In a generally flat and uninspiring game on both sides, the Philadelphia Flyers dropped a 4-1 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. It wasn't a terrible game for Philly but they had trouble sustaining any significant momentum. For the most part, the Flyers could make some first plays but not a second one that might generate meaningful chances.
The one exception: a stretch pass from Tyson Foerster that sent Travis Konecny off for a breakaway goal (12th) and tied the game at 1-1 at the 7:14 mark of the second period.
Other than that, Philly had some short bursts of momentum including a big penalty kill to start the third period. However, other than sporadic good shifts -- particularly by the Sean Couturier line -- the Flyers never strung much of anything together.
Michael Bunting (5th), ex-Flyer Brendan Lemieux (2nd), Seth Jarvis (9th) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (ENG, 8th) scored for the Hurricanes. Pyotr Kochetkov earned the win in net with 28 saves on 29 shots. He only faced seven high-danger chances all game, including the Konecny goal.
Carter Hart took the loss. He stopped 32 of 35 shots.
The Flyers starting juggling line combinations midway through the game but never really found anything that clicked. They also shortened the bench on the blueline, going most with two pairings as the game went along. A struggling Marc Staal played only 13:24.
Bunting gave the Hurricanes the all-important first goal of the game -- the Flyers are now 0-9-1 when giving up the first goal and 10-1-0 when scoring first -- at 5:39 of the first period. It was kind of a broken sequence that turned into the Flyers leaving too much operating room in their own end of the ice. From center slot, Bunting followed up his own initial shot attempt and scored.
The 1-0 score held until Konecny's breakaway goal at 7:14 of the second period. Carolina restored the lead at 13:25. An attempted clearing pass near by the Flyers net by Scott Laughton went off Lemieux's shinpad. Lemieux then claimed the puck and put the puck past Hart for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
The Flyers opened the third period on a two-man disadvantage. With 11 seconds remaining on a Bobby Brink penalty, the horn sounded to end the second period as Nick Seeler blocked a shot. A scrum ensued with Laughton going after Bunting for what he thought at the time was a spearing attempt on Seeler (he realized he was mistaken afterwards). Laughton received a cross-checking minor at the 20:00 mark.
Philadelphia killed off both the 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 in strong fashion but didn't get much of a momentum bump from it. Much of the third period was rather low-event and the aggressive checking of the Hurricanes pretty much shut down the Flyers except for one scoring chance in close for Atkinson.
At 16:34 of the third period, the Hurricanes generated an insurance goal. A non-dangerous shot from Jarvis went off Hart and got caught in his skate -- the puck would gone wide of the net otherwise -- before the goalie accidentally put it in his own net. Kotkaniemi's empty netter at 17:16 closed out the scoring.
Tuesday's game was Hockey Fights Cancer Night in Philadelphia. Two pediatric cancer patients, nine-year-old youth hockey player Owen Micchice (who took part in the pregame skate and got to stand behind the bench during the game) and 11-year-old Luis Estyvan Maradiaga (who dropped the ceremonial opening faceoff) were warmly received by the Flyers' players, coach Tortorella, and the Wells Fargo Center crowd.
The Flyers will practice on Wednesday at the FTC in Voorhees. On Thursday, they will host the New Jersey Devils at the Wells Fargo Center. For more about Tuesday's game -- period-by-period synopses, analysis and highlights -- see the
Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»