RALEIGH, NC — The Carolina Hurricanes extended their point streak to 14 games when they held off the Philadelphia Flyers in a 6-5 win at PNC Arena on Friday.
Jordan Martinook had a goal and two assists, Jesper Fast scored twice, Jordan Staal had three assists, and Antti Raanta made 26 saves for the Hurricanes (22-6-6), who won their eighth straight game and are 12-0-2 during the streak.
“It was a crazy game for sure,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We had the game in hand. It’s a good lesson though. In this league, you can’t let up.”
Tony DeAngelo, Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (11-17-7), who have lost two in a row and are 2-5-2 in their past nine games.
Samuel Ersson made his NHL debut and allowed five goals on 22 shots before being replaced at 7:58 of the second period. Carter Hart entered the game and made six saves on seven shots before leaving with an upper-body injury at 17:52 of the second. Philadelphia coach John Tortorella did not have an update on Hart after the game.
Ersson returned and made eight saves.
“For me, to come back in and make some saves is something I can take with me at least,” Ersson said. “But I’m a better goalie than what I showed out there today.”
Video: PHI@CAR: Fast kicks off scoring with wrister
The Flyers scored three straight goals in the third period to make it a one-goal game. Nick Seeler scored on a point shot at 6:59 to make it 6-3, Laughton scored five-hole on a short-handed breakaway to cut it to 6-4 at 7:41, and Konecny also scored on a short-handed breakaway to make it 6-5 at 12:24.
“It could have come apart at the seams going into the third period and being down 6-2, so I appreciate the guys staying in there and playing,” Tortorella said. “They played hard. They’ve been doing it all year.”
Fast gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 3:57 of the first period on its first shot of the game. Martinook knocked down a Philadelphia clearing attempt and passed it to Fast for a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
“‘Quickie’ does a lot of the dirty work that nobody talks about,” Martinook said. “Quickie has been snakebit a little bit, and for him to get going is just going to benefit us going forward.”
Travis Sanheim tied it 1-1 at 11:03, slipping past three defenders before scoring glove-side from the left circle, but the Hurricanes took a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 14:32 when Stefan Noesen screened Ersson and tipped in a Martin Necas wrist shot.
Fast extended it to 3-1 with 55 seconds remaining in the first. Martinook carried the puck behind the net and wrapped a pass to Fast for a one-timer that redirected off the leg of the Flyers defenseman. Rasmus Ristolainen.
“They haven’t come easy for me this year so far, so it felt good to get a couple today,” Fast said. “‘Marty’ was great today, and he’s been good the whole year. He’s been a very important part to our line here.”
Video: PHI@CAR: Fast fires home a shot from the circle
DeAngelo cut it to 3-2 at 1:01 of the second period when he trailed the play and received a pass from Joel Farabee for a wrist shot from the slot.
Svechnikov restored the two-goal lead at 5:57 after receiving a drop pass from Necas to make it 4-2, and Martinook tipped in a point shot. Brett Pesce at 7:58 to push it to 5-2.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored a power-play goal at 17:52 to make it 6-2 after Hart collided with Hurricanes forward Seth Jarviswho was pushed into him by Ristolainen.
NOTES: Raanta started for the third time in five games after starting nine of the first 29, including a 4-3 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. … Konecny has two points in three consecutive games (three goals, three assists). … Carolina’s line of Martinook, Staal and Fast has combined for 16 points in the past four games. Staal has seven points (three goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak, and Fast extended his point streak to four games (two goals, three assists). Martinook had his first multi-assist game since March 8, 2020. … Ristolainen had one assist for his first point of the season in 28 games. … DeAngelo played his 300th NHL game. He played 64 games for the Hurricanes last season.
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