While the man advantage is typically where an NHL team might look to take the lead in a tied third period, tonight it burned the Carolina Hurricanes in their 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

With the Canes on a power play eight minutes into the third, it was the Flyers who capitalized. A turnover inside the offensive blueline gave the Flyers a rush the other way and left defenseman Brandon Manning with room to operate. He beat Canes starting goalie Cam Ward high on the stick side for a 4-3 Flyers lead.

Giving up goals on your own power play in the third period of a tied game is definitely not a recipe for success, and the Canes know that.

“It’s not many times you give up shorthanded goals, and you don’t want to be giving them up in big spots,” Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner, who had a goal and an assist, said. “It’s definitely a big moment in the game.”

The first period was relatively evenly played with both teams getting a few nice chances. However, on a power play resulting from a Hurricanes too many men on the ice penalty, the Flyers struck first with about two minutes left. A failed clearing attempt by Canes forward Viktor Stalberg found the stick of Flyers defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere at the point, and his wrister beat Ward for a 1-0 lead.

“The first one, I don’t know if he [Ward] had seen it,” head coach Bill Peters said. “We had that; that’s a power-play goal that’s unassisted, so obviously the guy either went through us or we gave it to them. It was in the zone, we had an opportunity to get it 200 feet and didn’t.”

The Canes did have several grade-A chances in the period, including a snapshot from the slot by rookie forward Sebastian Aho, a stuff chance by Skinner, and a shorthanded breakaway by Stalberg, but Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth, who made 26 saves on 29 shots, was sharp, and the visitors took a 1-0 lead to the locker room.

The Canes wasted no time tying things up in the second, as defenseman Justin Faulk beat Neuvirth with a wrist shot from the point just over a minute into the middle period. The tie was short-lived, as directly after the Canes killed off another penalty, defenseman Radko Gudas beat Ward from the point on a very similar goal to Gostisbehere’s about seven minutes into the second.

The Canes were able to tie again with Ward on the bench for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty call against Philadelphia, as Skinner gathered a loose puck and flicked it in for his third goal in two games. With an assist on Skinner’s goal, forward Victor Rask extended his season-opening point streak to eight games.

“That line [Skinner-Rask-Stempniak] has been our most consistent line,” Peters said. “It’s been dangerous offensively, and at the same token they’ve got to remember to play a two-way game and be responsible and for the most part they are doing it.”

Carolina took the lead barely over a minute after as Stalberg made a beautiful individual play, coming up with a steal in the neutral zone and slipping the puck through Neuvirth’s five-hole to make it 3-2.

The scoring in the second period was not done there though, as Flyers captain and forward Claude Giroux took a pass from behind the net from forward Wayne Simmonds and snapped it by Ward to tie the game at three with a little less than three minutes left in the middle frame. That would do it, however, sending both teams to the intermission tied.

The Canes had the better of the play for much of the third period, but Manning’s short-handed goal proved to be the difference maker. The Canes pressed for the equalizer the rest of the way after, but Neuvirth and the Flyers held them off, and left Raleigh with a victory.

“That hurts, giving up a shorthanded goal tied going into the third at home,” Skinner said. “You’ve got to find a way to execute better than that. We made a good push at the start of the third, you just can’t be giving up shorthanded goals like that. It’s a tough break, but we can learn from it.”

The Canes will have a day off tomorrow then head back out on the road to take on the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night.