PHILADELPHIA, Pa- With their season coming to a close, the Philadelphia Flyers welcomed the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
Meeting four times prior to Thursday’s contest, the Flyers dropped all four games. Last facing off just five days ago, Sean Couturier netted in a late third period goal to force overtime. With a silent overtime, the game went to a shootout. Unable to notch a shootout win, Carolina took the 3-2 win.
Participating in morning skate Thursday, Radko Gudas skated with the Flyers for the first time since being acquired from Tampa Bay Lightning on trade deadline March 2nd, sending Braydon Coburn to Lightning.
“It’s awesome to participate and be with the guys. Makes me feel more apart of the team,” said the defenseman.
Gudas underwent knee surgery in January and will not play in a Flyers sweater until next season.
Potentially starting his final game for the Flyers, Ray Emery took his stance in between the pipes, with Hurricanes Cam Ward across the ice.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Guilty of too many men of the ice early in the first period, the Flyers handed the Hurricanes the first power play of the game. Unable to produce, the game was scoreless.
Setting up in front of Emery, Carolina went to work. Netting his 2nd goal the season, Brett Bellemore scored.
With pushing and shoving after a tripping call, the Flyers were headed to the man-advantage, Jay McClement taking the seat.
Taking a chance on the short handed, Emery stopped the Hurricanes. Struggling to maintain control of the puck, Philadelphia was unsuccessful.
Beginning the 2 on 1 rushing towards Ward, Couturier had the puck on his stick. Shooting the puck on net, Ward hit it away. Shooting off Couturier’s rebound, Matt Read had an opportunity. Sending the puck high and wide, Read did not score.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
In his NHL debut for the Hurricanes, Keegan Lowe, son of Edmonton Oilers’ Kevin Lowe, dropped the gloves against veteran, Vincent Lecavalier. Squaring off in front of Ward, Lowe sent Lecavalier down to the ice. Lowe’s father was in attendance of his son’s 1st NHL start.
As the first period came to an end, the Hurricanes lead the Flyers 1-0, with the Flyers favoriting shots 9-5.
Sent to the sin bin for hooking early in the second period, Nick Schultz took a sent. Unable to increase the lead, the Hurricanes couldn’t not find the net.
With another fight breaking out, Brandon Manning and Brad Malone took a few swings. Taking Malone down, Manning was the winner.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Making quite the first impression in his NHL debut, Lowe and Lecavalier danced again. Starting the second round of fighting, Lecavalier was found guilty of instigation and received a fighting major, instigation minor and ten minute misconduct.
Holding onto the lead through two periods, the Hurricanes lead shots 18-14 as the second period came to a close.
Opening the third period with a hooking penalty, Flyers were sent on the power play. Turning the puck over, 1-0 remained on the score sheet.
With a high sticking minor issues to Nick Cousins, Hurricanes had another chance on the mad-advantage.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Giving the Hurricanes their fourth power play of the contest, Michael Del Zotto received a high sticking double minor. Wasting no time on the power play, Murphy notched his 4th goal of the season, increasing the lead 2-0.
Getting the Flyers on the board with 3:32 remaining in the third period, Couturier sent the puck behind Ward.
With an empty Flyers net as the clock clicked down to zero, Jordan Staal sent the puck down the ice into the open net.
The Philadelphia Flyers dropped to the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-1.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
“I thought we had a little energy early on in the second, but it didn’t last very long,” said Flyers head coach Craig Berube. “I’m mystified for sure.”
“The intensity is not as high as when we play good teams,” Claude Giroux said. “Maybe it’s preparation. I’m not too sure it is, but we need to figure it out.”
After dropping the gloves early in the second period, Manning said, “It was kind of a weird game. Not much going on out there. I think we came out kind of flat, and they didn’t do anything special all night, either. I think it was an opportunity lost.”
Following Thursday’s action, Flyers announced Lecavalier left the bench late in the third period due to an upper-body injury. Lecavalier will be re-evaluated on Friday.
With one game remaining in the Flyers disappointing season, the fate of Berube’s career in Philadelphia is yet to be determined.
When asked about his position Berube stated, “I don’t really think about it. I told the guys before, there’s no sense worrying about things like that. I just do my job, enjoy my job. It’s unfortunate where we’re at, right now, for sure.”
Despite speculations of relieving the coach, Berube has another year remaining on his contract.
What’s up next for the Flyers? Wrapping up their season on Saturday, the Flyers will face off against the Ottawa Senators.
The season finale between the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers is slated for 1 p.m.
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