On the second night of a back to back the Canes arguably looked better than against Detroit in stomping Philadelphia
The Carolina Hurricanes appear to be trying to send a message to the rest of the league: discount us after Deadline Day at your peril. A Seven game win streak marked by stellar goaltending and goal scoring output from multiple members of the team and all the lines has returned the team to the level they were playing at during the beginning of the season.
The Hurricanes showed no signs of wear from last night’s win against Detroit. The action was fast early on, but the Canes were able to establish the zone and score early thanks to some amazing work by Jackson Blake. Blake would skate deep into the zone, power through to the Flyers Goalie Samuel Ersson, and the eventual bounce from the move landed on the stick of Sebastian Aho who potted it.
The Flyers would challenge for Goalie Interference but miraculously, it was ruled to be a clean play and the goal stood. The Canes wouldn’t score on the ensuing Power Play, but any time this team wins a Goalie Interference challenge, anything else is gravy.
Then with about five minutes left in the first, Eric Robinson charged deep into the Flyer zone and right before getting checked into the boards, flipped a great pass through the goal crease. It bounced off Ersson, but noted goal scorer Mark Jankowski netted his third since the trade to the team last week to put the Canes up 2-0.
Amazingly, the Canes were outshot by the Flyers 12-11 in the first, but it was clear early on that Canes’ goalie Pytor Kochetkov was continuing his strong play he’s had in the last two weeks. He made several outstanding saves to make sure the Canes kept that lead
At the start of the second period the Canes effectively put the game away thanks to Taylor Hall. Just ten seconds into the period Hall was tripped by the Flyers’ Ryan Poehling, and in a sign of just how everything was going right for Carolina—Hall scored just nine seconds later. Shayne Gostisbehere flung a shot at the net, and the rebound bounced off Ersson into the waiting stick of Hall. He easily tapped it in for the 3-0 lead.
The Canes looked to shut the door for good a few minutes later as the other deadline acquisition Logan Stankhoven slapped the fourth one past Ersson, but the Flyers—with nothing else to lose—challenged it for offside. Those usually don’t go in favor of the goal scoring team and sure enough, Jordan Staal had entered the zone ahead of the puck. It wouldn’t matter much, as once again noted goal scorer Jankowski just placed a perfect shot past Ersson to clearly give the Canes a 4-0 lead.
From that point it really was just about playing out the third and making sure to not give the Flyers any hope of getting into the game. Kochetkov saw to that, staying on his A game and not allowing a single shot to get by him all night. He was absolutely tested in that period, too, as even though the Flyers just put up five shots, they had a power play late where they went all out to try and end the shutout. They got nowhere.
Then the perfect capper on the night was rookie Scott Morrow sneaking a late goal past Ersson in the last minute to get his first in the NHL. The Canes played all the way to the end, and by rushing the play he was able to literally loft a rebound past Ersson to achieve the milestone and get the first goal of his National Hockey League career. The young defenseman has looked good in relief of Dmitri Orlov, taking one more game off before the Canes have a four day break.
Andrei Svechnikov also didn’t play, though before the game coach Rod Brind’Amour said he was hopeful he would join the team during the trip.
The Canes will now head out west for a three-game-in-four-day stretch but will get four days off before doing so. Thanks to a loss by the Devils earlier in the day, they stretched their lead on second place to eight points with a game in hand and fifteen left to play. They still are eight points back of the Capitals and the Caps have a game in hand themselves, but this seven game win streak has helped solidify their hold on having home ice in the first round. They also stay undefeated since Deadline Day.
Game Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20242025/GS021061.HTM
Event Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20242025/ES021061.HTM