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The Philadelphia Flyers suffered their second loss of the season on Saturday night and it’s one that will sting until their home opener on Monday.
Winger Seth Jarvis scored an overtime winning goal with 17 seconds remaining to give the Hurricane a 4-3 win. It followed a disallowed goal by Flyers forward Bobby Brink.
Brink’s goal was erased by the NHL Situation Room in Toronto as they ruled defenseman Travis Sanheim interfered with Hurricanes goalie Freddie Andersen with 53.1 seconds remaining.
The ending marred a career best performance for Brink, who scored a goal and assist. Along with his line mates Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster, they were the Flyers best line against a formidable Hurricanes lineup.
Much as they had on Thursday in Florida, the Flyers showed they are able to hang around with Stanley Cup contending teams. A big reason was goalie Sam Ersson’s season debut performance with 36 saves on 40 shots. He had little to no chance of stopping the goals Carolina scored.
That said, the Hurricanes have been a particularly difficult matchup for the Flyers, as they’ve lost 14 of their last 16 matchups (2-9-5) with them.
Game Summary: Flyers Settle for One Point
First Period
Defensively, the Flyers look extremely loose defensively and struggling to clear the puck to start the game, forcing Ersson to make a flurry of saves. There were far too many chances for the Hurricanes at near point blank range.
In addition, the Flyers took three penalties in the first period, putting them at an early disadvantage. It started with an early infraction by winger Travis Konecny. While they were able to kill it off, the Hurricanes continued to put on pressure. Defenseman Egor Zamula got called for tripping winger Jackson Blake. Later in the period, Noah Cates was penalized for slashing Blake.
However, when the Flyers finally got their first power-play following a Jalen Chatfield trip on Cates, they scored in short order. Center Trevor Zegras found Konency for a quick shot that deflected off a stanchion behind the net. The puck ended up in front of the net for Owen Tippett to put past Andersen to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Second Period
Carolina’s transition speed would prove just as lethal four minutes into the period. Center Logan Stankoven tied the game at 1-1 due to the Cates line and defenseman Jamie Drysdale getting trapped behind the play. To compound things, defenseman Egor Zamula took himself out of the play diving across.
However the Flyers would respond and take the lead on Bobby Brink’s quick release to beat Andersen on a top shelf goal. Rookie winger Nikita Grebenkin was able to get the puck up to Cates as he was coming off the ice, who found Brink for the scoring play.
Carolina tied the game at 2-2 when center Jett Luchanko would fire an errant pass that Eric Robinson intercepted. The Hurricanes center got the puck up ice quickly, but looked to have been sealed off by Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler. Somehow his centering pass found a net crashing Taylor Hall who make no mistake.
Late in the period, Carolina took their first lead of the game. Center Jordan Staal’s one timer goal put Carolina up 3-2 with 1:30 left.
Third Period & Overtime
The Flyers tied the game at 3-3 and force overtime when Sanheim launched a bullet that beat Andersen with four minutes left in regulation. Brink found Sanheim with a great centering pass from the corner.
In the final minutes of regulation and overtime, both teams traded chances with Ersson and Andersen making major stops. While it appeared that Brink had scored, the ruling from Toronto’s Situation Room was that Sanheim had interfered with the Hurricanes goalie.
As a result, the Flyers had to come back onto the ice, setting the stage for Carolina’s game winning goal 36 seconds later.
Three Takeaways
Brink’s Brilliance Nearly Wins It
Despite being denied the overtime winning goal, Bobby Brink played the best game of his Flyers career, picking up a goal and assist. This isn’t hyperbole as he was involved in all zones. His centering pass to Sanheim on the game tying goal was letter-perfect as he drew Carolina defenders to him.
Subsequently, Brink got another break-in and shot on Anderson following his goal. And he was able to draw an interference call at the net front on Hurricanes defenseman K’Andre Miller, leading to a Flyers power-play.
Brink’s linemates were strong as well. Cates picked up an assist and was a machine at times. He drew an important third period tripping call on Chatfield. In addition, Foerster triggered the game tying goal with a good pass to Brink behind the net.
Ersson Matches Vladar With Strong First Game
The fact that Ersson, the Flyers incumbent, didn’t draw the opening night start was an eye opening moment. But if you watched the Flyers preseason, Vladar put forward the better performance in his appearances. As a result, Ersson entered Saturday night’s game under an early magnifying glass.
Despite giving up four goals in the loss, Ersson’s performance in net was impressive. The Hurricanes made sure to put the Swedish goalie through his paces, building a 8-1shot advantage in the opening 12 minutes. Despite that, he would continue to make big stops to keep the Flyers in the game.
Consequently, he was the Flyers best penalty killer as he made stops on a Jackson Blake one timer and an impressive save on Taylor Hall in the third period.
His work helped the Flyers keep the Hurricanes vaunted power-play off the board. He also covered for a bad Matvei Michkov cross ice pass that ends up on a Hurricane player’s stick, forcing him to make a stop.
Grebenkin and Luchanko Debuts
With Carolina putting a line-up that plays with a high skill set and a quick pace, but not as heavy as the Florida Panthers, Jett Luchanko and Nikita Grebenkin got their opportunities to draw in.
Grebenkin was relentless in his shifts through the night, helping to extend offensive zone shifts and pressure. He earned his first point when he smartly got the puck to Cates during a line change. During a late second period shift, he was knocked from behind, got back up and kept the offensive play going.
Conversely, Luchanko’s performance was a bit uneven.
A late period shift saw the young center make a good play off the boards to find Garnet Hathaway for a chance. Luchanko was able to win a defensive zone draw midway through the period. However, his errant pass off the left boards led to the Hurricanes second goal.
Next Up
The Flyers head back to Philadelphia for their home opener on Monday night, hoping to avenge their season-opening loss to the Florida Panthers. Game time is 7pm ET.