The Philadelphia Flyers will look for a better ending Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The teams will meet for the second time in two days, this time in Raleigh, N.C.
The Flyers must win in order to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season.
The Hurricanes prevailed 4-3 in a shootout Saturday night in Philadelphia, winning after Jackson Blake produced the only tally in the shootout.
“There are positives, so I’m going to take the positives,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said.
Carolina has won three games in a row, including the past two in road shootouts.
The Flyers will want to generate more threats in the offensive zone. They never went on a power play in Saturday’s game.
Tocchet wants a better response when the Hurricanes start forcing the issue with their skating.
“You got to go at them with pressure,” Tocchet said. “I thought we backed off and stopped skating. … There are going to be some times that we’re going to have to figure this out when teams make a push.”
The Hurricanes likely will be ready to turn to Brandon Bussi in goal. He set an NHL record in his last outing by notching his 10th victory in his first 11 career games.
Look for the Flyers to go back to goalie Dan Vladar after he sat out Saturday’s game. Philadelphia is 5-1-1 in its last seven games in which Vladar has appeared.
There were an array of momentum swings in Saturday’s meeting. The Flyers led 2-0 after the first period, but they ended up needing the final goal in regulation to extend the game.
“They got up a couple, and then I give our guys a lot of credit,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I think after that, second and third (periods), I really liked our game. We had a lot of good opportunities and didn’t give up a ton. We had one, and then they put it in the net and you give them credit again for coming back, but overall, I think after that first, I liked the majority of that game.”
The group of Nikolaj Ehlers, Logan Stankoven and Blake seemed to ignite the Hurricanes, so that group is bound to be together in the rematch.
“That was the best line for us,” Brind’Amour said. “We were a little flat, and then they came out and got the goal. Really, all night, they were all around it, generating some good looks. We need that. Up and down our lineup, we need different contributions, and they’ve been really good lately.”
Carolina won’t want to be tardy in getting cranked up. Seth Jarvis, who scored his team-leading 18th goal during the comeback, said there needs to be urgency.
“I think we just got a little (ticked) off,” Jarvis said. “We didn’t like the way the game was trending, and we wanted to make a difference and change the momentum a little bit. I think that’s what we did, just started playing more simple and more direct, and I think it resulted in us getting a little more zone time and creating some more chances.”
Jarvis has racked up seven goals in the last nine games.
Sunday’s game will mark the only home outing for Carolina during a five-game stretch.
-Field Level Media
