The Flyers competed hard, but just couldn't eke out a win against a strong Hurricanes squad.
After giving up a touchdown and extra point to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella expressed confidence that his team would be ready to play for Monday night's tilt against the Carolina Hurricanes.
He wasn't totally wrong. Against one of the top teams in the NHL, the Flyers managed to compete hard until the final whistle. Unfortunately, they just couldn't pull out a win, falling by a score of 3-2 to the Hurricanes at Wells Fargo Center.
Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen netted the game-winner with 3:47 remaining in the third period.
"I think we played our ass off tonight," Tortorella told the media after the game. "I'm not disappointed about how we played and how hard we played. It kind of pissed me off at the beginning of the game where we kind of get jumped there for the first five or six minutes, but then they grew. Then they started playing. They realized they could play."
The Hurricanes were largely in control for much of the first period despite being outscored in the stanza. Stefan Noesen netted the icebreaker just 3:11 into the game while his team proceeded to outshoot the Flyers 11-3 through 17 minutes.
And then Owen Tippett happened.
Tippett, who has had a slow start to the season with just one goal in his first eight games, potted the equalizer after forcing a turnover in the neutral zone. He banked a quick pass to Sean Couturier at the blue line, gathered the return feed and beat Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen with a nasty wrister for his second goal of the campaign.
With momentum on the Flyers' side, Nic Deslauriers kept the good vibes flowing with a monster shift that ended with him setting up Garnet Hathaway for his first goal as a Flyer. Deslauriers laid a couple big hits that helped tilt the ice in the Flyers' favor, including one that flattened Jack Drury along the end boards.
Both teams made it a priority to push the game's pace in the third period after Carolina evened the score in the middle frame, courtesy of a one-timed blast from Michael Bunting on the power play. The Flyers generated numerous high-danger chances — including golden opportunities for Tyson Foerster and Cam Atkinson — but it was Teravainen who ended up being the hero in the game's final minutes.
"I thought we made some really good offensive plays in the third period. Created a lot of scoring chances, not only off the rush, but also within the forecheck," said Tortorella.
"(Andersen) stood on his head in the third period."
Andersen ended the night with 26 saves on 28 Flyers shots, including 12 stops in the final frame.
Carter Hart was outstanding as well. He turned aside 30 of 33 shots and made several key stops late to keep the game knotted up, including a clutch toe save on Martin Necas, who danced past Egor Zamula and Travis Sanheim a little too easily.
The Flyers' power play has been rough to start the season, but their struggles on the man advantage were extra costly Monday night. They went 0-for-5 on the power play while the Hurricanes converted on their only power-play attempt of the night. The Flyers' woes on the power play were particularly glaring in the middle frame, when they failed to convert on each of their three attempts and managed just two shots on goal in their six minutes of time on the advantage.
Through nine games, the Flyers have gone 4-for-32 on the man advantage.
Still, Tortorella believes he's seeing progress from his team on the power play.
"We didn't get the middle of the ice. We kept on throwing it down the wall, and that's what they're waiting for to jump you," said Tortorella. "It's still inconsistent, but same thing as our team — as we try to get better we're gonna keep on working at it and just go day by day."
After being a healthy scratch in each of the Flyers' last six games, forward Morgan Frost returned to the lineup while Ryan Poehling watched from the press box. Frost saw 17:02 of ice time and fired three shots on goal, but failed to register a point. It was an unremarkable performance for Frost, but that was to be expected after two weeks of inactivity.
The Flyers will wrap up their four-game homestand Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres, then travel to Upstate New York to finish their home-and-home set with the Sabres at KeyBank Center.