The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 Tuesday night in their short one-game road trip.
The Canes played a strong game the whole way through and never trailed through 60 minutes. Michael Bunting, Brendan Lemieux, Seth Jarvis and Jesperi Kotkaniemi all tallied goals for Carolina, while Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 27 of 28 for the win.
Here are my three takeaways from the win:
Versatility
With Andrei Svechnikov being a last minute scratch due to illness, some shuffling had to occur.
So Michael Bunting got the bump up to the top line and he not only carried his own, but he produced as well.
"We moved Bunts up and obviously he cashed in with a goal," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "I thought he was really good too. Noticeable, and that's what... when you're playing with the top guys, that's kind of what you expect and I thought he did a great job."
Bunting scored the opening goal by burying his own rebound from the low-slot and had the assist on Seth Jarvis' dagger goal in the third period.
The new-addition forward now has two goals and five points in his last four games and he's been able to do that all on different lines.
It's been a bit of a mixed bag for Bunting this season with time on the first, second and fourth lines, but despite that, he's managed to produce five goals and 14 points in 20 games.
He's a versatile forward that has been solid just about anywhere he's been.
"I thought we played well together," Bunting said on his line. "Obviously they're two good players and I thought we connected well. We were able to produce a couple of times. That's my game. I can play anywhere in the lineup and I'm very confident wherever I am too. Anytime I get the opportunity, I'm going to roll with it."
Key Kills
To start both the first and second periods, Jordan Staal took a penalty less than a minute in.
So the Flyers had momentum building moments right off the rip and with Carolina's top killer in the box twice, yet came away with nothing, which is a credit to to the penalty kill.
Those are moments in a game where the whole complexity could change, but the Canes' PK came through and delivered the goods.
The grouping of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei all killed over two minutes a piece and even managed to string together some shorthanded chances.
Dominant Depth
When you get the kind of performance the Hurricanes got from their fourth line and third pair on top of an already strong overall team game, things have gone pretty well for you.
Carolina's fourth line easily handled the Flyers all night, outchancing their opponents 12-2 at even strength and outscoring them 1-0.
"That line was really good," Brind'Amour said. "Obviously got a goal, got rewarded for it, but they had good zone time and created a lot of havoc down there. So they certainly did their job."
They not only generated energy for the team, but secured the game-winning goal too. A pretty good game for the trio of Brendan Lemieux, Stefan Noesen and Jack Drury.
In addition to them, the pairing of Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield was the Hurricanes' best.
They outchanced Philly 26-8 at even strength and were on the ice for three of Carolina's goals.
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