Carolina Hurricanes outlast Flyers 6-5, set record with 14-game point streak
Rod Brind’Amour appeared almost as drained as his hockey team Friday night.
The Carolina Hurricanes had beaten the Philadelphia Flyers to set the franchise record with points in 14 consecutive games, but needed to hold on in the third period for a 6-5 victory at PNC Arena.
The Canes (22-6-6) led 6-2 after the second period and were seemingly cruising to an eighth straight win heading into the three-day Christmas break.
“We were wrapping the gifts, right?” Brind’Amour said.
And then the Flyers’ Nick Seeler scored in the third. And then the Flyers’ Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny each scored shorthanded.
Suddenly, it was a 6-5 game. The tension level rose. The Flyers (11-17-7) pulled rookie goalie Samuel Ersson with 2:42 left in regulation for a sixth attacker and kept pushing, looking to complete an improbable comeback that for the Canes would have been the nightmare before Christmas.
But the Hurricanes did not, would not, let it get away. And Brind’Amour, the Canes coach, did not want to dwell on the final-period slippage.
“I’m not going to talk about the third,” Brind’Amour said. “We played hard in six games in nine days, with our foot on the gas all the way. We’ve played really well all year. This group plays hard. They come ready to go. You don’t put that kind of streak together. It doesn’t just happen.”
Before things got interesting in the final 13 minutes, Jesper Fast scored twice and Jordan Martinook had a goal and two assists as the hard-working Jordan Staal line continued to produce. Staal had a three-game goal streak end but had three assists, nearly matching his season total.
The Canes, pushing the pace, chased Ersson, who was making his NHL debut, although Ersson later returned to the game when goalie Carter Hart was injured.
Stefan Noesen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi had power-play goals and Andrei Svechnikov scored his 18th off the rush for the Canes, who maintained their lead over New Jersey in the Metropolitan Division.
Center Sebastian Aho, after missing seven games with a lower-body injury, was back in the lineup Friday, albeit a bit rusty. Also returning was defenseman Brady Skjei, who missed the Canes’ overtime win Thursday in Pittsburgh because of personal reasons.
One surprise was goalie Antti Raanta making back-to-back starts for the first time this season. Many expected Pyotr Kochetkov to be in net but Brind’Amour said he has “tweaked” something and that the Canes were being cautious with a rookie who has become one of the league’s more refreshing stories.
Raanta faced 31 shots, making four saves in the final 2:42 as the Flyers won faceoffs in the Canes zone and surrounded the net, banging away.
Martinook, named the game’s first star, said the Canes would focus on the good from the game rather than the bad in the third.
“It’s not something we want to make a habit of, that’s for sure,” Martinook said. “We’ll flush that third period and take the positives that the last 14 games have been. We’re going into the break on a high.”
The 14-game point streak topped the franchise record of 13 held by four teams, the last during mid-April and early May of the 2021 season.
“It’s something to be proud of,” Martinook said. “It’s something we can look back on the next three days and when we come back we want to keep going and keep extending it.”
The Canes will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday in their next game, looking to return refreshed and ready.
“We needed a break, clearly,” Brind’Amour said. “It almost didn’t come soon enough, right? We pushed hard. Everyone needed a mental break here.”
Including the coach?
“A coach always needs a break,” Brind’Amour said.
This story was originally published December 23, 2022 at 9:56 PM.
