The Flyers fell behind 2-0 through the early stages of the second period. Michael Raffl and Sean Couturier scored to get it tied. In the end, Nathan Gerbe and Chris Terry scored in the shoot out while Cam Ward stopped two of the three Flyers shooters and Carolina defeated the Flyers 3-2 on Saturday.
It was a tight checking first period by the Hurricanes. The Flyers never had any sustained pressure and managed just four shots. For the most part the Flyers played a solid first period as well.Carolina mustered just seven shots on goal but one found it's way home.
Elias Lindholm scored his 17th goal of the season at 11:00 for the lone goal of the opening stanza. Lindholm buried a juicy rebound into an empty net to give the Hurricanes the 1-0 lead. Eric and Jordan Staal had the assists.
Ray Emery struggled with rebound control on a couple of occasions. Fortunately for Emery, only one found it's way past.
The Flyers were able to kill two Carolina power plays. The Flyers did not have a chance with the man advantage.
The second started the same way the first did. Carolina checked well and it lead to their second goal of the afternoon.
Jordan Staal stole the puck from Nicklas Grossmann at center and went in on a two on one. Staal elected to shoot and beat Emery under the arm for his fifth of the season at 3:27. The goal was unassisted.
The Flyers finally got on the board at the 9:46 mark. With Alexander Semin in the box for hooking, the Flyers 3rd ranked power play went to work. Sean Couturier took a shot from the point that went off Michael Raffl's stick in front and beat Cam Ward.
The goal was initially credited to Couturier but was changed to give Raffl his 21st of the season. Couturier and Del Zotto had the assists. The Flyers were able to get more pressure following the goal and managed to out shoot Carolina 8-7 for the period.
It was a very methodical third period for Carolina. They kept the Flyers to the outside, bottled up the neutral zone and had great defensive zone support. The Flyers had a chance on the power play at the 6:27 mark but could not capitalize.
Carolina also had one man advantage in the third and came up empty.
The Flyers would finally tie it up at 18:10 of the period. Couturier made it 2-2 with his 14th of the season. Couturier made a nice move in tight and beat Ward between the five hole. Del Zotto and Brayden Schenn had the assists.
The teams would head to overtime. Both teams had a few chances but neither could solve the goalies and the game went to the shoot out.
Carolina would get goals from Nathan Gerbe and Chris Terry. Only Nick Cousins was able to beat Cam Ward and the Hurricanes skated off with a 3-2 win.
The Flyers are back in action tomorrow when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins. Game time is 12:30
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074
