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Wrap: Philly Cuts down Canes, 4-3 |
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Ending a grueling stretch of six games in nine nights, the Philadelphia Flyers concluded their October schedule with a 4-5-1 record after a 4-3 road win in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday evening.
Philadelphia got three of its four goals from the blueline. Shayne Gostisbehere (power play), Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning (shorthanded game-winner at the eight-minute mark of the third period) tallied for Philadelphia along with Flyers captain Claude Giroux scoring for the second straight game and extending his points streak to eight straight games.
Manning, who logged 20:05 of ice time for Dave Hakstol's club, also had a crucial zone clear late in the third period when the tiring Flyers were pinned in their own end of the ice and needed to relieve pressure. The defenseman was credited with three hits for the game, was not charged with any giveaways and finished at plus-two for the game.
In addition to scoring a goal, Gudas was credited with seven hits and one blocked shot. He was plus-2 in his team-high 22:45 of ice time. Per Elias Sports Bureau, this game marked the first time since March 28, 2010 that the Flyers got goals from three different defensemen in the same game. On that night, Matt Carle, Lukas Krajicek and Kimmo Timonen scored for Philly in a 5-1 home win against the New Jersey Devils.
In goal, starter Michal Neuvirth had an erratic performance was just enough for Philadelphia to win the game. He made several tough saves in the first and third periods -- especially a spectacular glove save on Sebastian Aho early in the game -- but had rebound control issues that turned three separate routine side angle shots into dangerous pucks in the slot. He was also beaten on a stoppable five-hole shot by Viktor Stålberg after a neutral zone turnover by rookie Ivan Provorov. Neuvirth finished with 26 saves on 29 shots.
Carolina starter Cam Ward fared worse, stopping 24 of 28 shots. While there was traffic in front of him on two goals, he simply did not come up with needed saves that, while not easy, were also not impossible. Justin Faulk, Jeff Skinner and Stålberg scored for the Hurricanes; all in the second period.
Gostishere atoned for an earlier mistake that led to a Carolina shorthanded breakaway for Stålberg and desperation hooking penalty. With the Flyers on the power play at 17:57 of the first period, Gostisbehere intercepted a failed clear by Stålberg up the boards and threaded a point shot through traffic and past Ward for an unassisted power play goal.
Carolina knotted the game just 1:01 into the second period. Faulk wristed a center point shot through a screen in front of Neuvirth. The Flyers goaltender argued for goaltender interference but there was none, and the Philadelphia bench opted not to challenge the call. Ron Hainsey and Skinner received the assists.
The Flyers regained a 2-1 lead at 7:07 as Gudas fired a seeing-eye right point shot that got through bodies and went past Ward, who stared daggers at his defensemen. Wayne Simmonds earned his fourth assist of the season on the play and Giroux got his NHL-leading 10th helper.
The next two goals, spaced less than two minutes apart, belonged to Carolina as the Hurricanes gained a short-lived 3-2 lead. At 10:13, on a scrambly delayed penalty against the Flyers, Skinner didn't get all of a shot from beneath the right hash marks but enough to get in past Neuvirth. Hainsey and Viktor Rask received the assists. At 11:58, Stålberg pressured Provorov into a neutral zone turnover, went in and beat Neuvirth between the pads from the right circle.
Philadelphia got the game tied at 3-3 at the 17:14 mark of the middle frame. On a dump in by Giroux, Simmonds was the first to the puck in the right corner. Simmonds then made a nice pass out to Giroux, who had parked himself in one-timer range from near the right hash marks. The Flyers captain proceeded to hammer a shot home.
For the 10th consecutive game, the Flyers were guaranteed to either lead or be tied at some juncture within the third period. On this night, despite tiring legs and a 12-3 shot edge for the Hurricanes in the final stanza, the Flyers would get the job done.
First, the team had to survive a scary rebound left out in the slot by Neuvirth on a harmless side angle shot. A backchecking Nick Cousins harassed his check enough that the ensuing shot had very little on it and Neuvirth was able to get over for a save.
With Provorov in the box for hooking at 7:29, the Flyers struck for a backbreaker. On a slow developing counterattack in the neutral zone, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare outworked the Canes and found Manning wide open on the other side of the neutral zone. With no Canes players making any concerted effort to backcheck, Manning just kept on going up the left side. From the left slot, he blasted a shot under the short-side crossbar to put Philly ahead, 4-3.
For the rest of the game, Philadelphia had to content itself to try to keep Carolina to the perimeter and to roll out line changes on dump-ins. On this night, it was enough to hold on for the win. Manning had the aforementioned important clear, and Brayden Schenn showed determination to get over the red line and send the puck in with Ward pulled for an extra attacker.
After a Philadelphia icing and timeout with 19.4 seconds left, Jordan Staal won a pair of faceoffs against Sean Couturier. Nevertheless, Carolina was unable to create another scoring chance before time expired.
The Flyers will take a complete off-day on Monday after returning from Raleigh. On Tuesday, they will practice in preparation for the Detroit Red Wings' visit to the Wells Fargo Center the next night.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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