Flyers Get Outplayed By Hurricanes, Blanked in Round 2 Opener

As expected, the Hurricanes swallowed up the Flyers on the forecheck and backcheck, and limited the Flyers’ attack. Even in the back half of the period, they had only had one shot on goal. The Flyers had two power plays in the second half of the period, but could not take advantage.

They finished the first period with just 4 shots on goal compared to the Hurricanes’ 12. They simply looked dead.

Things settled down defensively in the second period after the Blake goal in the first, but that extended deep into the second period, too. The Flyers looked much better on the defensive side of the game, but offensively, they could not get anything going.

Even after 40 minutes, the Flyers only had 9 shots on goal, with 5 in the second period. The Hurricanes added to their lead with another score from Logan Stankoven (6). This time, Seth Jarvis (3) and Andrei Svechnikov (1) assisted on the score.

The Flyers had a good chance after Garnet Hathaway was on a breakaway out of the penalty box, but he just did not have the gas to get to the net alone. Philly had just one power play and could not do anything, but their penalty kill looked good in the second period as well.

Read More: ‘We’re Here to Win’: How the Flyers Can Win or Lose the Series vs. the Hurricanes

Frustrations boil over as the Hurricanes close it out

Still shorthanded after a Tyson Foerster slash late in the second period, the Flyers had one of their best chances all game when Sean Couturier led a rush and drove to the net. He created some chaos in front, but he and Luke Glendening could not connect.

The Flyers showed life in the third period, but were still pretty smothered by the Hurricanes, and still not showing enough.

It looked like frustrations began to boil over as the game progressed. Jackson Black got Trevor Zegras with one of the more egregious slashes I’ve seen in a while. Zegras did himself no favors by giving him an elbow in retaliation and a cross-check while he was already down.

That led to minor penalties and misconduct on both players. Zegras got one for the elbow and another for the cross-check, which gave Carolina another power play. Taylor Hall and Travis Konecny each got roughing penalties.

The Flyers killed the penalty once again. Right after, Shayne Gostisbehere gave Luke Glendening a good slash to the back of the leg. Nick Seeler did not like that and came in to defend his teammate. Both Seeler and Gostisbehere got misconduct penalties. The officiating was not messing around.

Philly got a power play with just under 5 minutes to play after Svechnikov was called for a cross-check. Rick Tocchet pulled Dan Vladar for the 6-on-4 advantage while trailing 3-0.

They had no success on the power play, but kept the net empty following the attempt at 6-on-4. The Flyers nearly scored on a few chances with the empty net, but could never get on the board.

Freddie Anderson ended the game with a 19-save shutout, his second of the postseason, winning the game 3-0 for the Hurricanes.

What’s next

The Flyers and Hurricanes square off in Game 2 of the series on Monday at 7:00 p.m. EST at the Lenovo Center.

Read More: Is Flyers Forward Owen Tippett Questionable for Game 1; Update: He’s Out

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