Flyers Falter Late, Lose to Carolina in OT

The Flyers had given up the first goal in six of their first seven games. Check that…seven of their first eight games. The Carolina Hurricanes found the back of the net first, but the Flyers rallied back to take a third-period lead. A late goal by Carolina sent the game into overtime where the Canes would take the victory with less than a minute to spare.

There was a sparse crowd at the Wells Fargo Arena with a lot of Flyers fans probably home or at Xfinity Live to cheer on the Phillies in the World Series. Still, the Flyers put on a show against one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams. With the loss, the Flyers now share the lead of the Metropolitan Division with the Hurricanes. However, they did pick up a point with the OT loss.

Penalties hurt the Flyers deeply in the first period. Both goals scored by Carolina took place immediately following the conclusion of successful penalty kills. On all three power plays, the Canes seemed to set up shop and just rapid-fired a succession of shots at the net. In particular, Jesperi Kotkaniemi had three one-timers that went wide. Luckily, none of the attempts by Carolina went in. However, when you leave a good team with wide-open shots consistently, eventually they will start to sneak their way in.

Jordan Staal, playing in his 1100th game, scored his first goal of the season a little over five minutes into the first period to put the Canes up 1-0. Carolina’s captain came across the left side of the net and fired a shot, on a funky angle that managed to go between the skate and glove. It was also Staal’s 22nd goal against the Flyers; the most he’s had against any team in his career.

Not long after Carolina’s second power play, Jordan Martinook, standing in front of the net, took a pass from Jesper Fast and fired it past Hart for his second goal of the year. On both first-period goals, the defensive duo of Rasmus Ristolainen and Nick Seeler were on the ice.

The Flyers got on the board early in the second period. Five minutes into the period, following a power play in which they got no shots off, Nicolas Deslauriers skated in front of the net while Lukas Sedlak took the puck behind the net. Antti Raanta was distracted by Sedlak and defender Brent Burns left his post in front of the net to chase after Sedlak. Sedlak saw a wide-open Deslauriers skating across and fired a pass to him. Deslauriers fired a shot and scored his first goal of the season and his first as a Flyer.

Shortly thereafter, Burns found himself in the penalty box after a tripping penalty. Owen Tippett scored on a give-and-go pass play with Travis Konecny to tie the game up at two goals each with a power play goal that snuck past Raanta.

The game remained knotted up until six minutes into the third period. The Flyers had been pelting Raanta with shots to start the third. While the Canes were on a shift change, Sedlak took the puck up the right side of the ice. He held onto it, faked a shot, and passed it to a waiting Wade Allison. Allison fed the puck into the net before a diving Raanta could stop it. The goal was Allison’s first of the season and his first since the 2020-21 season.

With 2:05 left in the game, Martin Necas struck for the Hurricanes. Necas weaved in between two Flyers and fired a shot with Sanheim unwittingly screening in front of Hart. The goal was Necas’s fifth of the season and revived a Carolina team that had been looking lifeless throughout the third period. Necas’s goal would send the game into overtime.

Konecny opened up the overtime period with a shot that glanced off of Raanta’s shoulder and deflected harmlessly to the side. About 15 seconds later, TK again fired a shot that sent Raanta sprawling.

With two minutes left in overtime, Necas attempted to strike again. He skated forward, put out a sneaky deke move, and tried to slip it past Hart. Hart would not be fooled and effortlessly made the save. But with 53 seconds left, Burns took a pass from Necas and Sebastian Aho and parked it in the back of the net. Necas had been looking to feed Aho with the pass, but Aho tossed it over to Burns who rifled it home over Hart’s right shoulder.

Hart had played well, stopping 34 of the 38 shots he faced. This ended up being his first loss of the season.

The top line for the Flyers with the fourth line, centered by Sedlak. They were responsible for two of the goals of the night and even got physical with the Hurricanes when necessary. And outside of Konecny’s power play assist, the top line of Scott Laughton, Kevin Hayes, and TK was pretty quiet.

The Flyers hit the road next week. They will play the Rangers at MSG on Tuesday before heading up to Ontario to do battle with the Maple Leafs on Wednesday and the Senators on Friday.