Recap: Canes Edged by Flyers

The Carolina Hurricanes had their four-game winning streak snapped in a 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Lucas Wallmark tallied for the Canes, but it was Claude Giroux's tap in at the 11:16 mark of the third period that was the difference.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday night.

1. Sloppy
The Hurricanes played an all-around excellent game in Chicago on Tuesday, an exclamation point on what was a historic road trip. Upon their return to Raleigh, though, the team fell flat in an effort to extend their winning streak to five games.
"We were sluggish for most of the game. We got going in spurts, but we never were really able to get footing on it," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It was a frustrating game. You're going to give up some goals, but we felt like it was way too easy. That's the game."

The Canes had their chances and converted on some, scoring the first two goals of the game and then tying the score in the third period. But the Flyers, who used a three-goal third period to beat the Canes in Philadelphia just over two weeks ago, found a way to prevail again.
"I think we gave away a couple goals tonight. In this league, you can't do that," Wallmark said. "We were off a little bit. We gave them a few goals. That's not good enough."
2. The Difference
Claude Giroux was all over the scoresheet with a pair of goals and assists, his second of the game being the difference-maker in a sequence that perfectly encapsulated the Hurricanes' evening.
With Teuvo Teravainen tracking, Travis Konecny hunted down a dump-in behind Petr Mrazek. Konecny spun off Teravainen, the impetus of a friendly-fire collision between Teravainen and Joel Edmundson, which took both skaters out of the play. Morgan Frost then had an easy pass to Giroux in front for the tap-in tally.

"It was an easy goal," a visibly frustrated Teravainen said. "We just can't let them have easy ones,"
Sort of sums up the night.
3. The Start
As unfortunate as the result was, the Hurricanes could not have drawn up a better start. The Canes scored on their first two shots of the game, pucks that hit Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott and leaked through him.
On the first goal, Teravainen found Sebastian Aho between the circles, and Aho let go of a wrist shot that trickled through Elliott and over the goal line. The goal was Aho's 11th of the season, good for the team lead, and five of those goals have been scored in his last five games.

Just 80 seconds later on a power play, Teravainen snapped off a shot from the right circle that Elliott again couldn't quite contain, and the Canes had a 2-0 lead.

Elliott's misadventures early, though, might have masked the fact that the Canes otherwise weren't all that sharp.
"We didn't play a good period," Brind'Amour said. "We were up two, but we were fortunate to be up two."
4. Philadelphia Storms Back
The Hurricanes' two-goal advantage in the first period was short-lived. A couple minutes after Teravainen scored, Giroux tallied his first of the game in 4-on-4 play, a tap-in along the near side of the net off a slick backhand feed from Travis Konecny.
"We gave that up that one on the 4-on-4, which we shouldn't have," Brind'Amour said. "We were right with our guy, and he taps it in."

Another theme of the evening.
Later in the period on a power play, Ivan Provorov scored on a point shot to tie the game. Not even three minutes into the second period, Frost hammered a quick shot off a Giroux faceoff win, a shorthanded tally that put the Flyers on top, 3-2.
5. Finding the Equalizer
Three minutes and 24 seconds into the third period, Lucas Wallmark scored his third goal of the season to draw the game even at three.
Off a rebound from Joel Edmundson's point shot, Brock McGinn dished off a no-look, backhand feed to Wallmark, who lifted the puck over a sprawled-out Elliott.

"It was a great pass," Wallmark said. "I was trying to scream at him, and I think he heard me. He did a hell of a play, and it was an open net."
Speaking of Edmundson, he was whistled for a controversial slashing minor in the first period. Worse news? His second Bauer stick - recall, the one he switched to before his point streak began on Nov. 11 snapped in half during the morning skate in Chicago, and his teammates responded with a

• broke on that play. (Arguably even worse news was that the Flyers scored on the ensuing power play.)
  As it turned out, his point streak would outlive both Bauer sticks. The secondary assist on Wallmark's goal extended Edmundson's career-long point streak to five games (2g, 5a).
  Up Next
  The Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers on Hockey Fights Cancer Night on Saturday, followed by a quick trip to Detroit the next night.