Canes handle Flyers in OT, win another nail-biter. Here’s what went right on Monday
The Carolina Hurricanes were playing their third game in four days. They had lost another defenseman to injury. The minutes were adding up, the lungs burning and legs hurting.
But the Canes, in the end, had just enough energy left Monday to beat the Philadelphia Flyers. Brett Pesce’s goal with 18 seconds left in overtime gave Carolina 4-3 victory and another two points for the Metropolitan Divisions leaders.
“It’s a good feeling for sure,” Pesce said. ”More a relief the game is over, to be honest. I’m not going to lie. We were tired but we didn’t quit on anything. You’re not going to always have your best in an 82-game season but good teams find ways to win.”
The Canes would not have won had goalie Frederik Andersen not made some huge stops in the overtime — the last of his 38 saves. Andersen’s stop on Cam Atkinson in overtime was one of his best this season. As Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said, “He got us two points for sure.”
After an emotional win Sunday at Pittsburgh, the Canes (35-11-4) had what Brind’Amour called a “terrible” start Monday. But Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen scored in the second period and Vincent Trocheck in the third as the Canes won a third straight game.
Five takeaways from the game:
▪ Just when it seemed the game might be headed to a shootout, Pesce ended it with a perfect play and shot. The Canes had the puck nearly all of the overtime and needed almost all of the OT to win it. But after Andersen came up big in the crease, Trocheck and Pesce teamed up for the winning goal, Pesce batting down a Trocheck pass and quickly settling the puck before lifting it past Martin Jones.
“Great shot, great play by Pesce,” Brind’Amour said. “All those minutes and still to be able to jump up in the play like that, again, that’s what I talk about. We’ve got some special guys here.”
▪ The Canes had to win without a defenseman again Monday. Against the Pens, Brendan Smith went out during the game. On Monday, it was Tony DeAngelo, who played two shifts in the second period before leaving with an injury.
Smith took a shot off his helmet in a scary moment, and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. He was released and traveled to Philadelphia with the team, and Brind’Amour said he would be further evaluated in Raleigh.
DeAngelo’s exit came after he took a big slapshot from the blue line early the second period, leaving with an upper-body injury. Big disappointment for the D-man, who had more than 100 family members and friends at the game.
With DeAngelo out, Jaccob Slavin had 29 minutes of ice time, Pesce 27:37 and Brady Skjei 25 minutes.
▪ Teravainen is getting it cranked up. Since returning from a lower-body injury after the NHL All-Star break, the winger has two goals and six assists in a six-game point streak.
The “SAT” line of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teravainen struck in the second period as Teravainen flashed in front of the net, took a perfectly placed backhand pass from Svechnikov and scored. Teravainen’s quick shot hit the skate of Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler and got past Jones for his 13th goal of the season.
“I’m getting there,” Teravainen said Friday. “I feel like I always want to get better and I’m never happy about my game. I feel like I can always can get better.”
▪ A Pittsburgh hangover? It looked that way in the first for the Canes, who were outshot 11-2 and was credited with one scoring chance, which was generous.
The Canes’ first shot on goal came from defenseman Ethan Bear with 9:17 left in the period. The second shot came from Slavin. That was it.
“It was a tough game and we didn’t play as good as we could but we got the win,” Niederreiter said.
▪ The Canes can score ‘em quick, it appears. Niederreiter’s goal came 24 seconds into the second period Monday — that a day after Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast each scored goals nine seconds into the second and third periods against the Penguins.
It was the first time in NHL history a team has scored goals within the first 10 seconds of a period in consecutive periods during a game. The Staal line now has three quick ones.
“We know we have to kind of lead the way when we get the first shift,” Niederreiter said.
This story was originally published February 21, 2022 at 6:52 PM.
