It wasn’t pretty, but the Carolina Hurricanes managed to secure two points Tuesday night thanks to Dougie Hamilton’s overtime winner in a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at PNC Arena.
In the third straight game that the Hurricanes saw themselves trailing off of two quick goals, this one proved the first in a long time that they were able to overcome it, scoring four unanswered goals before eventually allowing Philly two more to tie it.
“It was sloppy for us,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “You are going to get scored on, but you always want to make the other team earns their goals. It didn’t feel that way. A lot of turnovers and kind of sloppy coverage. It’s not how we want it to be done. End result, obviously we want the win. It was a tough start. A couple of weird goals, but give the guys credit though. Nobody on the bench was hanging their heads or anything. We just kept talking of getting it back.”
Off the opening whistle and only 37 seconds in, the Flyers’ Travis Konecny charged in down the right side and let go of a wrister from the circle that squeezed right through James Reimer’s arms. It was a soft goal and wouldn’t be the only one he would have wanted back that night as the veteran netminder seemed rusty in his first start since Dec. 27 in New York, finishing off the night with a 0.81 save percentage.
The Flyers’ second goal was less on Reimer and more on the defense as Haydn Fleury’s clearing attempt struck Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek. He controlled it off his chest and hit Michael Raffl who was alone at the net. He deked out Reimer and sunk it.
“We came out flat and that’s not good,” said Warren Foegele. “We come back and we are back to playing loose. We got to get back to our identity and that’s playing fast and hard and making the right decisions at the right time.”
The Canes finally woke up from their poor start and it was the fourth line that got the team going. Brock McGinn shot a puck at Flyers’ goalie Brian Elliott and Lucas Wallmark grabbed the rebound and tucked it in off his backhand.
“That first goal was really important,” Brind’Amour said. “Just as they got their second one we answered right back. It got us back into the game.”
Jordan Martinook was also awarded a secondary assist on the goal marking his 100th career NHL point.
Late into the first, a beautiful feed from Jordan Staal and an equally great finish by Foegele tied the game and put the Hurricanes right back into it. Staal looped around the back of the Flyer’s net and took it up along the wall near the top of the circle. He then tossed it past multiple bodies cross-ice to Foegele streaking in and he buried it top-shelf.
In the second period, the Hurricanes took control of the game and it was thanks to two rockets from their newest blueliners that put them up 4-2.
The first was a huge wind-up by Jake Gardiner from the top of the left circle. Foegele had won the puck along the boards and managed to get it out to Sebastian Aho before taking a nasty face plant into the wall. Hamilton then laced it to Gardiner who was charging in and the rest was history.
The second came from Joel Edmundson on another bomb. As the team passed it around the zone, Edmundson set himself up at the point and cocked his stick ready to fire. Dougie Hamilton saw him and fed it right to him as Edmundson let it rip straight past Elliott.
The Canes were controlling the flow well, but another turnover led to an opportunity that the Flyers jumped on. A rare Jaccob Slavin turnover off the skate of Kevin Hayes wound up right to Nicolas Aube-Kubel and he shot it right past Reimer through the same arm that had surrendered the first goal.
The Canes narrowly avoided giving up a tying goal as the second period expired, but it was evidence of what was to come as the Flyers continued to set the pace through the third period.
It looked as though the Canes might have escaped with a win through regulation, but late in the third a breakdown in coverage and goaltending forfeited the tying goal. Travis Sanheim skated behind the net past two Hurricanes, neither of whom engaged him and then Sanheim brought the puck up, spun around and shot it still on the ice, five-hole.
The game went to overtime and the Flyers had a few quick chances to take the game, but they fanned on the chances and eventually the tables tilted.
Controlling the puck in the Philly zone, Hamilton skated around one Flyer and went straight at Sanheim who had earlier lost his stick. Hamilton then used him as a screen, grabbing himself a double nutmeg as he fired it through his legs and five-hole on Elliott.
“I turned the corner and [Sanheim] didn’t have a stick so I was going to try to deke him but I couldn’t really. I just tried to see if I could get in there and so I got a little shot through and nice that it went in.”
The Canes now have a bit of a longer rest as they wait for the arrival of the Arizona Coyotes and LA Kings who they will play back-to-back on Friday and Saturday to close out their homestand. The Canes need all the points they can muster in the upcoming games as the season enters its second half and the team is ready for the challenge.
“It’s big,” Hamilton said. “We know how close the standings are. Couple of teams are behind us so we know how important these points are at this time of the season. We got to play better than we did. Big points, but we have to bear down and make sure we are playing better.”
Carolina goaltenders James Reimer and Petr Mrazek wrestle during the storm surge after the overtime win against Philadelphia on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at PNC Arena. Reimer saved 17 of 21 shots as the Hurricanes beat the Flyers 5-4.
