POSTGAME 5: Canes Storm Flyers on Black Friday, 6-3

In the annual Black Friday game at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-3. Philadelphia is now winless in its last five games.

The Flyers held three separate one-goal leads in the first period and early in the second but then Carolina pulled away with authority.
Ivan Provorov (2nd goal of the season) staked the Flyers to a quick lead in the first period. Sebastian Aho (9th) got the goal back. Scoring on back-to-back games, Joel Farabee (SHG, 6th) scored a shorthanded goal to restore the lead.
The second period saw a flurry of five goals scored; all but one by Carolina.
On the opening shift of the frame, Aho tallied his second of the game (10th of the season) to tie the score at 2-2. Two shifts later, Rasmus Ristolainen (1st goal as a Flyer) restored a Philadelphia lead at 3-2. A mere 29 seconds later, Jesper Fast (6th) made it 3-3. A few minutes later, Jesperi Kotkaniemi (4th) gave Carolina a 4-3 lead. In the latter stages of the frame, Steven Lorentz (3rd) built a 5-3 edge for Carolina.
Andrei Svechnikov (8th) ended an 11-game goalless drought early in the third period.
Carter Hart was more victim than culprit in this game -- the defensive play in front of him had some major breakdowns -- and took the loss with six goals against on 36 shots. Antti Raanta was beaten on three of the first 10 shots he faced but finished the day with a win and 20 saves on 23 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. They were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
TURNING POINT
The Flyers never led or were tied again after their massive breakdown on the Fast goal. There were plenty of potential turning points before that in the flurry of goals early in the second period but this one changed the lead for good.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) On a nice tape-to-tape setup from Claude Giroux, Ivan Provorov got behind the defense and scored less than a minute (50 seconds) into the game. Carolina challenged the play for goalie interference. The goal stood after being reviewed on replay.

On the ensuing delay of game powerplay, the Flyers got a single look (Cam Atkinson) but no sustained pressure. Oskar Lindblom was called for tripping on the Flyers' first penalty. Hart and company got Philly through the PK. Most of the play was confined to the perimeter.
2) With about eight minutes left in the first period, the work of Travis Konecny set up a scoring chance for Giroux. Then the Canes had a 2-on-2 that suddenly turned dangerous and Aho beat a partiallynscreened Hart over the shoulder at 13:40. Teuvo Teräväinen had the primary assist.
Sean Couturier had to go to the locker room after taking an accident high stick to the face. He soon returned.
With 4:22 left in the period, Justin Braun was called for delay after putting the puck over the glass in the defensive zone. On a counter attack started by Atkinson taking his man off the puck, Farabee beat Jarvis one-on-one and then scored at 17:02.
First period shots were 17-6 in Carolina's favor.

3) Second periods have been a major problem for the Flyers all season. That was no exception in this game, as the Flyers got blitzed for four goals against. Oddly enough, Carolina only had nine shots in the period. A quick synopsis:
* A Travis Sanheim neutral zone turnover and a blast by Aho from the deep slot off Ristolainen's stick and then over Hart's glove tied the game at 2-2 just 23 seconds into the game.
* After Ristolainen (see below) very briefly put the Flyers ahead ahead at 3-2, a Nate Thompson turnover on a backhanded clearing attempt in the defensive zone produced a Brett Pesce point shot and a second-chance rebound goal by Fast at 1:45.
* Hart had no chance to stop a tic-tac-toe tap in goal by Kotkaniemi at the doorstep at 5:48. The assists went to Seth Jarvis and Tony DeAngelo.
* The Flyers had a defensive overload with no weak side coverage, enable Lorentz to skate in untouched and score from the right circle after taking a feed from DeAngelo at 16:22. Kotkaniemi got the lone assist.
4) The Flyers lone goal of the second period saw Ristolainen take a cross-ice pass from Morgan Frost and rip a 97-mile-per-hour slap shot over Raanta's glove to the short side. Raanta made a great save on Connor Bunnaman off a 2-on-1 feed from Zack MacEwen late in the period.

5) Neither Thompson nor Provorov were able to finish chances on the doorstep set up by MacEwen. One shift later, the Canes won a board battle, and Svechnikov snapped a left side shot from distance over Hart's glove for a 6-3 lead at 4:50.
A third period power play chance generated no pressure for the Flyers. Provorov was called for a tripping penalty with just under six minutes left. Thompson went down and struggled to very slowly get back to the bench on the ensuing PK.