Tortorella keeping patience as Flyers’ power play costly in tight loss to ‘Canes

Tortorella keeping patience as Flyers’ power play costly in tight loss to ‘Canes originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Flyers had too many missed opportunities on the power play Monday night and suffered a 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes at the Wells Fargo Center.

They got into a dogfight with a team that doesn’t mind one.

Carolina took the lead with 3:47 minutes left in the game. Noah Cates had a tough turnover as the Flyers tried to exit the defensive zone. As the Hurricanes went back to work, Teuvo Teravainen was left open in the slot for the game-winner.

Carter Hart had little chance on the shot. He was terrific in the third period.

“Obviously disappointed we didn’t get points, but we have a lot to take away from tonight,” Hart said. “I thought we battled really hard in the third period and generated a lot of offense. We just couldn’t catch a break.”

Owen Tippett and Garnet Hathaway scored goals for the Flyers (4-4-1), who are 1-2-0 on a four-game homestand.

John Tortorella’s club has lost two straight. It dropped a 7-4 decision Saturday to the Ducks.

Last season, the Hurricanes (6-4-0) finished with the NHL’s second-most points at 113. The Flyers face them three more times this season.

“I think we played our ass off tonight,” Tortorella said. “When you don’t win a game like this, we have to take some lessons from it and try to get better. But I’m not disappointed about how we played and how hard we played. It kind of pissed me off at the beginning of the game where we kind of got jumped there for the first five or six minutes, but then they grew, then they started playing, then they realized they could play.

“I think we all have to keep it in perspective of where we’re at here, too. I’m not going to stand up here all year long and talk about moral victories, but I’ve got to God damn remember where we are as far as in the organization and the process. I’m certainly not going to boo the team. I’m going to try to help them.”

• The Flyers’ power play went 0 for 5 and is 4 for 32 on the season.

“I thought it was inconsistent tonight,” Tortorella said. “I thought we threw a lot of pucks into pressure instead of away from pressure and trying to get it set up. That’s where I thought the biggest weakness on our power play tonight was — we didn’t get the middle of the ice, we kept on throwing it down the wall and that’s where they’re waiting for it to jump you. As we started moving it, I thought it was better.”

• Tortorella and the Flyers’ video coaches are 2 for 2 in coach’s challenges so far. In the second period, they had what would have been a game-tying 2-2 goal for Carolina overturned for offside.

However, the Hurricanes still got their equalizer a little under six minutes later on a power play. Michael Bunting beat Hart on a shot the Flyers’ netminder likely could stop.

• With under five minutes left in the first period, Sean Couturier made an excellent play when the Flyers badly needed one.

After the Flyers forced a turnover in the neutral zone, Couturier, under pressure along the boards, led Tippett with a backhanded pass. The 24-year-old winger finished the sequence by burying a shot to draw the Flyers even at 1-1.

Prior to the equalizer, the Flyers had little life offensively as Carolina dictated play and jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 3:11 minutes into the action.

“When we started, we watched them play,” Tortorella said. “It could have been 10-0 it looked like to me with the way the game started. We slowly got into it and we played better as the game went on.”

After Tippett’s marker, the Flyers struck again 3:14 minutes later. The fourth line of Hathaway, Scott Laughton and Nicolas Deslauriers had a very effective shift to give the Flyers a 2-1 advantage at first intermission.

• Hart, who entered with a 2.18 goals-against average and .924 save percentage, denied 30 shots.

The 25-year-old made a highlight-reel save on Martin Necas with under 10 minutes to go to keep the game tied. He also made a timely save earlier in the third period, which sent the Flyers the other way for a couple of quality looks.

“I thought Hartsy played unbelievable, especially in the third,” Hathaway said. “Huge saves to keep us in it and give us a chance.

“We’ve got to learn how to hold onto points. I think that’s something that we learned the hard way tonight. It’s going to be something we focus on.”

Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 28 shots.

• Morgan Frost played his first game in 16 days. The 24-year-old center was a healthy scratch for the last six games.

He handled it professionally.

“You don’t want to sit out six games, I think that’s pretty obvious. I’ve never done that in my career,” Frost said after morning skate. “It was definitely a bit of an adjustment, but I think I stayed pretty positive through it. I didn’t want to be coming to the rink and being negative and having a bad effect on my teammates. They were playing amazing.”

Frost, playing in place of Ryan Poehling, centered a line with Travis Konecny and Tyson Foerster. He was active offensively, had three shots and drew a penalty in the third period. On a second-period power play, he delivered a nice pass to Foerster, who was denied by Andersen.

Good stuff from Frost, who got better as the game got deeper.

• Tony DeAngelo was back in Philadelphia with the Hurricanes.

The defenseman’s stint with his hometown team ended unceremoniously after one season. Tortorella benched DeAngelo for the team’s final five games and the Flyers bought out the final year of his two-year contract in July.

“I know that’s probably a big topic for you guys, Tony didn’t play the last five games, so something happened, right?” Tortorella said at his end-of-the-season press conference in April. “That’s going to stay between Tony and I and the team.”

In his return to Carolina, DeAngelo has four assists and a minus-5 rating through 10 games.

• Phillies star Bryce Harper attended the game with his wife and two kids.

• The Flyers are scheduled to practice Tuesday at noon ET in Voorhees, New Jersey before they wrap up their homestand Wednesday against the Sabres (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

Subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | Youtube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube