WRAP: FLYERS EARN 4-3 WIN OVER CANES,MAGIC NUMBER AT ONE

It wasn't easy or pretty but the Philadelphia Flyers controlled the majority of the game and battled back from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3, at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night.

The Flyers reduced to one their magic number to clinch a playoff spot.

Philadelphia can clinch on Saturday with a win, an overtime loss or a shootout loss against the New York Rangers. A Florida Panthers loss by any means to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday or Boston Bruins on Sunday would also get the Flyers into the playoffs even if the Flyers lose in regulation on Saturday. A final but unlikely means of getting in the playoffs would be two Florida shootout wins and Philadelphia losing by three or fewer goals to the Rangers on Saturday.

The Flyers, who are one point behind the New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets still could still finish third, fourth or fifth in the Metro Division. Beating out the Blue Jackets would require a Flyers win by any means on Saturday combined with a Columbus regulation loss in Nashville. Beating out the Devils would require a Flyers regulation win over the Rangers combined with a New Jersey regulation loss to Washington (or a Flyers regulation win by three or more goals combined with a Devils overtime or shootout loss).

All of those other chips will fall where they may. What matters to the Flyers right now is that they still control their own destiny, by virtue of their win on Thursday.

Making his return to the Flyers lineup from core muscle surgery that shelved him for the last 25 games (dating back to Feb. 11), Brian Elliott was very rusty. He let in two awful goals and struggled on several other plays where the puck didn't wind up in the net. However, the veteran also made a few important stops: two deflections in close and, most importantly, a breakaway save on Brock McGinn right after the Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead on a 4-on-4 goal.

"It’s almost like opening night jitters again, get back into it. After the first period, I felt like I settled in there a little bit," Elliott said. "It’s always tough coming back. It’s always hard to replicate a game in practice. You do things, you’re out of breath more than in practice. It’s awesome to get a win out of it."

For the most part, the team in front of Elliott did a good job at limiting Carolina's looks at the net. Philly blocked 18 shots and also benefited from Carolina missing the net on 17 attempts. The Flyers were also pretty aggressive on the forecheck and strung together several good runs of successive shifts. Overall, the Flyers had the majority of the territorial advantage except for early in the second period and portions of the latter third period.

"It was huge it was one of those games you felt like you were going to win the whole time. I know we went down then they tied it, you know obviously again like you said we control our own destiny we don’t have to worry about anyone else, if we just get our job done and win this last game we’ll be fine," Gostisbehere said.

When play was in the Flyers end, anything that got on net, regardless of the angle, had a chance to go in. One goal Elliott gave up was scored from behind the goal line and banked in off his back. In the third period, he gave up a goal from a very flat angle near the left corner than sneaked in underneath his right pad.

"I leaned a little too far into the post and that levered my pad off the ice. Not something you want to happen," Elliott said.

Michael Raffl (12th goal of the season), Ivan Provorov (16th), Claude Giroux (31st) and Jakub Voracek (20th) scored for the Flyers. Sean Couturier (42nd and 43rd assists) and Shayne Gostisbehere (50th and 51st) had two assists apiece, while Nolan Patrick (17th) and Radko Gudas (13th) each chipped in a helper.

"I think everyone is doing their job, everybody is doing what they’re best at. When everybody does that, we get wins. We’re all on the same page here; the guys want to play for each other. As nerve-wracking as the game was tonight, we had a great time doing it," Giroux said.

Flyers captain Giroux entered the game with 97 points on the season and one assist away from tying Hockey Hall of Fame left winger Bill Barber for third on the Flyers' all-time franchise list (463). He deserved a primary assist on the Raffl goal -- which tipped off the heel of Carolina forward Justin Williams' stick over to the eventual goal scorer -- but the referee who reported the goal to the scorer's table said that Williams had possession and turned the puck over to Raffl. The Flyers are said to be appealing to the NHL to change the ruling.

Voracek's goal gave him his fifth season of 20+ goals since joining the Flyers in 2011-12. He has only fallen short of the mark twice (18 goals his first season in Philly, 11 goals in 2015-16).

The Flyers did not have a power play in this game. They went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill, and it was a momentum-building kill. Carolina had controlled the period up to that point.

"It was a big one for sure because we didn’t have the puck very much before that on the 4-on-4. So that was a huge PK for us. I thought after that we had a pretty good period. We won the period and put ourselves in position to win the hockey game," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.

Philadelphia's lineup featured several changes from how they started Tuesday's match against the Islanders. Raffl skated on the top line with Couturier and Giroux. Travis Konecny played on the third line with Valtteri Filppula and Wayne Simmonds. Scott Laughton returned after being scratched for one game, skating the left wing on the fourth line (Jordan Weal was a healthy scratch instead).

Most of these decisions worked out in the Flyers' favor against Carolina. The one decision that nearly backfired was the timing of bringing Elliott back to start but the netminder got his first win since Feb. 8 and improved his season mark to 22-11-7.

Klas Dahlbeck (4-on-4, 1st goal of the season), Sebastian Aho (29th) and Jordan Staal (18th) scored for Carolina. Jeff Skinner (25th assist), Derek Ryan (23rd assist), Valentin Zykov (4th assist), Teuvo Teräväinen (40th assist), Justin Williams (34th assist) and Roland McKeown (3rd assist) had one helper apiece. Scott Darling stopped 30 of 34 shots in a losing cause in goal.

1ST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Jordan Staal stick got stuck in Nolan Patrick's skate blade on the opening faceoff. Oskar Lindblom found soft ice on a breakout and got the Flyers an offensive zone faceoff out of a dump in. Carolina iced the puck with the Couturier line out for Philly.

Travis Konecny made a nice-cross ice feed to Wayne Simmonds off a rush. Simmonds ran out of room near the net. At 2:52, Giroux fed out to Brandon Manning a stride in from center point for a one time that was deflected out of play.

Patrick missed the net on a 2-on-1 rush with Lindblom created by Voracek. Konecny came out for his next shift, took a feed from Voracek and was stopped from the left circle. Shots were 2-2 through a stoppage at 5:23.

Elliott turned a puck over behind the net. A Valentin Zykov shot was blocked out of play by Michael Raffl at 6:01 for a TV timeout before a left circle faceoff in the Flyers' zone. Jori Lehterä won the draw and Brandon Manning made a clean breakout pass to Matt Read.

Travis Sanheim had an active shift in the offensive zone, pinching twice. He missed the net on one shot attempt, pinched down low and then switched sides with Andrew MacDonald and then looked for a deflection from Patrick on a point shot. Nothing got on the net.

Konecny and Simmonds had two scoring chances on the next shift. A dangerous turnover by MacDonald did not result in a shot for Carolina as Philly recovered. Sanheim joined the rush again and whistled another shot attempt wide of the net.

Carolina worked a give-and-go for a Justin Williams scoring chance. At the other end, a Gostisbehere point shot knuckled, went off Darling's mask and over the net.

At 11:53, Konecny got the gate for holding but Brock McGinn was called for embellishment. The two sides skated 4-on-4 for two minutes. Carolina made it a 1-0 game at 13:45. A one-on-one between and Sanheim in the Flyers zone turned into a 2-on-1. Dahlbeck took a feed from Skinner. Sanheim made a diving block attempt and the puck deflected off his glove as low-scoring defenseman Dahlbeck fired a low shot that changed directions enough to beat Elliott. Derek Ryan had the secondary assist.

Exiting the box, Konecny turned the puck over. McGinn had a breakaway on Elliott with a chance to make it 2-0. He was denied.

The Flyers tied the game at 14:38 but the Hurricanes made it 2-1 at 14:52.

On the Flyers goal, Giroux gained the offensive zone and made a pass that went off Williams' stick (he never had possession) and went right to Raffl, who scored in front. The goal was officially unassisted. Moments later, after a Zykov shot in front that missed the mark, Aho scored on a backhander from behind the goal line that went off a slow-to-move Elliott's back and into the net for a very ugly goal.

With 3:08 left, Provorov rifled a shot from near the top of the left circle. He hit the post.

First period shots were 15-7 Flyers.

2ND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers were back on their heels in the first two minutes of the period and Elliott was boxing the puck on two of three early shots. Raffl had a good hit on the offensive right zone hit but Philly got no immediate momentum from it. Carolina came right back attacking the other way. At 3:39, Elliott made a good save on a McGinn deflection in front.

Lehterä hit the left post wide open front on a Gudas rebound. Voracek had an open look on the doorstep off a centering feed from Patrick. Sanheim had a point shot stopped at 7:56. Shots were 6-4 Flyers.

Read and Lehterä had looks on a long shift spent in the Carolina end but didn't generate a shot on net. A scrum near the Carolina bench at 9:57 resulted in coincidental minors to Skinner (interference) and Manning (slashing).

The 4-on-4 was disastrous. The Flyers got hemmed in deep. MacDonald had a horrific giveaway. Sanheim fell behind the net and was unable to get the puck out of the zone. Voracek took a high sticking penalty. After a very long delayed call, Philly had some luck get a stoppage after a broken Carolina stick caused the puck to go to Sanheim for a stoppage at 11:48.

After a brief 4-on-3, the Canes went to a standard 5-on-4. Jordan Staal found room to cruise to the net to look for a rebound with 34 seconds left, but Elliott smothered the puck. The Flyers survived the kill in overall good shape (one shot, one scoring chance) and, even more important, still trailing only by one goal.

The Flyers tied the game at 2-2 at 14:56. A Gostisbehere point shot rattled wide of the net and was collected in the right corner by Couturier. The center then feathered a pass in front to a pinching Provorov, who jammed it home ahead of Darling.

Philly had all the momentum on the next two shifts. At 16:42, Simmonds was denied in tight on a backhander with a developing 2-on-1 down low with Konecny. A Couturier cross-ice feed on the next shift deflected off an open Raffl's skate on goal. The Patrick line followed with a nice little give-and-go between Patrick and Lindblom. Then Voracek missed the net off a good setup from Patrick. Konecny blocked a shot off his skate right before the buzzer.

Shots were 13-6 Flyers (28-13 Flyers overall).

3RD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

A Giroux pass off the rush intended for Raffl narrowly missed connections. At the 2:00 mark, Lehterä muscled a shot on net from high in the offensive zone.

Shots were 2-0 Flyers as the Hurricanes iced the puck at 4:41. Couturier won a left circle draw and Giroux later had a routine shot from the top of the right circle.

The Flyers continued to attack aggressively but had trouble generating shots on goal. Shots were 4-1 Flyers as the Flyers iced the puck at 9:33.

The Flyers captain provided a 3-2 lead at 10:18. Receiving a pass from Couturier out of the right corner, Giroux moved to his left over the wide open middle of the ice and wristed a rising shot over Darling. The assists went to Couturier and Gostisbehere.

Elliott momentarily juggled but then corralled a routine backhanded shot from the right circle for a stoppage and TV timeout at 12:04. Shots were 5-2 Flyers.

The next shift was quite adventurous but not harm resulted. Carolina won the draw and had three scoring chances. Elliott got turned around at one point, and lost his stick. Gudas had a failed clear. Finally, Elliott denied a stuff-in attempt near the right post.

There was no such luck on the next misadventure. Staal scored an atrocious goal from the left corner with Elliott way back in his net and the going into a poor facsimile of the VH. Williams and McKeon got the assists on the gift goal at 13:41.

Voracek got the lead back on a rising shot from the right circle at 14:15. Patrick and Gudas got the assists as the Flyers made it a 4-3 lead on the scoreboard.

On the next shift after the goal, Haydn Fleury joined the rush and tipped a puck on net from near the doorstep. Elliott made the save. With 3:02 left, Elliott had a neutral zone dump in drop in front of his pads. He looked behind him and to the to side and, at long last, covered the puck.

Raffl went offside with 2:16 left on a rush that otherwise might have sent him in on goal one-on-one with Darling.

With 1:32 left, Carolina pulled Darling for an extra attacker. Lehterä had a turnover. Provorov barely managed to clear the zone. Carolina called timeout with 1:08 left after sending the puck back in offside. Sean Couturier won a neutral zone faceoff. Matt Read broke up a pass at center ice. The Flyers killed off the remaining time for the win.

Third period shots ended up 9-6 Carolina (34-22 Flyers overall).

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FLYERS TEAM AWARDS: 2017-18

Prior to the start of Thursday's game, the Flyers presented their team awards for the 2017-18 season. Here is the list of winners:

Bobby Clarke Trophy (Flyers MVP): Claude Giroux (5th-time winner)
Barry Ashbee Trophy (Best Defenseman): Shayne Gostisbehere (2nd-time winner)
Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy (Most Improved Player): Sean Couturier
Yanick Dupre Memorial Award (Class Guy): Sean Couturier
Gene Hart Memorial Award (Most Heart): Sean Couturier
Toyota Cup (three-star selection points): Claude Giroux

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