Flyers Stage Late Rally, Beat Hurricanes in OT

(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

If there has been one bright spot to the Flyers season, it's been that two teenage rookie — now no longer teenagers — haven't looked out of place. The two 20-year-olds were at the forefront of a Flyers rally on Sunday night.

Ivan Provorov scored the first goal of the game and had two assists for a three-point game, and Travis Konecny's game-tying goal with 42.8 seconds left in the third set the stage for Brayden Schenn's game-winning goal in overtime to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers held the shots advantage throughout the first period despite a methodical and slow-moving 20 minutes.

Just as the final minute of the period hit, the Flyers finally capitalized on a scoring chance. After Sean Couturier forced a turnover behind the Carolina net, the puck made its way to Provorov with some open space from the left circle and he let go a wrist shot that beat Cam Ward up high for his sixth goal of the season at 19:02.

The Flyers led in shots after 20 minutes, 15-4.

The Flyers kept the energy up in the second, continuing to pepper the Carolina net with shots.

The Hurricanes got the game's first power play at 7:11 when Matt Read was called for goalie interference. The Hurricanes failed to score, and the Flyers took advantage just a couple of minutes later.

Konecny circled the zone with the puck and centered into the crease. Valtteri Filppula managed to poke the puck from his knees out of a net-mouth scramble back to Dale Weise, who gathered and scored on the rebound to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead at 11:03.

That lead was short-lived, as an unfortunate bounce for the Flyers got Carolina back in the game.

Noah Hanifin fired a shot from the blue line that went wide of the net, but hit the end boards and went right to Jeff Skinner, who was open at the side of the net. He scored for his 26th goal of the season and cut the lead to one.

In the waning moments of the period, Carolina tied things up. The Flyers got caught in their own zone and Provorov lost his stick. That allowed Phillip Di Giuseppe to center to Elias Lindholm, who went bar down with a snipe from the slot. Lindholm's ninth of the season came with 1:04 left in the second period.

After two periods, the Flyers were locked in a tie, 2-2, despite holding a 29-13 advantage in shots.

The Flyers started the third period with their first power play just 58 seconds in and got a two-man advantage moments later for 38 seconds. The Flyers failed to capitalize on the 5-on-3 and remaining power play time, keeping the game locked at two.

The two teams played a fairly even third period until a scrum in front of the Carolina net gave the Hurricanes a power play with 9:33 to play. The Hurricanes cashed in with Jordan Staal picking up a rebound in front to give the Hurricanes the lead with 8:11 to play.

The Flyers squandered another late power play with 2:45 left, but kept the pressure on with the net empty to tie the game with 42.8 seconds remaining. A Provorov point shot went wide, but Konecny managed to throw a no-look backhand off the skate of Brett Pesce and in to tie the game up.

That forced overtime, where the Flyers wasted little time in getting the game-winner. Just 38 seconds into the extra session, Couturier roared into the zone and on goal, getting a chance in on Ward. Schenn followed up the rebound and scored to give the Flyers the win.

The Flyers outshot the Hurricanes in the game, 44-22. Provorov finished the game with three points, a goal and two assists. Couturier also had three assists for a three-point game. Steve Mason made 19 saves for the win.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Tuesday night for the first game on a three-game road trip against the Winnipeg Jets. Game time is set for 8 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Ivan Provorov (6) (Andrew MacDonald, Sean Couturier) 19:02

2nd Period

• PHI Dale Weise (4) (Valtteri Filppula) 11:03
• CAR Jeff Skinner (26) (Noah Hanifin, Teuvo Teravainen) 12:37
• CAR Elias Lindholm (9) (Phillip Di Giuseppe, Victor Rask) 18:56

3rd Period

• CAR Jordan Staal (15) PP (Lindholm, Sebastian Aho) 11:49
• PHI Travis Konecny (11) (Provorov, Couturier) 19:17

Overtime

• PHI Brayden Schenn (22) (Couturier, Provorov) 0:38

Game Statistics