Whenever the Carolina Hurricanes are back in town, fans are typically treated to good hockey and a consistent roster — but that hasn’t been the case so far this season.
Traveling back to Raleigh after splitting on the road against the Lightning and Panthers, Carolina (9-7-0) looked ready to dial in against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers (8-7-1). While Canes fans looked to the ice for good, consistent hockey, they were instead treated with head coach Rod Brind’Amours most unreliable team to date.
“As a group, this doesn’t look like we’ve completely bought into how we want to do things,” said center Jordan Staal. “It’s gonna look like this is going to be a .500 club that wins some games and loses some games. … It’s certainly a little frustrating.”
After shutting out the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 on Saturday, Nov. 11, the Hurricanes should have felt momentum, especially with netminder Pyotr Kochetkov between the pipes. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin was also a star coming out of the weekend, reaching the top spot in Canes history in assists by a defenseman. While there was a plethora of accomplishments by the Carolina roster, those don’t matter unless they’re backed up with wins.
Kochetkov started against the Flyers, looking to build a win streak for the Canes, but lining up across the ice from him was Philadelphia goaltender Carter Hart. The Philly goaltender, who hasn’t played in a matchup since Nov. 1, looked on top of his game throughout the three periods of play. While Kochetkov finished the game with a .870 save percentage, Hart dominated the crease with a .969 percentage.
The first period started off with a quick goal from the Flyer’s bench. Right wing Owen Tippett hit a lucky off-speed shot to slip past Kochetkov and make the game 1-0 with less than two minutes off the clock. Carolina quickly tried to bounce back, getting a rebound and moving the puck to the Flyer’s side of the ice. With neither team reaching five shots on goal within the first 10 minutes of the period, it was clear that this was going to be a slow offensive game.
Carolina’s singular glimpse of scoring in the first period came from center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who glided down the ice on a breakaway. Breezing through the Flyer’s zone, Kotkaniemi looked ready to tie the game up, but Hart was too quick for the forward and stopped his one chance. Philadelphia would score once more before heading into the first intermission, sending the Hurricanes into the locker room trailing by two.
With the puck dropping for the second period, the Canes hoped to bounce back. It would only take 30 seconds for that idea to be demolished by another Flyer’s goal. Center Ryan Poehling chipped one past Kochetkov and the Carolina defense, bringing the game to 3-0.
“[Philadelphia] played exactly how we said they would coming in,” Brind’Amour said. “Probably flips out of the zone, chasing it down, putting the pressure on you, blocking everything you can see, that’s that’s winning hockey right now. I give them a lot of credit for sticking to their game plan.”
Hope was still high in PNC Arena, with Carolina fans trying to keep the energy high. The Hurricanes were able to keep the puck moving, but no one was able to shoot properly and get past the blocking Flyer’s defense.
Carolina’s only goal came from right wing Stefan Noesen, but he had some help. In a fancy tic-tac-toe move, defenseman Tony DeAngelo, center Jack Drury and Noesen slipped past the Philadelphia defense to confuse Hart and get on the board. Down 3-1, things started to look bright on the Canes bench. With the goal, Noesen scored his 100th career NHL point.
“In the way we play, I think the guys are still trying and trying to find ways to score goals,” Staal said. “I know it’s hard when you’re down [in points]. You know, [Philadelphia] did a good job of kind of clogging it up and, and just blocking shots. So I get that part, but you know just from the start, we just looked a little off.”
That all went downhill during the third period. While the Canes were able to keep the puck on the Flyer’s side, they still could not get good enough shots. Right wing Michael Bunting almost put the Canes down by only one goal, but his shot went off the crossbar and back onto the ice.
Tensions between rosters started to flare up in the third frame, with left wing Andrei Svechnikov looking to swing momentum back on the home-team’s side. It didn’t work, and the final buzzer rang in a 3-1 loss for the Canes.
“It was good intentions, we’re trying hard,” Brind’Amour said. “The team is, you know, sometimes trying to do a little too much, and they didn’t really get a good flow going on.”
Carolina will stay in Raleigh to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
