Philadelphia Flyers: Sizing up the Carolina Hurricanes
The Flyers were fairly dominant against the Carolina Hurricanes this season and have a good shot if they meet up in the playoffs.
Unlike the Hurricanes, the Flyers are guaranteed a spot in the first round. Their opponent is unknown at the moment. It will all depend on how they finish on the round robin seeding tournament.
Their seeding will then determine which team they will face. For example, grabbing the top seed allows them to face the lowest remaining seed left after the play-in. There is no way for this scenario to take place and have the Flyers face the Hurricanes.
Carolina comes in as the sixth seed while the Flyers are currently the fourth. The highest remaining seed right now is the Canadiens at 12th. The lowest seed is the Penguins at 5th.
So the Flyers would basically have to stay at the seed they are at the face Carolina in the first round.
If they do, they have a good history this season against the team. Most of the games the Flyers won were done so handily. The only loss they took to Carolina was in OT so they did grab a point.
It won’t matter when the playoffs begin, though. But it’s the fact that even in a loss they were close. So Carolina would be a good opponents if the teams match up.
November 5th: 4-1 Flyers
The Flyers came into this game having lost three of their last four games. So they were looking to get back on the right foot. This win was the beginning for a four game streak for the Flyers. It also gave them points in five straight.
Sean Couturier kicked things off early in the first period. It would be the first of two points for him in the contest. It came on the power play, off a redirection of a Matt Niskanen pass.
The Hurricanes would even things up in the second period. But it would be the only goal Carter Hart gave up. It was the second straight bounce back game for the 21-year-old. He had given up 12 goals in his previous three starts before that.
Never wavering, Hart was able to stop 33 of the 34 shots the Hurricanes tossed his way. Travis Konecny would put the Flyers ahead for good with an early third period goal.
Joel Farabee and Claude Giroux added insurance goals as well.
The two teams would meet up for their second matchup of the season just two weeks later. It was a game of multiple lead changes and two Flyers comebacks.
November 21st: 5-3 Flyers
The Flyers again came into the game on a losing streak. They had dropped their last four games, managing a point in the final loss. So they once again needed to get back on track.
It didn’t start off well as the Hurricanes grabbed two goals in the first period. They were separated by 1:20. The Flyers did fight back to tie the game before the period came to an end.
Giroux grabbed the first goal less than two minutes after Teuvo Teravainen put the Canes up 2-0. It was off a no-look pass behind the net by Travis Konecny. Konecny finished the game with three assists.
Ivan Provorov tied the game on the power play late in the period.With the only goal of the second period, Morgan Frost would give the Flyers the lead going into the third.
It was just the second goal of his career and first career shorthanded goal. Winning the face off, Giroux sent it to Frost who one-timed it past Petr Mrazek. Frost would end up with two points.
Lucas Wallmark grabbed the final goal for Carolina, tying it early into the third period. It would last that way until Giroux grabbed his second of the game midway through the period. He finished with four points in the game.
Kevin Hayes ended the game with an empty net goal with six seconds remaining.
We would have to wait a few months for the two teams to see each other again. It featured another Flyers comeback. But it wouldn’t end the same way as their previous game.
January 7th: 5-4 Hurricanes (OT)
The Flyers were coming back from an abysmal West Coast road trip. They dropped four out of five games. Apparently it was a trend to face Carolina when they desperately needed a win.
The Flyers did well to start as Konecny scored just 37 seconds into the game. Michael Raffl would give the team a 2-0 lead after.
The Hurricanes would fire off four straight goals, two in the first and two in the second to take the 4-2 lead. Nicolas Aube-Kubel grabbed the second goal of his career to cut the deficit to one going into the third period.
It would be Travis Sanheim would evened the game up with about five minutes remaining in the third. In deep on the play, Sanheim came from behind the net and beat James Reimer five-hole to tie things at 4-4.
So we would need overtime to determine this one. The Hurricanes made sure they didn’t blow their earlier lead for good. Dougie Hamilton beat Elliott through the legs of his own defenseman. Coincidentally enough, it was Sanheim that saw the game-winning goal go through his legs on the way in.
It would be the Flyers fourth loss in a row. They would have to wait until March to get their final revenge.
March 5th: 4-1 Flyers
The final time these two met up was during a scorching hot stretch for the Flyers. Going into this game, they had won seven straight and surged up the Metro standings.
It was also the second half of a back-to-back as they had defeated the Capitals the night before. The Flyers would continue their hot play, grabbing the first two goals in the game.
Provorov scored with less than two minutes in the first and Raffl grabbed a mid-period goal in the second. Justin Williams brought the Hurricanes back into the game early in the third.
However, two goals in 26 seconds pulled the Flyers pulled the Flyers away. It was Aube-Kubel and Couturier who put the game away for Philadelphia.
This win put the Flyers into a tie for first place in the Metro. They would add one more win to the streak the next game before falling to Boston in the season finale.
Games between the two teams seem to feature comebacks by either team. So the key to success with be the ability to grab a lead and shut the other team down.
The Flyers were able to do that in at least two of their victories. Doing that during a seven game series will be a huge factor.