Flyers Earn 2 Points Against Carolina

The Flyers finished and moved on from their homestand against the Carolina Hurricanes this weekend, falling twice in consecutive shootouts. Nonetheless, Philadelphia sits at the top of the wildcard after promising performances in both games.

Saturday

The Flyers concluded their 6-game homestand with a 4-3 shootout loss. Despite a strong first period, things drastically slowed down in the 2nd and eventually cost the Flyers the 2 points. 

Shockingly, the Flyers played a dominant first period, despite the first 20 minutes being a consistent struggle so far this year. By the end of the period, Philadelphia had the lead in shots, faceoffs, and goals. After an early failed attempt by Couturier and Grundstrom on a shorthanded 2-1 breakaway, it was worrisome as to how the Flyers would go on to perform. Even at the halfway point, the Canes led the shots 4-2. It was 2 young stars for Philadelphia that turned things around, as a Zegras pass to Bobby Brink gave the Flyers an early lead. It was Brink’s 8th goal of the season, while Zegras and Sanheim earned their 18th and 12th assists, respectively. 

Zegras continued to shine for the Flyers as he and his former Anaheim teammate, along with Travis Konecny, grew the Flyers’ lead 2-0. As the period came to a close, Zegras displayed his impeccable ability to read the play as he took a centering pass from Konecny and sent it home. Zegras now has a 4-goal lead as the leading goal scorer for the team so far, as Owen Tippett follows with 9. This is excluding Tyson Foerster, as he remains on injured reserve for the next 2-3 months. 

Konecny’s assist tied him with Zegras for most assists this season, both having 19 after this weekend’s games. Drysdale has the 2nd most assists of a defenseman, as he and York are tied with 11 while Travis Sanheim has 12.

Despite the dominance of the 1st period continuing over for the start of the 2nd, Carolina began to take over midway through. Despite a solid attempt from Tippett and the Flyers leading shots 4-0 in the first 5 minutes, Yet a turnover by rookie Ty Murchison gave the Canes the upper hand, as Nikolaj Ehlers was able to close the Flyers’ lead 2-1. By the 13-minute mark of the period, Carolina led the Flyers in shots 6-5, only to respond and tie the game at 14:12. Alexander Nikishin was able to get a slap shot by Sam Ersson.

Although Seth Jarvis was able to give the Canes their first lead of the game midway through the third, Carl Grundstrum earned his 2nd of the year in only 5 games played this year just 23 seconds later. With the tying goal, the game was sent to overtime. 

After an uneventful overtime, neither team was able to score through the first 2 rounds of a shootout. Sam Ersson’s shootout success so far this year came to a close as Jackson Blake was able to net one in a must-save for Ersson, giving the Canes the win. The Flyers concluded their 6-game homestand with a 2-2-2 record.

Sunday

`The Flyers traveled to Raleigh for their first road trip of December, seemingly reversing the game flow from Saturday. After a shockingly slow first period for Philadelphia, the Canes led shooting 14-4 and earned both their regulation goals from the night. Despite an early goal from William Carrier and a power play goal from Taylor Hall getting past Dan Vladar, Jamie Drysdale earned his 2nd point of the weekend in the last minute of play. Zegras earned his first of 2 points of the night with an assist on Drysdale’s goal, while Michkov earned his first point in the last 5 games with the secondary assist. This concluded scoring for both teams for the majority of the game.

In the first 2 periods of play, Drysdale was 1 for 1 on shots, secured a takeaway, and blocked 2 shots in 15 minutes and 18 seconds of playing time. Drysdale has had a great year so far, often succeeding in the shadow of Zegras, as he becomes a vital aspect to the teams’ defense. 

The Flyers were able to hold their own and give the Canes a stronger challenge in the second. Although they were unable to score, they played physical and turned things around to go onto dominate the game. At times, they didn’t even seem to be the slower of the 2 teams. 

The 3rd period continued similarly, yet the Canes appeared tired and slow and Philadelphia ran with it. They outshot Carolina 15-7 before Zegras was able to get one in the back of the net to send the game to overtime yet again. 

After another uneventful overtime, except for a bad tripping call against Bobby Brink, the pair went to overtime for a similar fate to Saturday’s appearance. While Zegras managed to get the puck past Bussi before being stopped by the bar, Dvorak and Michkov both had their shots blocked. A 2nd-round goal by the Canes earned them the win, as the Flyers fell 0-2 on the weekend. 

Despite earning half of the potential points, the Flyers didn’t go down without a fight in either games this weekend. There were certainly times they appeared to be the better team, yet their inconsistency made its mark. There wasn’t anything blatantly awful about either game once they got going, it was just getting there and keeping it up that was the struggle.

While the Canes sit on top of the conference right now, the Flyers have given them a challenge in all 3 meetings this year. All have gone past regulation, with an overtime loss in October and this weekend’s shootout losses. While Carolina has swept the series so far, with only one more match to go in April, the Flyers have shown immense grit and effort against this top team, and truly gave them a run for their money. While consistency may have been lacking, you can’t say the same for the effort this team has shown.

While Cam York made his return on Sunday, I hope to see Risto join him for his season debut this week. 

The Flyers continue their road trip throughout the rest of December, having only 1 home game remaining in 2025 sandwiched between 4 away games on each end. They play 3 games in the next 5 days, with Montreal coming up on Tuesday at 7:00pm.