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| Philadelphia Flyers - pregame skate - Peter Koutroumpis, PKS Consulting LLC |
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Game Notes:
The Carolina Hurricanes host the Philadelphia Flyers at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. on Saturday.
Both teams are fighting for respect as each has been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
Even though the Flyers have taken both of the two teams' previous games with 5-3 and 4-3 wins, the Hurricanes will not stop in trying to make things right for their fans in Raleigh.
Though winning only two games in their last 18, Carolina has come much closer to getting back into the win column recently after beating the Boston Bruins 4-2 at home last Satureday before coming short against the Ottawa Senators (3-2) and the Winnipeg Jets (4-3 OT) in the Great White North.
The Flyers, have been battling late-season demons as well, having only won two games in their last seven played.
Expect this one to be a physical, end-to-end battle which will have a packed house enjoying one of three final home games to take place during the last week of hockey to be played in the Triangle this season.
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Commentary for each period will follow on the hour after puck drop at 7 p.m.
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Before the puck drops:
1st Period
The Flyers literally came out flying after the opening puck drop as it took Jakub Voracek only 14 seconds to single handedly to pick up the puck along the boards and almost beat Hurricanes goaltender Justin Peters.
Before Peters could catch his breath, Philadelphia had fired eight shots at him during the first five minutes of play.
However, the Hurricanes quickly got Flyers netminder Steve Mason into the game as he was forced to stop four shots quickly.
As Carolina worked to get another shot on Mason, Jordan Staal mishandled a puck that was caroming off the boards and Philadelphia's Claude Giroux pick the puck up near his blue line and fed a streaking Voracek who went in and beat Peters to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at the 7:00 mark.
Carolina continued to roll different lines to keep fresh legs on the ice but a penalty to Riley Nash gave the Flyers a power play to continue to keep Peters busy who did a formidable job in keeping the puck out of the net.
After 11 minutes of play, Philadelphia outshot the Hurricanes 13-4.
On an ensuing puck possession, Carolina's forechecking work paid off as Jordan Staal made a hard check on Flyers defenseman Oliver Lauridsen who lost control of the puck along the boards where Hurricanes defender Tim Gleason was able to chip it towards Jeff Skinner in the high slot.
While covered, Skinner made a swipe at the puck that turned out to get enough energy behind it from the top of the right circle to beat Mason high to his glove hand with 6:42 remaining in the period.
Both teams skated to a 1-1 tie for the remainder of the period with the Flyers outshooting the Hurricanes by an 18-8 margin.
End of Period: Carolina 1, Philadelphia 1
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2nd Period
An even busier period for both teams with the Hurricanes coming out early, looking to take the lead.
However, it was the Flyers who took a 2-1 lead at 1:54 after a drop pass from the Hurricanes' Tuomo Ruutu was picked up by the Flyers as his linemates were making a change.
Matt Read carried the puck into the corner to Peters' right and his pass found a streaking Wayne Simmonds who got a stick on the puck to put it into the net while Marc-Andre Bergeron passively covered him.
Carolina tied tied up 2-2 as the work line of Kevin Westgarth, Nicolas Blanchard, and Tim Wallace managed to keep the puck in the Flyers zone.
Westgarth glove a flying puck down and found Wallace along the right boards and his pass to Justin Faulk set up the defenseman's fifth goal of the season as the puck found its way past Mason while Blanchard screened him in front.
While Hurricanes fans were barely finished high-fiving one another, Simmonds put the Flyers ahead 3-2 just over a minute later and with just under 12 minutes remaining to play in the period.
By the time the horn sounded, Peters had turned away another 12 shots while Mason blocked eight in his end.
End of Period: Philadelphia 3, Carolina 2
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3rd Period
As the puck barely got wet from the faceoff to begin the third period, Simmonds took a shot from just in front of the goal line that snuck through Peters’ pads and extended Philadelphia’s lead back to two goals, leading 4-2 at the 48-second mark.
Playing a somewhat pedestrian game, the line of Jiri Tlusty, Eric Staal and Alexander Semin finally connected to bring Carolina to within one goal again just under two minutes later.
Read scored the Flyers final goal at 7:03 with Simmonds tallying the assist to complete a night during which he finished with his first career hat-trick and four-point night.
Trailing by two goals, Carolina was provided with a power play opportunity late in the game as Brayden Schenn’s hooking penalty allowed the Hurricanes to pull Peters in an attempt to get closer with just over two minutes to play.
However, the man-advantage went unrewarded and the Flyers completed the win by scoring another goal as the final horn sounded.
The goal was eventually disallowed as the puck did not cross the goal line in time, but that didn’t matter as the Hurricanes lost at home again.
Final: Philadelphia 5, Carolina 3
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