Now, you can describe a goal all you want, but this is one you just need to see to appreciate:
And now let’s appreciate it in slow motion:
It was certainly an eventual first period. With only six shots on goal and an uncomfortable amount of turnovers, the Flyers held the lead going into the second period.
When the going gets tough…
If you thought this game was going to settle in during the second period, let’s just hope you didn’t bet money on it. A goal 50 seconds into a period was impressive, but Aho said he could do better. A mere 23 seconds into the second frame, he tallied his second goal of the season.
Let’s just say that started a tennis match of goals in the opening two minutes.
The Flyers answered the call almost immediately when Rasmus Ristolainen scored. It was his first goal of the season and as a Flyer.
That celebration was short lived though, as Jesper Fast scored for Carolina and the game was tied once more.
The Hurricanes kept pushing on and found their first lead of the game just under six minutes into the period when Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored. Steven Lorentz tallied on another goal for the Hurricanes, which is how the period ended.
The Hurricanes now led 5-3.
All hope is lost
Andrei Svechnikov decided to join in on the scoring fun and helped his team to a three-goal lead.
Offensively, the Flyers completely disappeared in the third period. Even a wide open net couldn’t help Travis Sanheim get on the board to help the Flyers.
In the final 10 minutes, it felt like the Flyers were just doing everything they could to keep Carolina from scoring again and deepening the wound. That’s not exactly what you want to see in a division game when trailing by three goals.
It looked like they gave up — which is essentially the worst thing any team can do. I’d much rather see a team fight tooth and nail until that final horn blew, so they can honestly say they did everything they could to have a chance at winning.
Now, with their fifth consecutive loss, the Flyers are finishing every game with more questions than answers and a heck of a lot of concerns. It makes you wonder how much longer this will go on before General Manager Chuck Fletcher has had enough. If things continue on this path, it’s going to be sooner than later.
Up next
These teams will play their final two matchups in the New Year — the Flyers will host January 11 and the series finale will take place in Carolina on March 12.
The Flyers will head up the turnpike for their next matchup on Sunday against the Devils — this will be the first time the teams see each other this season. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. EST.
Photo Credit: Alex McIntyre
