Flyers Game
Flyers Lose 4-3 to Hurricanes in OT-Thriller
The Philadelphia Flyers pick up their first point of the season, but are still in search of their first win in the new season after dropping Saturday night’s contest to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3.
During a challenging road stint for the Flyers to start the season, they found themselves in another one-goal game and were one call away from their first win of the season.
Instead, the Flyers are still searching for their first win of the year.
Read More: Flyers Game 2, Young Guns Debut; Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs. Hurricanes
Flyers Dominated in the First, But Take the Lead
The first period of this game was one of those weird periods. Philadelphia was absolutely dominated by Carolina. The Hurricanes controlled possession of the puck easily. It seemed like there was little to no pushback from the Flyers.
In fact, it took just over ten minutes into the game for the Flyers to register a shot, which just so happened to be about 150 feet, on a clear during the penalty kill. Their first actual shot was not until just over 13 minutes in. The Flyers were being run around.
Yet, it was Philadelphia who would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Owen Tippett (1) buried the power-play goal after cleaning up the Travis Konecny (1) shot that bounced off the glass. Trevor Zegras (1) also earned an assist on the play, his first point as a Flyer.
Canes Score Three Times in the Second
The Flyers 1-0 lead would not last four minutes into the second period. Tippett cashed in on a fortunate bounce in the first, Logan Stankoven (1) woud do the same for his team in the second. A Jackson Blake (2) shot bounced off the pads of Ersson, and Stankoven would be in the right place at the right time to bury the shot.
Less than three minutes later, a laser from Bobby Brink (1) would give the Flyers the 2-1 lead. Noah Cates (1) and Nikita Grebenkin (1) earned the assists on the score. Grebenkin made a great play along the boards to extend the possession, which put Cates in position to set up Brink.
Roughly three minutes later, Eric Robinson (1) took advantage of a bad pass from Jett Luchanko and took it all the way down the ice before finding Taylor Hall (2), who buried the equalizer for Carolina.
With time running low in the second period, Jordan Martinook (1) found Jordan Staal (1) with what seemed to be a pass to the middle, hoping someone would find it. Well, Staal found it and the Canes took the 3-2 lead into the second break.
60 Minutes Was Not Enough
Carolina took the 3-2 lead, their first of the game, into the third period. Not much was happening in the third. Much like the first period, the third was dominated by Carolina.
Each team had a chance on the man-advantage, but neither would come with any success.
The Flyers were still trailing by one and needed to get something going. With just four minutes remaining, they got just what they needed.
Travis Sanheim (1) evened the score with a bomb, assisted by Brink (1) and Foerster (2), and it became a brand new game. The score jolted some life into the Flyers, but they could not pull ahead, nor could the Canes.
60 minutes were not enough, and the game went to overtime.
The five-minute frame was a lot of back-and-forth possessions, with neither team generating any really dangerous chances.
It looked like the Flyers had won the game off Brink’s second score of the game with just less than a minute remaining, but after a review, the officials determined that Sanheim interfered with the goaltender, negating the score.
The Hurricanes turned around and scored the game-winner from Seth Jarvis (1) with just 16.7 seconds left on the clock. Carolina improved to 2-0-0, while Philly is 0-1-1, still looking for its first win.
Flyer of the Game
Saturday night was the Bobby Brink game. It was nearly capped off perfectly. Regardless, Brink had a phenomenal game, scoring a goal and picking up an assist on Sanheim’s late third-period score.
The whole Cates line has been buzzing to start the season, but Brink looked exceptionally well. He was rewarded Saturday night.
What’s Next for the Flyers
After two challenging road games to start the year, the Flyers will return home to take on the Hurricanes on Monday at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Read More: James: How I’d Shuffle the Lines After the Season-Opening Loss
Where was Michkov in OT? Is Tocchet turning into his predecessor by benching the kid?
Postgame, Tocc said he wanted to “play the guys that were skating”
Cut and dry, you don’t bench the best player on your team who also happened to have three OT game winners as a rookie. If Matvei supposedly wasn’t skating at 5 on 5, it’s real easy for him to skate at 3 on 3. First major screw up by Tocchet, the first of many more to come.
I have calmed down only a little after that OT goal was taken away for “goalie interference”. Total bullshit call by the “Situation Room”. Andersen was barely touched and if you watch it again, he extends his arm which enabled the contact. I am tired of this League, with its anti-Flyers bias, screwing the Flyers at any opportunity. I have seen it too often. The coach/GM/President should call them out on this bullshit. We hang with one of the better teams in the league with a good effort, beat them in OT, and the league literally robs us of it. Absolute injustice, and it’s infuriating.