Recap: Flyers 5, Hurricanes 1

The Carolina Hurricanes lost their fair share of close games this season but this was not one of them as they got thumped by the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers scored just 53 seconds into the game and then made it 2-0 when Wayne Simmonds broke down the Carolina defense then beat Anton Khudobin with an open blast from the circle.

The Flyers dominated the opening period and outshot the Canes, 12-5.

Eric Staal drew a penalty to start off the second, then scored on a wrap-around during the ensuing powerplay to make it,  2-1.  But the Flyers would draw one of their own and scored easily on a tic-tac-toe passing play by Claude Giroux, Simmonds, and Jakub Voracek.

Then, Scott Laughton scored his first NHL career goal less than three minutes later to make it 4-1 and for all intents and purposes, the contest was over.

By the end of the second period, the score was 5-1 and the Flyers had the game won in just two periods.

Khudobin was the surprise starter and looked understandably rusty but the team in front of him gave him little help.  The goalie ended up allowing five goals on 23 shots.

The loss was the fifth straight for the Canes, who are 3-12-0 in their last 15 games.  Their overall 8-18-3 record, for 19 points, keeps them with a solid foothold on last place in the East.  Buffalo and Columbus are closest to them with 24 points each.

They next face the Habs in Montreal on Tuesday night.

Game Notes:

• Not much to mention in the notes.  The Canes ended up with 26 shots on goal but most of them were meaningless.  Staal led the way with six, but was only 21% in the faceoff circle, (4 of 19).
• Jiri Tlusty was a last minute scratch due to an injury so Peters went with seven defensemen.  Justin Faulk played a team high 21:37 while Brad Malone played 11:27.
• "It was over early." Bill Peters audio.
• Event Summary