From the minute the NHL released its 2025-26 schedule, the Flyers knew this was going to be one of their toughest weekends.
They were aware playing one of the best teams in hockey, the Carolina Hurricanes, twice in less than 24 hours figured to be a monumental task.
They made it through the first half of the home-and-home on Saturday, rallying from a 3-2 deficit (after coughing up a 2-0 first period lead) to salvage a point in a 4-3 shootout loss.
Sunday, with a 5 p.m. starting time, it was more of the same, at least from a competitive standpoint.
This time it was the Flyers who fell behind by a 2-0 score before attempting a comeback.
A goal by Trevor Zegras with 1:52 left to play tied the score and sent it past regulation time once again at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.
But for the second straight night, the game went to a shootout and, like Saturday night, only one goal was scored, this by Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov. So the Flyers had to settle for just one point again in a 3-2 loss.
Flyers goalie Dan Vladar couldn’t be faulted for this outcome. The Hurricanes charged at him with all the firepower they had but Vladar didn’t give an inch.
While technically the Flyers lost their third in a row for the first time this season, coach Rick Tocchet sounded OK with how his team played.
“I like our third obviously,” he said in a televised interview. “I thought the guys hung in there. I thought our ‘D’ corps hung in there, they came at us pretty hard.”
Zegras notched his team-leading 13th goal and has been really coming through in the clutch.
“He wants the puck, he wants to make plays, that’s what we want from him,” Tocchet said. “That’s a big goal there. He looked like one of the better players out there.”
With the standings so tight, every point is important. These are the kinds of late-game heroics which can make a difference when the end of the season rolls around.
“It’s tough, back-to-back games,” Zegras said. “It’s a team effort, a team game. I just try to do the best that I can for my teammates.”
Despite getting outshot by a 14-4 margin in the first period, the Flyers escaped trailing only 2-1.
Down 2-0 late in the session, the Flyers were about to go on a power play when the puck reached Jamie Drysdale at the point. His shot deflected off the stick of William Carrier past goaltender Brandon Bussi with 52.4 seconds left on the clock.
Carolina jumped on top early. Carrier scored off a broken play with a shot past Vladar at 5:55.
Then the Flyers’ Nikita Grebenkin went to the penalty box and Carolina cashed in. Alexander Nikishin’s point shot reached the net by way of a redirect from Taylor Hall at 15:08.
The Hurricanes overcame a slow start in Philadelphia on Saturday and eventually came away with the win. This game, a much quicker start.
“They don’t give you any free ice,” Drysdale said in a televised first intermission interview. On his goal, he added: “Lucky bounce. A little bit of life, being on the road, second period, 2-1 game. I think we know we can play a lot better.”
Neither team scored in the second period, setting up a tense third period.
>York returns to action
Flyers defenseman Cam York returned to action after missing four games. Ty Murchison, who filled in admirably during York’s absence, was a healthy scratch.
“I think when guys come back, they want to play a simple game early,” coach Rick Tocchet said in pre-game comments. “That’s the way you get in the game I think. Just let the game come to you.”
York concurred.
“I think the biggest thing is just try to keep it simple,” he said. “Let the game come to you at first. Get your legs into it, get your mind thinking again. You never want to miss time but whenever you do, you want to try to be as simple as you can when you get back.”
>Short shots
Sean Couturier played in his 904th NHL game, moving past Bill Barber into third place on the Flyers’ all-time list. Bob Clarke (1,144) and Claude Giroux (1,000) are 1-2 on that list. . .The Flyers head to Montreal for a Tuesday game, the second of the current three-game road trip.
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