NHL Game of The Week: Hurricanes vs. Flyers
Raleigh, your Carolina Hurricanes are in this week’s edition of CommRadio’s NHL Game of the Week! Somehow, the Philadelphia Flyers are a good enough team to actually have the honor as well.
Let’s see what this matchup brings us.
The Philadelphia Flyers are off to an unexpectedly good start. A team that has been beaten to a pulp by the injury bug has actually been successful early on, coming back from multi-goal leads to win games numerous times.
Kevin Hayes leads the team with eight points while Travis Konecny leads the goal category with four. A team who was thought to have little scoring depth with this many injuries.
Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson, James van Riemsdyk, Ryan Ellis, and Bobby Brink are all out with some sort of injury, but the Flyers don’t quit.
Maybe this is from newly hired coach John Tortorella, a well known name that is known to be extremely passionate about his players and job.
The Flyers were pushed around a lot last year, quitting on themselves when things didn’t go right, but now with their new coach, things seemed to have instantly changed.
One of these things is the improved defensive play. Carter Hart isn’t getting left out to dry like he has in the past. Right now, he holds a 4-0 record with a 1.75 goals against average and a .949 save percentage.
If the Flyers want to continue to silence the doubters, they need to continue to keep the puck out of their own net. They struggled with almost everything last season, but things are looking up early on this season.
With Rod Brind’Amour behind the bench, the Carolina Hurricanes are off to a 4-1-1 start and sit atop the Metropolitan Division. They are led behind a lethal offense fronted by winger Andrei Svechnikov. Svechnikov’s seven goals are tied for first in the league alongside Valeri Nichuskin and Steven Stamkos.
Right behind Svechnikov are Sebastian Aho and Martin Nečas. Aho is having another strong start to his career with eight points in the early going. Nečas is finally showing the promise the Hurricanes thought he had when they took him 12th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft.
The offense isn’t the only thing clicking for the red and black. The defensive core is one of the best in the league, headlined by Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns.
With a bottom four consisting of Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce, Dylan Coghlan and Jalen Chatfield, the Hurricanes have three solid pairings that can shut down nearly any line in the league.
Between the pipes for Carolina are Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta. Andersen holds a 2.26 goals against average and a .913 save percentage while Raanta has a 1.93 goals against average and .922 save percentage.
The key for Carolina is staying healthy this season. Both of its goaltenders are injury prone, and Andersen missed the entirety of the playoffs last season. The injury bug has already struck Ondrej Kase, who’s out with a concussion for the time being.
It’s going to be a brass bonanza this weekend in Philadelphia, with one team looking to prove their dominance and another team trying to prove they belong.
The game is set for a 7:00 p.m puck drop on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Wells Fargo Center.
Anthony Desher is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email acd5698@psu.edu.
Joshua Bartosik is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jsb6137@psu.edu.
