PHILADELPHIA – Playing a powerhouse team such as Carolina means never taking the foot off the old gas pedal.
The Flyers, however, did not heed that advice in Saturday night’s game against the Hurricanes.
After taking a 2-0 lead through one period, the Flyers sort of put it in cruise control midway through the second. The Hurricanes took advantage of that lapse to tie the score and eventually won in a shootout for a 4-3 victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Jackson Blake scored the only goal of the shootout for the winners.
It was the first shootout loss of the season for the Flyers, who are now 5-1 in that form of tiebreaker.
Leading up to the deciding goal, Seth Jarvis scored at 12:26 of the third period to give Carolina a very brief (23 seconds) lead but the Flyers rallied on a goal by Carl Grundstrom.
Carolina overcame a 2-0 lead with a pair of its own midway through the second period.
First, Nikolaj Ehlers finished off a feed from ex-Flyer defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to score at 9:11.
Then, goaltender Sam Ersson appeared to be screened by his own defenseman as Alexander Nikishin’s shot found its way into the net.
The Flyers were aware they gave away a good chance to win the game with that lapse in the second period.
“Obviously there was a shift there in the second period,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “They had quite a few good shifts in a row. You know we had plenty of chances to get body position on guys, get the puck out, we didn’t execute.
“So we need to learn from that second period. We kind of regrouped in the third, a big goal there to get us tied up. But we need a full 60 (minutes) from our group.”
Some lessons can be learned from this one, like how to go about protecting a lead against a talented outfit like the ‘Canes.
“Got off to a good start but we expected a big push,” Trevor Zegras said. “I think we just got on our heels a little bit instead of playing that same game (like the first period). They’re a real good team, we kind of expected that.”
Coach Rick Tocchet said his team knew Carolina would be coming out looking to equalize things in the second period.
“We had a great first period, I really liked our start,” Tocchet said. “The second, Carolina is a good pressure team. You got to go at them with pressure and we backed up.
“I didn’t think we had enough wall grit, body positioning. When we get pressure, we can’t back off. I knew it (a Carolina rally) was coming. We just need a line to settle things down. We’re working on that. I give the guys a lot of credit. But there are times we’re going to have to figure this out when teams bring the pressure.”
In one of their best periods of the season, the Flyers dominated the first 20 minutes and came away with that 2-0 lead.
Zegras figured on both goals, assisting on the first and scoring the second.
Zegras set up Bobby Brink for the first goal. He cut across the blue and spotted Brink open at the top of the slot. Brink made no mistake with his shot, beating Pyotr Kotchetkov at 10:04.
“Nice play by ‘Zeg,’ in the middle,” Brink said in a first intermission interview. As for the shot, “it’s kind of repetition, kind of a little bit of a reflex.”
Later, Zegras connected for his team-leading 12th goal created by a nifty pass from Travis Konecny behind the Carolina net. The short shot by Zegras connected at 17:34.
>Grundstrom’s talent ‘can pay the mortgage’
Grundstrom has now scored two goals in his first four games with the Flyers. He seems to be fitting in well at both ends of the ice.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “A great group of guys. Just trying to help out.”
Without a doubt, Grundstrom has better hands than most typical fourth-line players. He had a chance to pass off the puck on his goal but chose to shoot instead, which is the mark of a confident scorer.
“I saw we had a two-on-one,” Grundstrom said. “He (goalie Pyotr Kochetkov) left some space on the short side and I just aimed for that. I looked over a little (at his wingman) but I saw I had an opening.”
Added Tocchet: “He can skate and he’s not afraid to get inside. In the NHL, when you can skate and you’re an inside player, you can pay the mortgage.”
>Short shots
The two teams will complete the home-and-away back-to-back series on Sunday night in Raleigh, N.C. . .Flyers entered Saturday’s game having allowed the fourth-fewest shots per game (24.7) in the NHL. . .Sean Couturier played in his 903rd game with the Flyers, tying Bill Barber for third on the team’s all-time list. Bob Clarke (1,144) and Claude Giroux (1,000) are 1-2 on the list. . .Zegras’ goal was his 12th in 30 games. Last year he had a total of 12 in 57 games with Anaheim.
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