Giroux, Frost Lift Flyers to Win Over Hurricanes

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

One of the Flyers biggest problems last season was falling behind early in games. Entering their 22nd game of the 2019-20 season, the Flyers had trailed 2-0 in a game just twice.

On Thursday night, the Carolina Hurricanes put the Flyers into a difficult spot with a 2-0 deficit just 4:43 into the game. But the Flyers rallied from the slow start to erase the deficit by the end of the first period.

That's when the 20-year-old rookie stepped in. Morgan Frost scored a shorthanded goal to give the Flyers the lead in the second, then with the game tied again in the third, set up Claude Giroux for his second goal of the game and the eventual game-winner in a 5-3 Flyers win over the Hurricanes.

Carolina came out with a fast start and just 3:23 into the game, capitalized off a Flyers turnover. Sebastian Aho got to the slot off a turnover and put a shot on goal that leaked through Brian Elliott to make it 1-0.

Just 1:20 later, with the Hurricanes on the power play, Teuvo Teravainen fired from the right circle and beat Elliott to make it 2-0.

The Flyers had a quick response. Just seconds after their first power play of the game was nullified due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Jake Voracek, Travis Konecny carried the puck behind the net and dropped a pass for Giroux at the side of the net. Giroux quickly put the puck into the open net to make it 2-1.

On a power play later in the period, the Flyers got the game tied on a point shot from Ivan Provorov, his fifth goal of the season.

Through 20 minutes, the Flyers had an 11-7 lead in shots.

Despite being out-shot, 19-4, in the second period, the Flyers got the only goal of the period. At the end of a penalty kill, the Hurricanes iced the puck, setting the Flyers up for an offensive-zone face-off. Off the draw, Giroux got the puck to Frost for the quick shot and goal while shorthanded, the second of Frost's career in two games. Frost became just the sixth player in Flyers history to score in his first two games, the first since David Laliberte in 2009.

Early in the third, the Hurricanes got the game tied up as Lucas Wallmark picked up a rebound. With just under nine minutes to go in the third, the Flyers re-gained the lead for good, with Konecny and Frost teaming up to set up Giroux at the front of the net for his second goal of the game and fourth point. 

The Flyers killed off a penalty and held on the rest of the way until Kevin Hayes iced the game with an empty-net goal.

Elliott made 33 saves in the win. Petr Mrazek made 18 saves in the loss.

Giroux finished the game with four points. Konecny had three assists. Frost had the first multi-point game of his career with a goal and an assist. 

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Flyers and a four-game winning streak for the Hurricanes.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Calgary Flames. Game time is 1 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• CAR Sebastian Aho (11) (Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce) 3:23
• CAR Teravainen (6) PP (Andrei Svechnikov, Ryan Dzingel) 4:43
• PHI Claude Giroux (6) (Travis Konecny, Phil Myers) 6:31
• PHI Ivan Provorov (5) PP (Giroux, Konecny) 13:14

2nd Period

• PHI Morgan Frost (2) SH (Giroux) 2:51

3rd Period

• CAR Lucas Wallmark (3) (Brock McGinn, Joel Edmundson) 3:24
• PHI Giroux (7) (Frost, Konecny) 11:16
• PHI Kevin Hayes (5) EN (Michael Raffl) 19:54

Game Statistics