5 Takeaways: Flyers’ Foerster Gets 1st NHL Goal in Tough 5-4 Loss

The Philadelphia Flyers were less than a second away from upsetting mighty Carolina at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

But it didn’t happen.

The Hurricanes rallied late — very late — and escaped with a 5-4 overtime win.

The Flyers were the first to rally. In what was a great come-from-behind effort, Philly went up 4-3 with a goal by Brendan Lemieux, his second of the season.

He skated through the crease and got a nice feed from Morgan Frost, his second assist of the game. Frost stopped a Frederik Andersen clear attempt behind the net and they got the goal at 5:50 of the third period. 

The Flyers got two late third-period power plays, but didn’t cash in. The Hurricanes pulled their goalie with around two minutes to go in the game, and the Flyers couldn’t hold them off. Martin Necas got the equalizer, a power-play goal, as he put the puck past a sprawled-out Felix Sandstrom with three-tenths of a second left in regulation.

“Lost faceoff. They get a chance off a one-timer and we get a big save,” Flyers center Noah Cates said. “There was a scrum in front and we kind of try to throw the puck in the corner. It pops out to that backside. We tried everything in our power to ice the game. Jump on the puck. It sneaks by…That’s how it goes sometimes.”

Twenty-eight seconds into the overtime, Sebastian Aho deked Tony DeAngelo and scored to give Hurricanes the win. He completed a hat trick.

“I thought we played a really good game, so it sucks,” Lemieux said.

Here are five observations:

1. Joel Farabee scores again.

Joel Farabee knocked the puck into the net at 3:33 of the third period for his 11th of the season. Cates got the helper, his second point of the game, and Owen Tippett got the assist for his second point of the game as well.

Farabee went 26 games without scoring. He now has scored in each of the last two games.

2. Cates deposits a power-play goal.

The Flyers had a two-man advantage for 31 seconds, and then Cates deposited a rebound of a Tyson Foerster shot for his 11th goal of the season. The power-play goal was at 18:18 of the second period and Foerster had his first two-point game as a member of the Flyers.

The Flyers were down 3-2 to start the second period and they still had six seconds of power play time.

Tyson Foerster’s shot on a 5-on-3 power play leads to a Noah Cates goal.

Foerster has three points (one goal, two assists) in last two games. pic.twitter.com/1vNZAkyCrA

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) March 18, 2023

3. Ghost assisted on Aho’s second goal.

The Hurricanes scored at 13:55 of the second period to make it a 3-1 lead. Aho hesitated on the wrist shot and that froze Sandstrom. The shot went in easily, and Carolina was back to having a two-goal lead. It was Aho’s second goal of the game.

Former Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere got an assist on that goal.

4. Tyson Foerster gets his first NHL goal.

Foerster was on a 2-on-1 with Morgan Frost, and the rookie wired home that strong wrist shot, making it a 2-1 game at 4:56 of the second period. Lemieux got the other helper on the play. Foerster looked good on the rush on that play.

WE'VE GOT A FIRST NHL GOAL 🚨

Congratulations, Tyson Foerster (@tfoerster8)!

NHL Next Gen Rookies presented by @BioSteelSports. pic.twitter.com/b3c6YpGMP3

— NHL (@NHL) March 18, 2023

“It was a good feeling to score, but at the end of the day, we didn’t win the game. We just have to look to the next game,” said Foerster. “I feel like I’ve been learning every game. Gaining confidence. I just wish we came out with a win.”

5. The Hurricanes’ puck possession caused problems for the Flyers.

Aho rifled in a wrist shot at 14:52 of the first period to make it a 1-0 game. Carolina had a good puck possession out of the gate, and Necas set up the first goal.  Just under two minutes later, Brady Skjei scored on a high a wrist shot to make it 2-0 at 16:51 of the first period.

Breakaways

The Hurricanes have 34 wins when they score first…..The Canes are a +29 in the first period….The Flyers had 16 giveaways in the first two periods. … Owen Tippett, Frost, Lemieux (five shots), Cates, and Foerster each had two points. … Wade Allison had five hits. … The Flyers are 1-1-1 on their season-high seven-game homestand. They host Florida on Tuesday.