Philadelphia Flyers vs Hurricanes: R.I.P to the Playoffs

The Philadelphia Flyers traveled to Carolina and took on the Hurricanes in the first half of a back-to-back.

Coming off a win their last game, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to make it two in a row as they hit the road to face a fellow Metropolitan Division team in the Carolina Hurricanes.

Cam Talbot (remember him?) received the start from Interim Head Coach Scott Gordon and opposed former Flyers net-minder Petr Mrazek. Mrazek hasn’t been the same guy we saw in an Orange and Black uniform this year, posting a 2.47 Goals-Against Average and a .910 save percentage. The Flyers needed to win the possession battle in this contest, especially going against one of the best puck-possessing teams in the entire league.

Talbot was tested by Carolina right from the get go, withstanding a good amount of pressure to keep the game scoreless. The Flyers once again struggled with turnovers, mainly in their own zone, but did a fine job in evening the shot total as the period reached the halfway mark. After the teams took part in some back-and-firth hockey, Claude Giroux finally lit the lamp and put his team ahead 1-0. Giroux broke a ten game goal-less drought with the tally, scoring on a 2-on-1 break with Corban Knight.

That lead was short lived, though, as Carolina potted two goals within seconds of each other to put themselves up 2-1 following 20 minutes of play. The Flyers simply couldn’t clear the puck on both goals, mind you, and the sloppy defensive play was the sole reason they trailed heading into the second.

The teams traded scoring chances through most of the middle frame, with neither being able to find the back of the net. Carolina had the shots-on-goal advantage, 23-15 for the game and 10-7 for the stanza, even with Philadelphia receiving a power play in the period. I’ll save you the grief of hearing how that man advantage went for the Flyers and just say it was, *Mr. Mackey from South Park voice*, baaaaaaad. 

Philadelphia dialed up the pressure to begin the third, creating chance after chance in the Hurricanes zone, but couldn’t find a way passed Mrazek to tie things up. Carolina ended up getting a power-play after surviving the Flyer onslaught and doubled their lead because of it as Justin Faulk blasted a shot from the point to give the Canes a 3-1 lead. The Flyers would get a man advantage of their own minutes later and Oskar Lindblom capitalized on it, netting his 14th goal of the year to put them back within one. Carolina eventually stopped the Philly comeback attempt, scoring two empty-netters to get a 5-2 win.

Welp, that’s it, Flyers fans. The team has now been officially eliminated from playoff contention with this loss. You can’t say they didn’t bring the effort to try and claw back into the race, but the hole they dug themselves into earlier in the season was just too deep to get out of. There’s still four games left to play to finish out the year, so let’s hope they can end the 2018-19 campaign on a strong note and build confidence for 2019-20.

The Flyers are now 37-33-8 on the season. Next game is Sunday against the New York Rangers.