Michael Bunting had a goal and an assist as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the host Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Sebastian Aho had two assists and Pyotr Kochetkov made 28 saves for the Hurricanes.
Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers, who have lost three of their past four games. Carter Hart made 32 saves.
Philadelphia had an early opportunity to get on the board with a power play just 53 seconds into the game, but its struggles with the man advantage, which ranked 29th in the NHL entering the contest, continued as it failed to record a shot on goal.
Bunting gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 5:39 of the first period. A shot from Dmitry Orlov from the left side bounced out to the right to Aho, who then sent a quick feed to Bunting in the low slot. He couldn’t get enough of his first shot attempt but quickly got on the loose puck to send it into the back of the net.
The Flyers had one of their best chances with just over eight minutes left in the frame when Travis Sanheim cut to the front of the net as he took a pass from Konecny, but the defenseman was denied.
Konecny tied it 1-1 at 7:14 of the second period. Tyson Foerster spotted Konecny behind the Hurricanes defense and sent him an outlet pass for a breakaway, and he beat Kochetkov glove side.
From there, Carolina took control of the game, outshooting Philadelphia 7-1 before regaining the lead at 13:25.
Brendan Lemieux closed in on Scott Laughton in front of the net, blocking the clearing pass and sweeping in the loose puck past the outstretched stick of Hart to put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1.
Owen Tippett nearly connected for the Flyers just under eight minutes into the third period with a short-side shot from the left circle that hit the post.
Seth Jarvis scored far side from the bottom of the left circle to make it 3-1 at 16:34, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored into an empty net at 17:16 for the 4-1 final.
–Field Level Media
