With most of the world glued to television sets about a far more important result, the Flyers and Hurricanes played a hockey game Tuesday night. It was a good game but Philadelphia, who were outshot again by a wide margin, came up a bit short on this scoreboard with a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the Hurricanes.
The basics
First period: 7:54 – Travis Konecny (Owen Tippett, Matvei Michkov) (PPG), 14:25 – Jackson Blake (Jack Drury, Dmitry Orlov)
Second period: 8:56 – Eric Robinson (Martin Necas, Brent Burns), 9:50 – Jordan Martinook (Jaccob Slavin, Brent Burns), 13:30 – Owen Tippett (Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier)
Third period: 1:18 – Morgan Frost (Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny), 1:47 – Jack Roslovic (Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho), 9:17 – Travis Konecny (Sean Couturier), 19:29 – Martin Necas (unassisted), 19:58- Seth Jarvis (unassisted)
SOG: 16 (PHI) – 35 (CAR)
Some takeaways
What is goaltending for $200, Aleksei?
Aleksei Kolosov was the go-to guy against a shot-taking machine that is Carolina. The Flyers held the fort early on and Kolosov was stopping what he could when the Canes were shooting at him or wide. Philadelphia did a fantastic job the first 14 minutes of play in limiting Carolina to just three shots. On the fourth they tied things up at one as the Canes’ Jackson Blake was alone in the slot and beat Kolosov who had very little chance to stop it.
Kolosov stopped a wraparound early in the second and looked steady until the Canes put two behind Kolosov 54 seconds apart. Another game where the Flyers got dinged for two goals within a minute, putting a strong effort for about 30 minutes against a strong team essentially to waste. Perhaps the one saving grace was that Kolosov kept fighting, keeping Philadelphia within a shot of tying things up heading into the third period.
While outshot by roughly a two-to-one margin, the Flyers needed Kolosov to stone the Canes on a lengthy shift in the dying seconds of the third. He didn’t, resulting in arguably a well-earned point tossed aside with 31 seconds left.
Forecheck force
The Flyers began with another new line with Tyson Foerster, Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov. And the line seemed to set the tone for the opening portion of the game. The line had a better than decent shift and more importantly, the subsequent lines appeared to have a good pace, meaning a more noteable forecheck going. It was the exception however for what was a bad period for Couturier’s line with a paltry 14.29 percent of the chances for. But it was 14.29 percent better than the Joel Farabee, Scott Laughton and Bobby Brink line managed in the first.
Another example was started by a good play by Rasmus Ristolainen (who along with Nick Seeler were bad in terms of the chance percentage in the first) who threw the puck up ice. Jumping on the turnover at the other end, Scott Laughton had a great chance to make it 2-0 but shot the puck wide. Heck, even the fourth line of Noah Cates, Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers got in on the act in the first when Cates broke up a neutral zone pass and quickly went the other way for a scoring chance. It was something that was evident throughout, even when the Flyers were down 3-1.
Defending A to Z
Egor Zamula returned to the lineup for this one, leaving Erik Johnson out of the mix as Zamula was paired with Emil Andrae. Andrae made a fantastic but overlooked play when he batted a Carolina pass out of midair with his stick before getting it out of harm’s way. But overall Zamula looked like a sixth defenseman who wasn’t great by any stretch and no translator was needed to see and state the obvious. Both he and Andrae had identical percentages of chances for after forty minutes (45.45 percent) but he still needs a lot of work.
While Zamula didn’t throw his weight around much, Rasmus Ristolainen threw a big one on … Jamie Drysdale. In the third, both collided, and while Drysdale looked like he took the worst of it, both were okay after the collision. It was a comedy of errors in the third as after tying the game 3-3, Andrae took a tumble which caused an odd man break and soon after Carolina’s fourth goal. And during the man-advantage in the third, Andrae took a bad penalty that had them confused in their own end.
Power play back to producing
The Flyers got a power play when Travis Konecny drew a penalty. Seconds later, Drysdale was high-sticked, but rather than simply give Carolina the puck, the Flyers killed precious seconds that could’ve been used for a five-on-three. The Flyers did strike goal, however, when Travis Konecny put in a rebound to give the Flyers the lead. A secondary assist by Matvei Michkov snapped a four-game point drought as well.
Tippett flying
There were times in the last week or so where Owen Tippett looked to be laboring on the backcheck. Whether he was challenged or simply found another gear Tuesday night is unknown. What was clear was he had he wheels which made him look so damn dangerous in 2023-24. Tippett got a primary assist on Konecny’s goal but looked to be turning a corner hopefully, making it only a matter of when, not if, he’d pot his second goal of the season.
Sure enough, the sniper sniped his second and had the Flyers television broadcast crew confused whether it was off the post or in. The rocket beat Pyotr Kochetkov clean and should give Tippett a much needed confidence boost.
Frost thaws
As much as Tippett needed that goal, Morgan Frost needed one goal perhaps even more. Fortunately, he wasn’t given style points on the goal, his first of the year. The puck bounced off Frost’s leg and, like a great curling shot, just slid over the goal line.
Unfortunately Frost’s line was also on the ice for the game-winning Carolina goal, unable to clear the puck and exhausted as they watched Martin Necas score the winner.
You want another curling-like shot?
Not giving up on the game, the Flyers again tied things up at 4-4 when Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny teamed up to score another odd one. Konecny got a touch on the puck that Couturier backhanded that should have been an easy stop. But the slight deflection left the Carolina goalie frozen as it went between his legs.
Using their heads
For roughly the first half of the game, the Flyers had a clean sheet regarding taking penalties. It’s amazing how much better a team’s chances are when not taking dumb stick infractions. The first was a tripping call on Couturier in the offensive zone on what looked to be a four-on-two breakout. Fortunately, Philadelphia killed the penalty late in the second.
The lack of a penalty box parade ensured all four lines were rolling and created a great flow to the game from both sides. It’s also something you’d like to see throughout this road trip against a trio of stiff competition.
Point yes, miserable otherwise
As stellar as Tippett looked, Michkov was having a bad night paired with some linemates who established no chemistry at all. The Mad Russian was struggling and didn’t seem as comfortable as he did with Konecny and Couturier for a few games. A 19-year-old rookie is going to have some bumps in the road, but gaining a point in a rather bad game for him is still a good sign for the Flyers.
