"The Best Things Come in Threes": 2024-25 Regular Season, Game 18: Hurricanes at Philadelphia Flyers

The Hurricanes and Flyers met for the second time this season as the Canes began a three-game road trip against the Metropolitan Division. Coming off back-to-back wins over the weekend, Carolina hoped to keep their momentum going against a Flyers team that has started to find its game a little in recent weeks, despite injury concerns and their star rookie being a healthy scratch. With the Canes prepping for another back-to-back tonight and tomorrow, a good start in the City of Brotherly Love could serve as a good start heading into New Jersey on Thursday.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (0:30)- Jalen Chatfield (1) (Jordan Martinook (6) & William Carrier (3))

2nd Period

PHI (2:13)- Ryan Poehling (1) (Nick Seeler (5) & Noah Cates (3))

3rd Period

CAR (1:03)- Sebastian Aho (5) (unassisted)

CAR (6:02)- Jordan Staal (3) (Dmitry Orlov (7) & Jalen Chatfield (5))

CAR (6:57)- Jack Roslovic (10) (Sebastian Aho (12))

My Thoughts

Here lies the remnants of Martin Necas' point streak. She was a long streak, but it felt like we were just getting to know her. At 13 games, she was in the prime of her life. Unfortunately, she was sniped down in the City of Brotherly Love. She's gone but will never be forgotten. At least the Canes won, right? In all seriousness, it took a minute for the Canes to be rewarded before finally running away with it in the third period. The Flyers played 23 really good minutes of hockey. Then, they completely disappeared. The Canes only allowed eight shots during the final 40 minutes and while it was still 1-1 going into the third, they finally found their magic and deserved this win. 

Necas might not have extended his point streak, but this feels like a major launching point for Sebastian Aho's season. While he has scored goals at even strength this season, Aho's first 5-on-5 goal proved to be a big one. With his 58th game-winning goal, there is no player with more in franchise history than Aho. He added an assist by stripping the puck in the neutral zone and setting up Jack Roslovic for his 10th goal. Aho played one of his best games of the campaign, putting the team on his back in the third period to get the job done.

The real story of the game was the Hurricanes' team defense. The Flyers outworked them in the first period despite allowing a goal 30 seconds in. They were aided by three Hurricanes penalties to give them time in the offensive zone, ending the period with 11 shots. However, the Canes slowly started to find their game after allowing the Ryan Poehling goal, which I should mention was an incredibly soft goal for Pyotr Kochetkov to allow from that distance. They went over 13 minutes without allowing a shot in the second and only conceded eight over the final two periods. Kochetkov didn't need to be the star of the show, though he certainly looked the part early. The Flyers picked apart the Canes' defense in Raleigh. That team was nowhere to be seen tonight.

This was a good tone-setting performance for the rest of the road trip. With this being the third trip of the season, the first game has been telling in the previous two. During the State Fair trip, they opened with a dominant victory against the Penguins and went 5-1-0. In Colorado, the team wet the bed in the second period, lost to the Avalanche, and proceeded to go 1-2-0. If this win is any indication, the Canes could be returning home riding high following a successful. That the win came against a division opponent is the icing on the cake.

When We Meet Again- With tonight's victory, the Hurricanes have ensured a series win against the Flyers since they'll only meet one more time. They'll shoot for the sweep in mid-March when the Hurricanes return to Philly.

#RaiseUp First Star of the Game- Jalen Chatfield

I gushed over Sebastian Aho earlier, so I'm going to give the spotlight to Jalen Chatfield, who recorded his second multi-point game of the season tonight. Chatfield helped set the tone with the opening goal 30 seconds into the game by throwing the puck at the net and seeing what would happen. He added the secondary assist on Jordan Staal's goal to make it 3-1. He and Orlov were throwing everything they could at the net, while also playing some stellar defense in their end.

The Road Ahead- The Canes will be back on the ice tomorrow night against the well-rested New Jersey Devils. The Devils haven't played since Saturday and will look to end the Canes' three-game win streak. Once they complete the back-to-back, the team will travel to Columbus for a Saturday night tilt with the Blue Jackets. Next week, things get real, facing the Stars, the Rangers, and the Panthers twice to finish November.