In Raleigh, the visiting Philadelphia Flyers scored three times in the third period to make for an interesting final few minutes of their game with the Hurricanes on Friday night.
Trailing by four entering the third, the Flyers rallied for three goals, but could not quite get over the hump in a 6-5 loss.
“It was a crazy game for sure,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We had the game in hand. It’s a good lesson though. In this league, you can’t let up.”
Antti Raanta made 26 saves in the Canes win, their 14th straight game with a point.
Jesper Fast scored early in the first period to give the Canes a 1-0 lead, but Travis Sanheim tied it, 1-1, for Carolina.
Carolina then potted two more goals in the period, the first from Stefan Noesen on the power play for a 2-1 advantage, and Fast’s second of the period for a 3-1 lead headed to the second period.
Fast’s second strike came with 55 seconds left in the first.
“They haven’t come easy for me this year so far, so it felt good to get a couple today,” Fast said. “‘Marty’ was great today, and he’s been good the whole year. He’s been a very important part to our line here.”
The Flyers got one back with 61 seconds gone n the middle frame on a strike from Tony DeAngelo for a 3-2 score.
Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Martinook replied for a 5-2 advantage.
“‘Quickie’ does a lot of the dirty work that nobody talks about,” Martinook said. “Quickie has been snakebit a little bit, and for him to get going is just going to benefit us going forward.”
Jesperi Kotkaniemi gave the Hurricanes a 6-2 lead they needed off a power play marker in the 18th minute of the middle frame.
The Flyers’ rally started with a goal from Nick Seeler scored at 6:56 to make it 6-3.
“It could have come apart at the seams going into the third period and being down 6-2, so I appreciate the guys staying in there and playing,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “They played hard. They’ve been doing it all year.”
Philadelphia’s special teams went to work with Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton scored on shorthanded breakaways for the 6-5 final.
Samuel Ersson got the the start for the Flyers, and surrendered five goals, making 17 saves before getting the hook at 7:56 of the second period.
Carter Hart made six and yielded one goal before the leaving the game with an apparent injury at 17:52 of the second.
Ersson returned to the crease and made eight saves.
“For me, to come back in and make some saves is something I can take with me at least,” Ersson said. “But I’m a better goalie than what I showed out there today.”
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