Brent Burns' OT goal leads Hurricanes to win over Flyers
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brent Burns scored on a one-timer 4:06 into overtime and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Saturday night.
Martin Necas and Jordan Staal each had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Martinook also scored for Carolina. Antti Raanta stopped 26 shots.
Necas tied the score with 2:05 left in the third period when his wrist shot from long range beat Hart on the blocker side.
In the 3-on-3 overtime, Necas passed across ice to Sebastian Aho, who set up Burns for a slap shot that went over Hart's left shoulder for the veteran defenseman's second goal of the season.
"He has a flair to put the puck in the back of the net at big times," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "And, obviously, that was a huge one for us tonight."
Other than Burns' goal, though, Brind'Amour wasn't thrilled.
"There's not a lot of positives out of that game to be quite honest, other than the fact that we did come back," he said. "Overtime I thought was really good. But we can't play like that and expect to be too successful. It was an ugly win."
Nick Deslauriers had a goal and an assist and Wade Allison and Owen Tippett also scored for the Flyers. Carter Hart finished with 34 saves.
In his first year in Philadelphia, coach John Tortorella has re-invigorated a Flyers club that finished last in the Metropolitan Division last season. The fiery veteran coach called analytics "trash" on Friday when speaking to reporters after practice. Although the Flyers' play hasn't always looked pretty – they were outshot 51-22 in Thursday's 4-3 win over Florida – they have played better.
Philadelphia entered in first place in the Metropolitan Division and earned a point with the overtime loss.
Tortorella took umbrage to reporters' questions in an expletive-filled postgame press conference.
Asked whether the loss was caused by the Flyers not making key plays at key times, he said, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I thought we played two good periods, the second and third."
Questioned on the power play missing on five of six chances, he said, "I felt the power play goal was important for us. ... I think we've been on a roller coaster. It's been awful, it's been good, it's been terrible, it's been up and down, but the team has found a way to get points. They should feel good about this point. There were a lot of good things that happened."
Against Carolina, Tortorella got a huge – and unlikely – lift from Philadelphia's fourth line of Deslauriers, Allison and Lukáš Sedlák.
"We need to get goals by committee," he said.
Allison put Philadelphia ahead for the first time at 6:09 of the third when he drove the net and backhanded Sedlák's pass over a sprawling Raanta.
Carolina jumped in front 2-0 in the first period. Staal got his first of the season 5:27 into the game when he flicked the puck from the side of the net toward goal and it caromed off Hart and in. Martinook doubled the lead with a one-timer off a pass from Jesper Fast from in front of the crease with 4:56 left in the period.
Deslauriers got the Flyers on the scoreboard with a shot from in front of the crease that deflected off Raanta's glove and over the goal line at 5:14 of the second.
Tippett tied it 2-2 just 2:24 later when he finished a nifty give-and-go with Travis Konecny on the power play with a shot that went under Raanta's pads.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Hurricanes: F Derek Stepan (upper body) did not return after blocking a shot with 5:22 remaining in the second period.
Flyers: C Sean Couturier had back revision surgery on Thursday, the team said. Couturier played just 29 games last season before having season-ending back surgery in February. He is expected to miss 3-to-4 months. ... F James van Riemsdyk had surgery on Friday on his left index finger. Van Riemsdyk was injured blocking a shot in Philadelphia's 3-0 loss to San Jose on Oct. 3. He is expected to be sidelined for six weeks.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: Host Washington on Monday night.
Flyers: Begin three-game road trip at the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.