RALEIGH, N.C. — Whatever good vibes the Flyers may have felt coming out of the All-Star break dissipated in a matter of minutes Tuesday night, largely thanks to Sebastian Aho.
Aho scored twice in the first period off a pair of Flyers turnovers in their own zone en route to a hat trick, and the Carolina Hurricanes dominated from start to finish in a 5-1 rout of the Flyers in both teams’ first game back from the break.
Jeff Skinner added a goal in the second period and Aho, Carolina’s 19-year-old Finnish rookie, put home his third goal of the game on a power play with 1:55 left in the second. Justin Faulk’s third-period slap shot on a 5-on-3 power play was the final tally of the night for Carolina.
Brayden Schenn scored a power-play goal with 10:27 left in the game for the Flyers to avoid a shutout, but it was purely aesthetic with Carolina up 5-0 at that point and visibly scaling back.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Flyers. Notably, they had only six shots on net near the midway mark of the third period before unleashing a late flurry to avoid the franchise record for fewest shots in a game.
Overall, Carolina outshot the Flyers, 28-16, and came up with 14 takeaways.
NHL
Early onslaught
The Hurricanes pushed the pace early to get the Flyers back on their heels and eventually forced the turnovers that broke the dam.
Travis Konecny turned the puck over near the left faceoff circle amidst pressure just inside the 12-minute mark of the first period, and Jordan Staal collected it and fed it cross ice to Aho, who maneuvered through the defense untouched to the front of the net and slipped the puck past Steve Mason’s outstretched right pad with a nifty deke.
Another Flyers turnover under pressure, this time at their own blue line, led to Aho’s second goal of the first. Claude Giroux gave up the puck on a botched breakout and Aho and Elias Lindholm took advantage with a give-and-go, finished off by Aho’s slap shot one-timer from just inside the left faceoff circle.
Goalie report
Mason made some impressive saves among his 23 stops in the losing effort. He notably stoned Jamie McGinn on a breakaway in the opening minutes and a turned aside a point-blank shot from Lee Stempniak off a turnover in the second, but it wasn’t enough in the face of the relentless Carolina rush and repeated turnovers by his teammates in front of him.
Cam Ward made 15 saves and quickly sapped whatever momentum the Flyers could muster. The Flyers had two chances in particular in the first period to make the most of their limited opportunities, but Ward made a spectacular sliding save to stop Michael Raffl’s one-timer midway through the period and snagged an Andrew MacDonald slap shot in the closing minutes. The Flyers rarely seriously challenged again until Schenn’s goal in the third.
Scratches
For the Flyers: Defensemen Michael Del Zotto and Nick Schultz and forward Dale Weise, all healthy. It was the fourth straight game all three were scratched.
For the Hurricanes: Defensemen Ryan Murphy and Matt Tennyson and forward Ty Rattie, all healthy.
Next up
The Flyers return home for a season-long five-game homestand, beginning Thursday against Montreal. The Canadiens won the first two matchups this season.