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Instant reactions: Zegras heroics come up short in Flyers shootout loss
It took a little longer for the Philadelphia Flyers to get into this game after blowing a 2-goal lead to these same Carolina Hurricanes last night, but they followed a familiar script- fall behind, furious comeback.
Trevor Zegras and Dan Vladar were once again the standouts, with Zegras scoring the tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation, and Vladar making 28 saves in regulation to earn at least a point.
And when overtime wasn’t enough, shoutout Sean Couturier for his effort on the 4v3 PK, we got a second straight shootout for the second straight night between the same two teams.
And, for the second consecutive night, the Flyers cannot score in the skills competition, not even Zegras, opening the door for Vladar to be beaten once by Andrei Svechnikov, which was enough for the Hurricanes to hand the Flyers their third straight loss.
First period
The Hurricanes are picking up where they left off in terms of puck possession last night. Philly played a great first 25 minutes on Saturday before Carolina’s forecheck took over. There was no such slow start for Rod Brind’Amour’s squad tonight, getting the game’s first seven shots on goal in five-and-a-half minutes, before scoring on the game’s eighth shot. William Carrier buries his third of the year after a little confusion following a Flyers’ D-zone draw loss. Carrier gathered a puck in the slot and ripped it by Dan Vladar.
Carolina did get an early power play to help pad their possession time when Noah juulsen was called for tripping after only 3:19 of game time, but the Flyers did get the kill. It’s hard to believe the sixth highest scoring team in the league has the 29th ranked power play, especially with Shayne Gostisbehere at the top of their #1 unit, but that’s exactly where the Canes find themselves.
But a sign of life for the Flyers! They get their first SOG, and now will go to the power play after a little attack time on the delayed call. Nothing doing on the power play, and they didn’t record a shot on goal. But now Logan Stankoven is going off for holding, so the FlyGuys will get another crack at it. This power play may have been even worse. That stunk.
Shots are 9-1 in Carolina’s favor after 14 minutes. Oh it looks like a recent attempt actually reached Brandon Bussi, so let’s call it 9-2 now with 6:15 left. Not the most inspiring performance thus far, but I’m holding out hope the Flyers are just following the Canes’ script from last night.
Nikita Grebenkin takes a dumb penalty with five minutes left. Not sure exactly what he was trying to do, but basically he punched Alexander Nikishin in the face. Maybe he just doesn’t like his fellow countryman. Nikishin returns the favor by blasting a puck from the point for Taylor Hall to tip into the net for a power play goal, making it 2-0. This period needs to end, it’s freaking ugly.
And now Garnet Hathaway fires a puck into the stands off of a d-zone faceoff, and gets called for delay of game. A third Canes power play in the opening frame. Great.
HEY THE FLYERS SCORE! What just happened? It seemed like the Flyers were getting called for another penalty, but instead there was a delayed call against Carolina and with the extra attacker, Jamie Drysdale rips a one-timer from Trevor Zegras that hits Carrier’s stick in front to get the Flyers on the board. Moments later, Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov had a series of chances with Bussi out of position but couldn’t get the puck through the traffic. Damn. That would’ve been crazy. But Philly has life!
The Hurricanes are outshooting the Flyers 14-4 after 20 minutes, and lead 2-1, but the Flyers may have built a little momentum with some late offense.
Second period
The first five minutes of this period have been much less of a disaster than they were in the first, with Philly and Carolina logging three shots a piece, rather than the blowout we saw to start the first.
Gostisbehere has still got it. He sent Noah Cates to the ice with a spin/hesitation move. I’m happy for Ghost finding his spot after the fools in Philadelphia moved him for literally nothing. His 24 points in 22 games (prior to tonight) are good enough for second-best points-per-game by a defenseman in the NHL, behind only Cale Makar. Pretty decent.
We’re under 11 minutes to go in the period and it has been a little back-and-forth, with Vladar making a few big saves to keep the dificit to one. But now we’re getting some 4v4 as Emil Andrae and Jackson Blake both go for roughing after a scrum in front.
I don’t know what the hell Sean Couturier just did. With the Flyers trying to make a change, Coots carried the puck into traffic between the benches and then tried to go back with it to his d-man (?) and it resulted in a 3-on-1 for the Canes. Luckily, Vladar was there. WTF Coots?
We’ve seen a bunch of odd-man rushes in the 4-on-4 and after, the latest was K’Andre Miller stripping Zegras at the Canes’ blue line and taking it the other way for a breakaway, but Vladar gave him nothing. There’ve been a lot of up-and-backs, but good defense or non-threatening shots have kept the game at 2-1 with 6:30 left in the second.
After the Canes started to reassert themselves on the forecheck, Andrei Svechnikov takes down Garnet Hathaway, and the Flyers are getting a power play. Right away the Flyers get at least two shots through in a chaotic sequence that saw Bussi keep the puck out of the net despite heavy pressure and pucks from several locations. And shortly after, Drysdale gets called for hooking, and the power play ends.
I refuse to beleive there’s a team in the league that takes more penalties to end their own power plays than the Flyers. Anyway, the Flyers get the abbreviated kill and about 20 seconds later the period ends. Still 2-1.
Third period
After some early pressure for the Flyers that saw Bussi make a few more impressive saves, the Flyers get a power play when old pal Sean Walker slashes the stick out of Coots’ hands as a lead pass was about to find him in the slot.
The Flyers do it again. They have an insane couple of chances in front, don’t convert, and then Noah Cates gets called for tripping, ending the power play. Prior, Bobby Brink sent a great pass to Zegras to set him up with a one-timer, and Cates nearly put home the rebound, but the Flyers just can’t solve Bussi.
Right before the 4v4 became a Canes power play, Coots won a race to a loose puck in center and found Tippett with it on the doorstep, but I think he missed. The Flyers are piling up odd-man chances on the PK, but Bussi keeps stoning them. He’s playing great.
This game is pure chaos. It’s in the Flyers’ end now. 10:30 left. Very tense. I don’t know if Gostisbehere has left the ice in three minutes.
We’ve got 6:40 left, Carolina still leads by a goal. Shots are 27-19, Canes. The Flyers have certainly had their chances, but just can’t break through. But now an intentional offside with 5:40 left gives the Flyers an offensive zone draw coming out of a commercial break. Crucial shift upcoming. They got nothing and now they’re hemmed in. But after an icing they have another chance with 3:32 left. Michkov got a bad-angle shot and then created a loose puck by running over the Hurricane who chased down the rebound, but nobody came in support.
The seas parted for Dvorak on a late chance, but Bussi stopped him and now VLADAR IS OUT FOR THE EXTRA ATTACKER AND ZEGRAS TIES IT IMMEDIATELY! Sanheim played the puck on net, TK picked it up in front and found Zegras on the right wing side, who pumped it home.
And now the Flyers are trying to take the lead in the final two minutes, getting pucks into the slot and down low, but can’t get the third and now the Canes are counter-attacking. This game has gone from “whatever” to FRENETIC.
You know what time it is? OVERTIME! In the third meeting between the Flyers and Hurricanes, we have our third three-point game. The first was a heartbreaker with the overturned Brink goal, and last night was a shootout loss. Third time’s the charm?
Overtime
Bobby Brink is going to the box for tripping on what is a terrible call. Seth Jarvis toe-picked while driving to the net, and the referee decided to guess what happened rather than actually seeing it. A Ghost Bomb with three minutes left in OT was an easy save for Vladar with plenty of room in the 4v3. Brind’Amour takes a timeout with 42 seconds left on the “penalty” to rest his #1 unit. Flyers get a huge clear after Coots’ wins the faceoff.
The Flyers survive a defender losing his stick and as the power play is expiring Couturier gets a chance to clear, holds, and flips it to a surging Sanheim as he skates behind Ghost, and Philly’s #1 D-man nearly ended the game but sent his bid just a bit wide. This is a crazy game. Coots hasn’t been great today but that was a hell of a play.
There were a few more chances each way, but we’re headed to a shootout for the second straight night.
Shootout
Jarvis: Save.
Zegras: No goal (post).
Svechnikov: Goal.
Dvorak: Save.
Blake: No goal.
Michkov: No goal.
Hurricanes win, and that’ll make it eight straight wins against the Flyers. I hate Carolina. I’m done with vinegar BBQ.
