2022-23 Regular Season, Game 68: Hurricanes (44-15-8) at Philadelphia Flyers

Last night didn't go how the Canes would've hoped but there's no time to cry about it because another big game in the division will take place tonight. The Canes were in Toronto last night for their second meeting of the season with the Maple Leafs and luck was not on their side. Toronto jumped ahead with three goals in the first period with Brady Skjei spoiling some of the fun as the Leafs held a 3-1 lead through 20 minutes. Martin Necas cut the deficit in half with his 26th of the season in the second period but Zach Aston-Reese would score his second of the night a few minutes later and Toronto would add another goal in the third to hand the Canes a 5-2 loss, their third in four games. Pyotr Kochetkov didn't have a great night, stopping just 19 shots and taking the loss. The silver lining for the game is that the Canes maintain a one-point lead in the division and still hold a game in hand. They'll take every little bit they can as the road to the end of the season doesn't get any easier.

Projected Lines/Pairs

Jordan Martinook-Sebastian Aho-Martin Necas

Seth Jarvis-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Jesper Fast

Teuvo Teravainen-Jordan Staal-Jesse Puljujarvi

Stefan Noesen-Jack Drury-Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Shayne Gostisbehere-Jalen Chatfield

Frederik Andersen

Pyotr Kochetkov

Injuries/Scratches- Paul Stastny (healthy), Calvin de Haan (healthy), Dylan Coghlan (healthy),

Antti Raanta (lower-body injury; day-to-day)

IR- Andrei Svechnikov (Torn ACL), Max Pacioretty (Achilles), Ondrej Kase (concussion)

The lines have officially been put in the blender. For the first time in almost five months, the Staal line has changed. Jordan Martinook will jump to the top line with Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas. Jesper Fast will be on the second line with Seth Jarvis and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Jordan Staal will remain in the 3C spot with Teuvo Teravainen and Jesse Puljujarvi joining him. The fourth line is the only one that remains untouched. Frederik Andersen will be getting the start for the Canes. He won his last start on Tuesday night against Winnipeg, stopping 21 shots in the 5-3 win. Andersen is 10-4-3 in his career against the Flyers with a .911 save percentage. 

Tonight's Opponent: Philadelphia Flyers (25-32-11, 61 Points, 7th in the Metropolitan)

It hasn't been a fun time for the Flyers recently. After facing the Canes last Thursday, they dropped their next two games, 5-1 to Pittsburgh and 5-3 to Vegas. They did get back in the win column last night by scoring five goals of their own to beat a Buffalo team that is still trying to fight for a playoff spot. The star of the night was Owen Tippett as he recorded his first NHL hat trick. Tippett opened the scoring in the first period with a goal on the power play, then added his second of the night as part of a three-goal second period to put the Flyers up 4-0 through 40 minutes. Joel Farabee and James van Riemsdyk added the other two goals and Tyson Foerster recorded his first NHL point with an assist on the Farabee. Victor Olofsson broke the shutout before Tippett finished the hat trick in the third period. Olofsson added his second of the night with less than a second left to make it look a little closer but it was a dominant performance from the Flyers. Carter Hart made 34 saves to halt the four-game skid for the Flyers. One big difference for Philly this time around will be the presence of Tony DeAngelo in the lineup. He missed the last meeting while serving a two-game suspension he was given for spearing Corey Perry. He recorded two points in the Flyers' win last night. He'll add a little bit to this final meeting. 

Last Meeting v. Carolina- As I mentioned, this is the second meeting in nine days between these two sides and the last one was a very unexpected goalie duel. After Andrei Svechnikov scored a power-play goal 2:09 into the first period, Felix Sandstrom and Pyotr Kochetkov went save-for-save the rest of the night. While Sandstrom had to make the bigger stops, the one goal would be enough to hand him the loss as Kochetkov stopped all 19 shots he faced in his first NHL start in almost two months. 

Philadelphia's Starting Goalie: Felix Sandstrom (1-10-1, 3.37 GAA, .887 SV%)- Sandstrom's only had one other start since facing Carolina last week. He was in the net with Hart unavailable against Vegas on Tuesday. He allowed four goals in the Flyers' 5-3 loss. He still has just one win in his career but his start against Carolina was one of the best in his short career. 

Philadelphia Player to Watch: Tyson Foerster- He made his NHL debut against the Canes last week and I thought he played a very good game. He had two shots in the game and made a huge block to prevent a certain goal for Svechnikov. Foerster recorded his first point last night and is playing on Philadelphia's top line right now. I'm sure he's chomping at the bit to get his first goal. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 14:52- Sebastian Aho (28) (assisted by Martin Necas (37) & Brady Skjei (17))

(CAR) 16:51- Brady Skjei (15) (unassisted) 

2nd Period

(PHI) 4:56- Tyson Foerster (1) (assisted by Morgan Frost (19) & Brendan Lemieux (5))

(CAR) 13:55- Sebastian Aho (29) (assisted by Stefan Noesen (19) & Shayne Gostisbehere (24))

(PHI) 18:18- Noah Cates (11) PP (assisted by Tyson Foerster (2) & Owen Tippett (17))

3rd Period

(PHI) 3:33- Joel Farabee (11) (assisted by Owen Tippett (18) & Noah Cates (18))

(PHI) 5:50- Brendan Lemieux (2) (assisted by Morgan Frost (20))

(CAR) 19:59- Martin Necas (28) PP (unassisted)

Overtime

(CAR) 0:28- Sebastian Aho (30) (assisted by Jaccob Slavin (16) & Brent Burns (40))

Let's Talk About the Game

We've seen this team do some amazing things this year to the point where you should never count them out in a close game in the final minutes. I clearly never learn because I was certain things weren't going to fall in the Canes' favor at the end of the game. They were going to fall a point behind the Devils with a regulation loss to a team they really needed to beat. One of these days, I will learn my lesson. What we saw tonight is something that will not be lost on this fanbase any time soon. In the beginning, it looked like we were in for another goalie duel. Both Frederik Andersen and Felix Sandstrom were dialed in and nothing was going to get past them. It all changed when Sebastian Aho decided it was time for the puck to go into the back of the net. He snapped a seed under the glove of Sandstrom to put an end to his seven-game goalless drought after Martin Necas put a perfect pass on his tape. The scoring would continue for the Canes as Brady Skjei took advantage of a sloppy play from the Flyers in their defensive zone. He had plenty of time and he snapped one that Sandstrom never saw. It's his third-straight game with a goal and it staked the Canes to a 2-0 lead after the first period. 

As a Canes fan, I was feeling pretty good about the direction of the game with a two-goal lead. The Flyers quickly made me feel not good. As I predicted, Tyson Foerster would finally get his first goal as he beat Andersen with a low shot that would get some help from the post on a 2-on-1 to cut the Canes' lead in half. We would go a long stretch without a goal but it would be the Canes that would get the next one. During a delayed penalty sequence, Aho found himself with plenty of space once again. He beat Sandstrom in the exact same place under his glove to put the Canes back up by two. Things were looking good until the Canes took their first penalty of the night with Kotkaniemi sitting for tripping. They were well on their way to killing it before Skjei took another tripping penalty to give the Flyers 31 seconds of a 5-on-3. The Flyers would get to work and find one in short order. After scoring his first goal, Foerster threw a puck at the net and Noah Cates won a battle in the crease with Brett Pesce and would bang home the rebound to cut the lead back down to one goal. The lead would hold at 3-2 but I was not happy with where things were. 

That sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach would finally come to the surface at the beginning of the third period. Just like the second goal, the Flyers would tie the game with another won battle at the front of the net. This time, Joel Farabee, who'd just broken a long goalless drought last night, won a battle against Aho to score another rebound goal to tie it 3-3 just 3:33 into the period. The momentum would continue for the Flyers and this time it was because the Canes did it to themselves. Andersen came out to play the puck and as he tried to rim it around the boards, the puck hit Morgan Frost. He played the puck to Brendan Lemieux with a wide-open net and he made no mistakes. Andersen wasn't able to get back into position and the Flyers made the Canes play, taking their first lead of the game. The Flyers ramped up their physical game upon taking the lead. Sandstrom made his biggest save of the night just past the midway point of the period. Necas found Pesce with a beautiful cross-seam pass and as he tried to elevate it, Sandstrom got across and got the shot with his left shoulder to keep the Flyers up by one. The Canes wouldn't make it any better, taking two penalties at the end of the game to basically melt time away from their comeback bid. With 2:16 left in the game, Rod Brind'Amour called a timeout and pulled Andersen as the team tried to exhaust all of their options. Nothing was getting through as the seconds ticked down. With seven seconds left, Kotkaniemi drew a penalty in the neutral zone, giving the Canes their first power play. After winning the draw back to the point, Shayne Gostisbehere's one-timer was stopped but he didn't give up on the play. He tried to fire a backhand pass that hit a mass of bodies. Ivan Provorov tried to clear it away but it ended up at the front of the net. Both Aho and Necas were left unmarked in front of Sandstrom. Aho completely missed the puck. Necas did not. He put the puck in the net as the final horn sounded. After reviewing it, the puck crossed the line with 0.3 seconds left to tie the game. What looked like a surefire loss resulted in at least one point for the Canes. It didn't take long for the Canes to get finish things off. With eerie parallels to the 2020 playoff bubble, Aho busted into the zone with speed, put the puck between Tony DeAngelo's legs, and beat Sandstrom over the blocker to complete the hat trick and the most improbable win we've seen this season. 

As if the comeback win for the Canes wasn't enough, the Florida Panthers picked up a comeback win of their own, scoring four goals in the third period to beat the Devils 4-2 in regulation. The lead in the division is back to three points with the Canes still holding a game in hand. The lines being blended up seemed to work well. Of course, that's easier to say with the Canes winning the game. Clearly, Aho and Necas had some magic together. Outside of an assist for Noesen, no other forward had a point for the Canes. The rest of the help came from the defense. Four of the six defensemen recorded a point tonight. Andersen had a fine game outside of the very bad goal allowed to give the Flyers the lead. He made some solid saves and did enough to earn the win. I don't think there are words that can articulate just how important this win was. They would still be ahead in the division with a loss of any kind but they needed this cushion with the tough road ahead of them. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Martin Necas (Goal, Assist)

After a rough game last night despite scoring a goal, Necas got back on the saddle tonight. He helped get the scoring started with the primary assist on Aho's first goal, then scored one of the biggest goals of the season with 0.3 seconds left to tie it in the third. He led the team with five shots tonight as he continues to pace the team in points, now sitting at 64 points for the season. 

Second Star- Brady Skjei (Goal, Assist)

I might be overreacting just a little but we might never see another game where Skjei doesn't score a goal. He now has found the back of the net in the last three games. Skjei is now tied for fifth in the league for goals by a defenseman with 15 as he continues to add to his career-high. He finished the game with four shots, the most on the defense, and added four hits, tied for the most on the team. 

First Star- Sebastian Aho (3 Goals)

We've learned in the past that Aho can score goals in bunches and after going seven games without a goal, he decided to break out of his slump in a big way. He reached the 30-goal mark for the fourth time in his career and recorded the seventh hat trick of his career. Aho is now second in the league this season in hat tricks with three and his overtime winner was a thing of beauty. 

What's Next for the Canes

The Canes are about to play five games against four very good teams in the next eight days. It's going to be the toughest stretch of games we've seen the Canes play in a long time. It all begins with a home-and-home against the Rangers. It'll kick off at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night before moving to PNC Arena on Thursday night. They'll then play Toronto and Boston in Raleigh on Saturday and Sunday nights. It'll all finish with a meeting against Tampa Bay at home on the following Tuesday. With three points separating the Canes and Devils, they're going to need to find some ways to get points to maintain that lead. The Rangers have burnt the Canes in the third period twice. Toronto has controlled the Canes in both meetings. Boston and Tampa are both major forces and will be in the conversation to be in the Eastern Conference Finals. It's time for the Canes to prove they are ready for the big stage. 

What's Next for the Teams in the Playoff Hunt

New Jersey (95 Points, 3 points behind the Canes in the division)- The Devils lost 4-2 today to the Panthers, allowing four goals in the third period. They play the Lightning for the third time in four games tomorrow night. They've lost their last three games (0-2-1) since beating the Canes last Tuesday. 

New York (R) (90 Points, will face whoever finishes second in the division in the first round)- They technically have 88 points when I'm writing this but are up 6-0 on the Penguins in the third period, so I'l assuming they'll win. Their next two are both against the Canes, who they've beaten twice this season. 

Pittsburgh (78 Points, hold the first Wild Card spot and would face the Canes if the playoffs started today)- They're playing three games in four days beginning on Monday with a home game against Ottawa. They'll play a mid-week back-to-back against Colorado and Dallas on Wednesday and Thursday.

New York (I) (78 Points, tied with Pittsburgh in points but are the second Wild Card by games played)- The Islanders play tonight against the Sharks and would move into the first Wild Card spot with a point. They host Toronto on Tuesday night before a Friday-Saturday back-to-back next weekend. 

Florida (77 Points, 1 point back of both Pittsburgh and New York for a Wild Card spot)- They completed a huge comeback, erasing a two-goal deficit in the third period with four unanswered goals. They'll be on the road for a back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday against Detroit and Philadelphia.