No lead is safe with the Carolina Hurricanes these days, as the Canes blew a third-period lead for the second game in a row Saturday night, falling to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in PNC Arena.
The Hurricanes (30-30-11) entered the final frame with a 1-0 lead, let that slip away, got a goal back to go up 2-1, then faltered again to watch the Flyers (36-25-11) steal a win on Carolina’s home ice. The loss was reminiscent of an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins Tuesday night, where the Canes squandered a 4-1 advantage.
“Obviously we could have been better tonight,” Canes forward Jordan Staal said. “Very similar and disappointing. Frustrating.”
The Canes struggled to execute in this one, especially with a man advantage. Carolina went 0 for 3 on power plays, which included a four-minute double minor late in the second period that extended into the start of the third.
“The execution wasn’t very good,” head coach Bill Peters said. “We had a great opportunity with the double minor there. We didn’t build any momentum off of that whatsoever. It’s just poor execution.”
Prior to the rough third period, Canes goalie Cam Ward, who stopped 21 of 24 shots faced, was the bright spot of this game, with a few top-notch saves to keep the Flyers off the scoreboard. Ward allowed three of the four goals in the third period, with the final one coming on an empty net, but was better than the scoreline suggests. Philadelphia goalie Alex Lyon took the win, stopping 19 of 21 shots.
“We left Ward out to dry,” Staal said. “I thought he played great.”
After a somewhat slow start for the Canes, who were bailed out by some great saves from Ward, Carolina jumped ahead 1-0 with just under five minutes to play in the first period. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin fired a shot from the point, which was perfectly deflected down by Staal and through the five hole of Lyon.
The second period for the Canes belonged to Ward, as the Carolina netminder was on his game to keep the lead 1-0 for the Hurricanes. Ward turned away all seven Philadelphia shots in the second period, including denying Flyers forward Jakub Voracek on a breakaway midway through the frame.
Ward finally got beat in the third period, as Flyers forward Travis Konecny redirected a Travis Sanheim shot past him to tie the game at 1-1.
The tie didn’t last long though, as Carolina answered just 1:45 later as Slavin fired a wrister, while following down, past Lyon and into the roof of the net to put the Canes back on top, 2-1.
As quickly as Carolina answered the Flyers opening goal, Philadelphia answered back. One minute and 54 seconds after Slavin’s tally, Voracek scored to tie it at 2-2. Voracek received a pass right in front of net, and used some fancy stick work to fool Ward and get the puck into the net.
The Flyers didn’t stop there, scoring again less than three minutes later as forward Valtteri Filppula converted on a breakaway opportunity to give Philadelphia its first lead of the game at 3-2.
“We’ve got to be able to play a full 60,” Slavin said. “That’s what it’s going to take and we haven’t been able to do that the last two games.”
Philadelphia scored again on an empty net, sealing the 4-2 victory as forward Michael Raffl closed the scoring. The let down, keeping Carolina 11 points out of a seemingly unreachable playoff spot, was result of a flat looking Hurricanes team that seemed to be lacking in effort and will to win. Peters addressed the difference in commitment from the locker room.
“There’s different levels,” Peters said. “I think some guys are fully invested and some guys aren’t quite where they should be or need to be.”
The Canes will be right back at it Sunday, taking on the New York Islanders at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Philadelphia Flyer defender Travis Sanheim high-fives his team in celebration of scoring a point against the Carolina Hurricanes in PNC Arena, Saturday, March 17. The Canes lost to the Flyers, 2-4.
