PHILADELPHIA — On Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers took a swig from the fountain of youth, as the future of the franchise flaunted their talents against the Carolina Hurricanes. Apparently, it wasn’t big enough of a gulp.
Three of the Flyers’ four goal scorers in their 5-4 overtime loss to the Hurricanes were 24 years old or younger — 21-year-old Tyson Foerster, 24-year-old Noah Cates, and 23-year-old Joel Farabee. Trade-deadline-acquisition Brendan Lemieux scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to go up, 4-3, but the good feelings didn’t last long.
Winger Scott Laughton was called for holding with just seven seconds remaining in regulation and the Flyers up 4-3. With .3 seconds left on the clock, Hurricanes forward Martin Nečas tied the game. Sebastian Aho completed the hat trick just 28 seconds into overtime to earn the Hurricanes the victory.
“I just thought it was a bad bounce,” Lemieux said of the Hurricanes’ game-tying goal. “It [stinks]. And it didn’t represent how we played tonight. So I was disappointed in the result.”
Foerster picked up the first goal of his NHL career in just his fifth game. Farabee scored his second goal in two nights to tie the game in the third period, 3-3, after previously failing to find the back of the net for 26 games.
Feed Foerster
On Friday night, Foerster collected his first NHL point on his assist of Farabee’s goal, which occurred shortly after Foerster fired wide of the net on a 2-on-1. But when Foerster earned another scoring chance on Saturday, he didn’t miss. Five minutes into the second period, Lemieux found center Morgan Frost with a pass in the neutral zone, then Frost skated toward the Hurricanes’ zone with speed. Frost passed the puck to Foerster off the rush. Foerster entered the zone and wired a wrist shot past goalie Frederik Anderson’s blocker to cut the Hurricanes’ lead, 2-1.
Not only did Foerster pick up his first NHL goal, but he also had his first multipoint night in the big leagues. He collected a primary assist on the Flyers’ third-period, power-play goal. Foerster finished with two points and three shots on goal.
“It was nice to finally get one past the goalie there,” Foerster said. “But I mean, this league is all about confidence and I feel like mine’s pretty high right now. But I’m just gonna look for the next game.”
Youthful power play
The Flyers debuted a new-look top power-play unit on Friday, featuring two defensemen — Cam York and Tony DeAngelo — and three forwards — Foerster, winger Owen Tippett, and Cates at center. The youthful group picked up a goal, the Flyers’ first on the power play in five games, when Tippett scored in the first period. That unit carried the momentum into Saturday when the Flyers went on the two-man advantage for 31 seconds after defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and DeAngelo drew overlapping penalties.
Eleven seconds into the 5-on-3 with the Flyers down, 3-1, thanks to Aho’s second goal of the night four minutes earlier, Foerster fired a one-timer from the top of the right circle on goal. Anderson denied him with his right pad, but he couldn’t control the rebound. Cates collected the loose puck and scored, cutting the Hurricanes’ lead again, 3-2.
“I think we’re maybe a little more comfortable when you’re working with a younger guy and kind of how freely you can talk to them,” Cates said of the young unit. “So I think we found some chemistry here this past weekend. So hopefully we can build off of that.”
Early, costly mistakes
While the Flyers generated some offense in the first period, creating six scoring chances to the Hurricanes’ 11 per Natural Stat Trick, they had some struggles in their own zone in the latter part of the frame. With roughly five minutes remaining in the period, a defensive breakdown led to Aho being wide open in the slot. Nečas centered a pass for Aho below the goal line, and Aho ripped a shot below the glove of Felix Sandström to put the Hurricanes up, 1-0.
Nearly two minutes later, winger Wade Allison failed to clear the puck from the Flyers’ zone along the boards, turning the puck over to Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei. He fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle through traffic and past Sandström, who was likely screened, and the Flyers went into the first intermission in a 2-0 hole. Despite digging themselves in a hole in the first, the Flyers were resilient and clawed their way back, but fell quickly in overtime.
What’s next
The Flyers continue their homestand Tuesday against the Florida Panthers at 7 p.m.
