RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny and Ryan Poehling scored to lead the Philadelphia Flyers over the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Wednesday night.
Philadelphia goalie Carter Hart made his first start since Nov. 1 and stopped 31 shots for his second road win this season. Hart missed the previous two games after a bout with food poisoning and the three games before that with a mid-body injury.
Hart pointed to the help from his teammates, who blocked 30 shots.
“I thought we did a good job of finding sticks, finding shot lanes with a couple of huge blocks,” Hart said.
The Flyers scored early goals in the first and second periods to earn their third straight road win and hand the Hurricanes their first loss in five home games this season.
The fast start was by design, Tippett said.
“They always come out quick, especially at home they play fast,” said Tippett, who has scored in three straight games. “You can’t sit back at all or else it doesn’t end up too well. We had a great start and kept it going for 60 minutes.”
Stefan Noesen scored for Carolina.
Tippett gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 1:50 of the first off assists from Morgan Frost and Louie Belpedio. It was the fourth goal in three games for Tippett.
Konecny made 2-0 at 19:03 when he redirected a pass from Nick Seeler past Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov. It was Konecny’s team-high 10th goal of the season but first in five games and second in November.
“I didn’t do anything,” Konecny said. “(Seeler) made an unbelievable play and I just deflected it in.”
The Flyers struck early again in the second period, when Poehling needed only 29 seconds to make it 3-0. Sean Walker and Scott Laughton assisted on Poehling’s goal.
The Hurricanes, who had won six of eight, got on the board with Noesen’s goal off a feed from Tony D’Angelo at the 11-minute mark of the second. Jack Drury also had an assist.
Carolina had two power-play chances in the second but Hart made 11 saves in the period.
Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said the sequence after Noesen’s goal was critical.
“We held our composure, handled the momentum swing and ended up starting the third period 3-1,” Tortorella said. “I thought that was a really important part of our game.”
Kochetkov made 20 saves for the Hurricanes, who have lost four of his five starts this season.
UP NEXT
Flyers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.
Hurricanes: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
