Canes top Flyers, points streak at franchise-record 14 games
RALEIGH, N.C. - Jesper Fast scored twice in the first period and the Carolina Hurricanes set a franchise record with a 14-game points streak, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 on Friday night.
Stefan Noesen, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook and Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored as the Hurricanes won their eighth straight. Jordan Staal had three assists and Martinook, Martin Necas and Brett Pesce each had two. Goalie Antti Raanta made 27 saves for the Hurricanes.
Travis Sanheim, Tony DeAngelo, Nick Seeler, Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers, who tried to rally with three goals in the third period, but lost for the third time in four games.
The loss spoiled the NHL debut of Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson, who was pulled midway through second period and returned with about two minutes left in the frame after Carter Hart exited due to injury. He finished with 25 saves. Hart had six.
Laughton and Konecny scored short-handed as the Flyers cut a four-goal deficit to one with three unanswered goals in the third period.
Fast scored 3:57 into the game on the first shot on Ersson, who was called up from the American Hockey League earlier in the week when Felix Sandstrom didn’t make a two-game trip because of illness.
Sanheim’s fourth goal of the season drew the Flyers even at 11:03 of the opening period.
Noesen scored on a redirection on a power play at 14:32 to put Carolina back on top with his 15th goal. Fast’s second goal of the game came with 55 seconds left in the period.
DeAngelo scored 61 seconds into the second period, but Svechnikov’s team-leading 18th goal restored the Hurricanes’ two-goal margin.
Ersson, a 23-year-old Swede, allowed five goals on 22 shots before Hart, who leads tine NHL in shots faced this season, replaced him. When teammate Rasmus Ristolainen pushed Carolina’s Seth Jarvis into the crease on a sequence that resulted in the Hurricanes’ sixth goal, Hart exited with an injury with 2:08 left in the second.
NET NUGGETS
It lined up for Hurricanes rookie Pyotr Kochetkov to be in the nets after he was a backup Thursday night in Pittsburgh. But before Friday’s game, coach Rod Brind’Amour said Kochetkov was dealing with "a little tweak" and that it was decided not to have him to start.
Raanta appeared in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Kochetkov had played in 13 of Carolina’s previous 16 games. The ailment isn’t considered serious, Brind’Amour said.
ICE MATTERS
Center Sebastian Aho, who had 27 points through 26 games, was back in Carolina’s lineup after a seven-game absence with a lower-body injury. … DeAngelo, who played last season for the Hurricanes, notched an assist on the first goal for the Flyers. … Opponents have scored first against Philadelphia in 24 of 35 games.
UP NEXT
Flyers: At San Jose on Thursday.
Hurricanes: Host Chicago on Tuesday.