Williams, Hurricanes down Flyers, 4-1

(Kate Frese/SB Nation)

By Rob Riches, Sports Talk Philly staff 

Over the course of his NHL career, Justin Williams has solidified himself as a decent, serviceable player, and seemingly always finds a way to produce against the Flyers — getting revenge time and time again for them trading him in 2004.

Fourteen years after that fateful trade, Williams continued that trend yet again on Thursday, scoring two goals and picking up an assist along the way en route to a 4-1 Hurricanes win.

Williams opened the scoring early in the 1st period, cleaning up a Jeff Skinner rebound at the lip of the crease to give Carolina a quick lead. He struck yet again in the 2nd stanza, setting up in the slot to tip home a Brett Pesce point blast for a 3-0 lead. Always get to those areas in front of the net, right?

Williams' assist came in the 3rd period, earning the primary assist on Sebastian Aho's goal to make it a 4-1 game with 5:37 on the clock.

Teuvo Teravainen also tallied for the Hurricanes, burying a one-timer from Aho to double their lead in the 2nd period. He lost his spot as the Hurricanes' leading scorer, and is now tied with Aho (50 points).

Travis Konecny put the Flyers on the board 80 seconds into the final period, inspiring hope of a comeback. Cam Ward and the Canes' defense were too stalwart, though, stifling any and all Flyers opportunities along the way.

Konecny's tally stands as their only goal over their last six periods of hockey. Surely, their offense — which rattled and hummed with remarkable efficiency throughout the month of February — was bound to cool off at some point, but it shouldn't be too much cause for concern just yet.

Ward was looking like the Cam Ward of old, stopping 21 of 22 Flyers shots to secure the win. It's the Flyers' fewest amount of shots since Dec. 4, when they recorded 21 shots in a 5-2 win against Calgary.

Petr Mrazek was dealt his first loss as a Flyer, and made 31 saves on 35 shots. It's the most saves he's recorded in his (brief) Flyers tenure, and first time seeing at least 30 shots since his last two games with Detroit.

The loss snaps a six-game win streak for the Orange and Black, and coincidentally, snaps a six-game Hurricanes losing streak. For now, it will keep them a point behind Washington in the Metro Division standings. With Boston beating the tar out of Pittsburgh, 8-4, the Flyers will get to stay ahead of the Penguins.