The Philadelphia Flyers' six-game road trip concluded on Tuesday with a 5-4 overtime loss against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. The game was a seesaw affair that saw the Flyers lead 2-0 but later trail 4-2 before rallying back to force OT.
The road trip ended with a 1-4-1 record. The Flyers return home on Wednesday to take on the President's Trophy race leading Washington Capitals.
Tuesday's game was one where neither team lacked anything for effort and will but both sides were extremely sloppy at times.
Travis Konecny (13th) and Michael Raffl (4th) goals built an early 2-0 lead for the Flyers but Lucas Wallmark (9th) and Warren Foegele (9th) got the goals back to sent the game to the first intermission tied at 2-2.
Jake Gardiner (3rd) gave the Canes' a 3-2 lead early in the second period and then Joel Edmundson (4th) quickly made it four unanswered goals by Carolina. Nicolas Aube-Kubel (2nd) got the deficit back to 4-3 in the latter portion of the frame.
Travis Sanheim (5th) scored a pretty goal to tie the game at 4-4 in the third /period and force OT. IN OT, Dougie Hamilton (14th) used a stickless Sanheim as a screen on the game winning goal.
The Flyers goaltending was uneven in this game, and the Canes' was downright shaky. Brian Elliott stopped 28 of 33 in a losing cause. He had some outstanding saves but also a few letdowns -- a bad rebound goal and an outright soft one -- along the way.
James Reimer made only 17 saves on 21 shots and at least goals were stoppable. Additionally, two shots that cleanly beat Reimer hit the crossbar, and the goalie also benefited from a hasty whistle on what should have been a Flyers goal in the third period.
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
From a very severe angle, and with Reimer way back in his net, Konecny provided his team a much-needed lift with a goal at the 37-second mark of the first period. Shortly thereafter, Michael Raffl turned over a puck at the attack blueline, and the deadline Andrei Svechnikov had a breakaway. He tried a between-the-legs shot but Elliott was alert to it and stoned the shooter.
In the first 6:30 of the first period, the Flyers gave up a breakaway, a 2-on-1 (which went offside) and a 4-on-2. After a near slam-dunk for James van Riemsdyk, Jakub Voracek and Michael Raffl made the Canes pay for a giveaway on their next shift. Wallmark then got the goal back on the rebound of a squibber. Both teams continued to turn pucks over and get caught as defensive spectators. Then Foegele beat Myers to a shooting lane A great pass by Staal, and beautiful finish upstairs tied the game at 2-2. First period shots were 16-8 in Carolina's favor but high-danger chances were equal at 7-7.
Even apart from scoring two goals in the second period, the Hurricanes played a much better period than they did in the first and the Flyers failed to match for the first half of the frame. With Giroux just stepping onto the ice, all five Flyers skaters were overloaded on one side of the ice as Provorov lost a puck battle on the walls and Gardiner ripped home a shot from the left circle after a pass from Sebastian Aho. Just 1:45 later, Joel Edmundson ripped up a center point shot. Elliott needed to stop that one; bad goal.
A Hurricanes turnover was converted in an Aube-Kubel goal on a simple shot for the right circle that found the net under Reimer's arm to the short side at 14:27. Elliott then made a great skate save at the right post on Aho. After the Flyers killed a penalty, Shayne Gostisbehere hit the crossbar on an open shot from the right dot off a perfect pass by Voracek. Second period shots ended up 10-9 in the Flyers' favor.
The Canes caught a huge break on the PK in the third period due to a hasty whistle on a shot that Reimer never controlled. The puck was sitting on the goal line as the whistle blew. Voracek put it in the net, but after the whistle blew. However, there was no stopping Sanheim on his game-tying wraparound goal. Couturier set a nice -- and legal -- pick behind the net by standing his ground.
In overtime, Jakub Voracek hit the crossbar; the second time Philly hit a crossbar in the game. At the other end of the ice, Travis Sanheim lost his stick. Ultimately, Dougie Hamilton used to Sanheim as a screen, shooting between his legs from the right circle and beating Brian Elliott to end the game.