RALEIGH, N.C. – Keeping Carolina’s high-octane offense under control was the Flyers’ prime objective on Monday night and the game plan worked.
At least for more than 50 minutes.
The Flyers held the Hurricanes to a single first-period goal until a Seth Jarvis goal with 8:39 to play pulled Carolina even at 2-2.
Then Carolina picked up a goal from Taylor Hall with 1:06 left in the first overtime, providing the difference in a 3-2 win at Levano Center and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 3 will be played Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
It will take a while for the disappointment of losing an early 2-0 lead to wear off but when it does, the Flyers can take some comfort that they played much better than they did in Saturday night’s Game 3 loss by a 3-0 score.
The Hurricanes once again generated a lot of shots but the Flyers did a good job keeping most of them from coming out of high-danger areas.
Of the shots that did present a risk, goaltender Dan Vladar was at his best, especially against an unusually high number of penalties. There wasn’t much he could do on Jarvis’ game-tying goal or the game-winner.
For the most part in this game, the Flyers did a much better job of keeping their composure and not getting goaded into taking any penalties after the whistle.
Plus, the Flyers were able to contain Carolina’s vaunted forechecking during the first two periods. They were able to get pucks out of their defensive zone much quicker.
“Yeah, but it’s still a loss,” Travis Sanheim pointed out. “Move on, get ready for the next one. I think it helps our confidence, though, going into the next one. Much better effort from our group. Probably deserved better.”
The Flyers believe they can get more positive results when they return to Philadelphia.
“I thought we did a good job countering their forecheck,” Travis Konecny said. “Creating our own momentum and then making them stop in their own zone. I still think there’s another level to our game we can get to. A lot better tonight. Should have gone our way tonight.”
Konecny said the players weren’t down in the postgame locker room. They know they can compete with the talented Hurricanes.
“We played good tonight,” said Konecny, who had a chance in overtime which could have sent the game the other way. “I should have finished that. Should have been over, going home with a win. I think we’re going home now to our fans. So we’re excited.”
In a complete reversal of Game 1, it was the Flyers who stormed out of the gate to take an early 2-0 lead.
Philadelphia needed less than five minutes to get two pucks past goaltender Frederik Andersen.
Jamie Drysdale scored on a power play at 4:02. Andersen made an initial save but then tried to clear the puck up the middle. Drysdale stepped up, blocked the attempt and sent a shot past Andersen. The goal was ruled unassisted.
Just 39 seconds later, the Flyers took advantage of a turnover by defenseman Mike Reilly. Carl Grundstrom took control, found Sean Couturier out front and the captain made no mistake.
That two-goal edge held up until a Carolina power play, one of three in the period, which resulted in a goal by Nickolaj Ehlers at 10:21. Jackson Blake spotted Ehlers open on the right side and his shot beat Vladar short side.
Like Konecny, Drysdale believes the Flyers are far from out of this series.
“We knew we had a chance of winning the game, it was just a matter of time,” Drysdale said. “I think we pressed in overtime. Had a lot of good looks. You’re on the road, Game 2, overtime, anything can happen. We had a lot of great looks there.
“I think we always thought, always believe we can play with these guys. Every regular season game we were right with them. It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to come out with a win with this one. There’s definitely things we can take and learn. Know how to learn to be successful. We have a few days to regroup, learn from it and come back harder at home.”
Coach Rick Tocchet acknowledged the improvement in this effort vs. Game 1 where the Flyers never recovered from a slow start.
“We played a good hockey game,” Tocchet said. “It was a fight by both teams. I thought we played really well. After Game 1 I heard some people say it was embarrassing. But I thought the young guys really competed. Very proud of these guys. They (the Hurricanes) just made the play at the end.”
Can the Flyers rebound from a game in which they held the lead for most of the game and then let it slip away? Playing well in Game 2 should help the cause.
“Just a lot more energy,” he said. “We found our legs. Maybe just a quick turnaround. Sometimes when we have a tough game we always bounce back. We’ve done it all year. So we did it again. We just didn’t score the goal.”
>Short shots
The Flyers were 26-0-3 when leading after two periods during the regular season and 2-0 in their series against the Penguins. . .Defenseman Emil Andrae returned to the lineup, replacing Noah Juulsen. . .Carolina has sold out 161 consecutive home games.
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