PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Flyers (0-3, 4-5) were put one step closer to elimination on Thursday, falling 4-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes (5-0, 7-0) in Game 3 at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Jordan Staal, Jalen Chatfield, Andrei Svechnikov, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Hurricanes. Trevor Zegras scored for the Flyers.
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The Flyers got off to a great start, if not their best start of the postseason, on Thursday. Legs were moving, chances were being generated, and they were dominating 5-on-5. A Hurricanes’ power-play goal put the Flyers behind, but they answered at 5-on-5.
In the second period, the Flyers got on the board and had the building buzzing before giving up a shorthanded goal that cut their momentum. Discipline on both sides began to unravel, and that continued into the third period.
Early on in the third, Caroline scored a power-play goal that felt like the dagger, but the real dagger came later in the period at 5-on-5 after a complete defensive lapse at the red line.
Here’s how we got to the final score.
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Flyers start well but trail after the 1st period
Early on in Thursday’s Game 3, the Flyers had their legs. Plenty of golden opportunities early in the contest, including a Travis Konecny breakaway and finding Porter Martone all alone in the slot. The Flyers were unable to convert. Whether their shots hit the post or Frederik Andersen, Philly could not get one to fall.
Still, it was one of their best starts of the postseason, without the goals, of course.
It was chance on chance, but Philly just couldn’t convert. They got the first power play of the game with 6:26 to play in the period after Sean Walker got called for interference on Konecny. One word to describe the first power play of the game: yikes.
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The Hurricanes got their first chance on the power play a little over a minute after the kill, after Sean Couturier was called for tripping Shayne Gostisbehere. Jordan Staal (1) took advantage, back-handing a bounce off the boards past Dan Vladar. With assists from Andrei Svechnikov (2) and Gostisbehere (2), the Hurricanes had a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers came back firing at 5-on-5, generating another great chance. Rasmus Ristolainen sent a second-chance blast past Andersen, but Jaccob Slavin made the stick save to keep Philly off the board.
The Flyers did get a power play in the final 35 seconds of the period after Jackson Blake caught Foerster with a slash. It did not last long as Jamie Drysdale was called for interference after colliding with Staal just 18 seconds later. It was similar to a no-call on a Staal collision with Christian Dvorak on the Hurricanes’ power play. Drysdale’s was called, Staal’s was not.
The game went into the first intermission with the Flyers trailing 1-0.
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Read More: Game 3 Adjustments: How the Flyers Can Get Back into the Series
Philly gets on the board, still trailing after two periods
4-on-4 started the second period before both that and the Hurricanes’ brief power play expired. Then, at 5-on-5, a delayed penalty was called on Carolina, and the Flyers had a 6-on-5 advantage. Porter Martone showed some poise in the high slot before a play developed. Eventually, Trevor Zegras (2) was there to cash in on the rebound and tie the game at 1. Emil Andrae (1) and Porter Martone (2) had the assists.
The pressure kept coming from Philly, looking to take a lead. Porter Martone had made a great play to keep possession alive and found Alex Bump alone next to Andersen, but the advantage went to the goalie. That one may haunt Bump for a while.
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A very soft slash was called on Drysdale, his second iffy penalty of the game, but it put the Hurricanes back on the power play. The first minute was dominated by the Flyers’ penalty kill, then the Hurricanes settled down a possession. Still, the Flyers got away with the kill.
Philly had to kill off another after Trevor Zegras caught K’Andre Miller with a high stick. They were able to kill that one off as well.
Following the kill, a boarding penalty on Taylor Hall put the Flyers back on the power play. I thought it could have been a major penalty, but the puck doesn’t lie. Jordan Staal (3) poked the puck free at the blueline, took the shorthanded rush all the way down, feeding Jalen Chatfield (1) for the one-timer to make it a 2-1 game.
Later in the power play, Jamie Drysdale got called for holding, but Konecny drew a post-whistle high stick from Seth Jarvis to keep it a Flyers power play. Rod Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes’ bench were not happy about it, earning a bench minor, making it a brief 5-on-3 before another power play. Still no goal, taking the 2-1 Hurricanes’ lead into the second intermission.
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Flyers fall apart in the third
Before the period ended, Christian Dvorak earned a soft roughing penalty, giving the Hurricanes another power play. It looked like he went in to de-escalate things between Hall and Sanheim, and Hall went down easy, drawing the penalty.
Philly was able to kill off the remaining 1:10 of the power play, still trailing by a score.
The game got 4-on-4 after K’Andre Miller was called for roughing Konecny, and Christian Dvorak for roughing Miller. That turned into the Hurricanes’ power play after Cam Work was called for goalie interference. Andrei Svechnikov (1) made quick work of that, burying the one-timer off a Sebastian Aho (1) pass.
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In that moment, that felt like the dagger.
If it wasn’t, then this surely was. The Hurricanes won the defensive zone faceoff, and Miller (5) flipped the puck out to the red line, where Jordan Martinook (2) hit Nikolaj Miller with nobody near him after a defensive lapse. He scored the rush chance, putting his team up 4-1.
Moments later, Christian Dvorak got his third penalty of the game. This time, it was a delay of the game, puck over the glass. The Flyers killed off the penalty, but looked dejected.
Sebastian Aho got called for a high stick on Alex Bump, giving the Flyers a power play. They did not score, going 0/5 on the night.
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Travis Konecny’s night ended 2:19 early after a slash and roughing on Miller, and a misconduct. Eric Robinson was given a minor for roughing, resulting in a Hurricanes’ power play. Roughing on Nick Seeler, Garnet Hathaway, and Rasmus Ristolainen for the Flyers, and Logan Stankoven and Shayne Gostisbehere gave the Hurricanes a 5-on-3. The Flyers got the “kill”, but the game ended in a 4-1 loss.
What’s next
The Flyers will have to fight off elimination on Saturday when they host the Hurricanes in Game 4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Read More: Flyers Trade Talk: Dream Acquisition Suddenly a Potential Reality
The post Flyers One Game Away From Elimination, Lose 4-1 to Hurricanes on Thurday appeared first on Philly Hockey Now.
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