FLYERS EARN 3RD OT WIN AGAINST CAROLINA, PREVAIL 4-3
All three games that the Philadelphia Flyers have played against the Carolina Hurricanes this season have gone to overtime. The Flyers have won all three.
On Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 in a three-goal outburst in the second period. Carolina returned the favor in the third period, forcing overtime before the Flyers prevailed 1:42 into the three-on-three frame. Carolina's Jeff Skinner accounted for all of his team's scoring, registering his second hat trick in the last three games.
The Flyers played a rather uneven game; sloppy at times with the puck and had some energy lulls in their play. However, their four-goal production marked the seventh time in the last nine games that the team has scored at least three goals.
"I don’t think tonight was our best,… said head coach Dave Hakstol. “I think we have a lot of things that we will address as a group and try to clean up. But the positive side of that is that we found a way to win the hockey game, so that just all comes back to everybody being on the same page and working hard together. So I give a real credit to the group in the room, they’re doing that.…
The Flyers benefited from the line change that switched Jakub Voracek from his accustomed right wing position to left wing and bumping him up from the third line to the second line at even strength. Voracek, whose only previous goal in the first 30 games of this season was an overtime goal against Carolina the first time the teams met, produced a goal and two assists. New linemate Sean Couturier also scored for Philadelphia, while Brayden Schenn talled the second period goal that tied the game at 2-2.
“I think I played the same way I played in Dallas or in St. Louis but the pucks went in and we had a couple lucky bounces. If you get seven shots, usually you at least get one… I wouldn’t say it has been like today but it has been way better than one goal," Voracek said.
In overtime, Shayne Gostibehere scored his sixth goal -- and third overtime goal -- of his rookie season. Gostisbehere, who had a two-point game along with Voracek and Couturier, also scored the overtime winner against the Hurricanes on Nov. 23.
Starting for the third consecutive game, Michal Neuvirth yielded a Skinner goal on Carolina's first shot but then went on to stop 29 of 32 shots to earn the win. Carolina's Eddie Là¤ck turned back 27 of 31 shots in a losing cause.
For the second straight meeting, Carolina forward Brad Malone ran afoul of the Flyers. After a slew foot on Sam Gagner in the Nov. 23 game resulted in a concussion and facial lacerations as a result of Gagner's head-first tumble to the ice, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare fought Malone. In this game, Malone kneed Flyers' forward Michael Raffl at 13:13 of the second period well after Raffl chipped the puck off the neutral zone boards, prompting an immediate fight with Wayne Simmonds. The minor penalties offset but Simmonds received the automatic 10-minute misconduct that accompanies an instigation penalty.
The Hurricanes went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Flyers went 0-for-2. Meanwhile after losing 10 of 15 faceoffs in the first period, the Flyers went on to better the NHL's top faceoff team by 30-27 margin at the end of the night.
Just 1:56 into the game, Carolina owned a 1-0 led. Skinner received a bank pass from Phillip Di Giuseppe, pulled up in the right circle and used Gostisbehere -- who was scrambling to cover for partner Brandon Manning -- as a screen on a shot that beat Neuvirth through the five hole. Di Giusseppe and Jaccob Slavin got the assists on Skinner's first goal of the night and 12th of the season.
The 1-0 score held until early in the second period. Just 23 seconds into the middle frame, Voracek got himself to the net and tipped home a Gudas shot for his second goal of the season. Couturier received a second assist.
The tie didn't last long. With Scott Laughton in the box for his second minor penalty of the game -- an early first-period holding penalty drawn by Jay McClement and then an early second-period interference call drawn by the same player -- the Canes re-took the lead at 3:37. Skinner bagged his second goal of the game with a power play tally as he knocked home the rebound of a Jordan Staal shot. Brett Pesce got the secondary assist on Skinner's 13th of the season.
Two shifts and 58 seconds later, the game was knotted at 2-2. Brayden Schenn worked a give-and-go with Raffl and finished the play off by wristing glove-side shot over Là¤ck from the slot for his seventh goal of the season. Raffl and Gostisbehere received the assists at the 4:35 mark.
The Flyers took their first lead of the game at the 16:29 mark of the second period. After Matt Read won a puck battle on the boards inside the defensive blueline and sent it Voracek, the Czech forward made an accurate pass to Couturier. Skating into the right circle, Couturier backhanded a shot on goal along the ice. Là¤ck made the save but the rebound bounced off defenseman Slavin's skates and pinballed into net for Couturier's fourth goal of the season. Voracek and Read received the helpers.
The Flyers took their 3-2 lead into the third period and nursed it until nearly halfway through the period. On the typing goal, Di Giuseppe gained the offensive blueline and passed to Skinner on the right boards. With Flyers defenseman Evgeny Medvedev drawn out of position by Skinner, the forward then used Michael Del Zotto as a screen and snapped a shot off the long side post and into the net. Canes' leading scorer Justin Faulk got the secondary assist on Skinner's third goal of the game and 14th of the season.
There was no scoring over the remainder of regulation. One hundred two seconds later the game was over. Voracek led a 2-on-1 rush up the ice from the defensive zone and found Gostisbehere open in the left slot. Once the pass got across, Gostisbehere made no mistake.
Final shots on goal were 32-31 in Carolina's favor for the game. Shot attempts finished at 62-58 in Carolina's favor. The Flyers had 18 shot attempts blocked and missed the net 10 times. The Canes got blocked 16 times and missed the net 14 times. Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas led both teams with a game-high seven credited hits in his 23:16 of ice time.