The Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night (Dec. 14) to complete the weekend home-and-home, back-to-back. The Hurricanes defeated the Flyers the night before on Dec. 13, 4-3 in a shootout to take a 2-1 regular-season series lead. The Flyers were looking to get in the win column, while the Hurricanes were looking for their fourth straight victory. Also, after being out since Oct. 11, Jaccob Slavin was finally back in the lineup for the Hurricanes. After the final horn sounded, the Hurricanes defeated the Flyers 3-2 in a shootout.
Game Recap
The Hurricanes picked up from where they left off on Saturday night, as they scored two goals in the first period. William Carrier got the scoring going with just under six minutes into the opening frame. He was able to pick up the loose puck as it went off two Flyers players and in between the circles. Carrier turned around and shot it past Dan Vladar to make it a 1-0 Hurricanes lead.
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Over 10 minutes later, with under five minutes left in the first period, Taylor Hall was able to make it 2-0 after tipping an Alexander Nikishin shot into the net. The goal came on the power play, which has been clicking for the Hurricanes over the last five games. It doubled their lead as they were controlling the tempo up to that point. However, the Flyers did get one back, on a delayed penalty, with Jamie Drysdale scoring on Brandon Bussi. The puck seemed to go off Carrier and cut the Hurricanes’ lead in half. After the first period, in which the Hurricanes led in shots on goal 14-4, the score was 2-1 Carolina.
The second period did not see any goals; however, Bussi made some huge saves to keep the game 2-1 for the Hurricanes. During a Flyers’ power play, he made two saves on Trevor Zegras to deny him the game-tying goal in the middle frame. The Hurricanes outshot the Flyers 9-7 in the period, making it 23-11 overall for shots on goal. After 40 minutes, it was a one-goal lead for Rod Brind’Amour’s side.
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The third period saw one goal, this coming from the Flyers as Zegras tied the game with less than two minutes left in regulation. The Flyers pulled Vladar for the extra skater, and they capitalized as Zegras was able to score on the backdoor feed. Bussi got a piece, but it was not enough. For the second time over the weekend, the game went into overtime and then eventually a shootout. In the end, Andrei Sevchnikov got the shootout-winning goal, as he had the lone tally in the skills competition of the game. Bussi made all three saves to secure the win for the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes won their fourth straight game, going 21-9-2 on the season. They’ve won their last three in the shootout, while sweeping the weekend home-and-home, back-to-back against the Flyers. Bussi picked up his ninth straight win to go 11-1-0 on the season. The Flyers drop to 16-9-6, following their weekend sweep from the Hurricanes. They’re also on a three-game losing streak.
