Flyers win third straight as Carter Hart returns and Owen Tippett remains hot against Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes hashtag on X, formerly known as Twitter, is “Cause Chaos” but it seemed like the Flyers were the ones doing that Wednesday night.

A team not many expected to be competitive this season weathered the storm the Carolina squad brought to close out a four-game road trip with a 3-1 win. The Flyers (8-7-1) have leapfrogged the idle Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils, moving to fourth place in the Metropolitan Division.

One of the hottest teams in opening frames, the Flyers took an early 2-0 lead. First, a goal 110 seconds in by Owen Tippett and another with 58 seconds left by Travis Konecny. They then added a third goal with 29 seconds in the second period by Ryan Poehling, his first with the club.

“It’s huge,” Konecny said about the strong start. “I think it’s just the standard that we’re trying to create here and if you’re not ready to go then you’re not helping your teammates. That’s kind of what we’ve been living and dying by at the start of this year and it’s seeing everyone buy-in.”

Goalie Carter Hart, who made his return after missing two weeks of action, finally relented and allowed a one-timer from winger Martin Nečas with nine minutes to go in the middle stanza. But what impressed head coach John Tortorella the most was that his young squad did not get flustered in the second half of the second period.

“That’s all I talked about in between the second and third periods was, that was huge coming out of there 3-1 and just handling the type of momentum swings,” Tortorella said. “These are really good teams we’re playing against and we got a defense that is inexperienced, a little bit banged up. So, sometimes it’s not the stats at the end of the night, it’s just the mindset of handling certain situations in the game I thought was very important tonight.”

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The long-awaited return of Hart was well worth the wait.

After missing five games — three with a back injury and two with food poisoning thanks to some bad fish in California — Hart returned between the pipes for his first start since Nov. 1.

“No expectations,” Hart said. “Just come in and play hockey. Just another game and do all the work and preparation. Two weeks away, got time to focus on some other parts of my game and my body ... used the time away effectively and just prepared for the next puck I had to stop.”

Hart was sharp and showed no rust, stopping 31 of the 32 shots he faced. He stoned Jesperi Kotkaniemi as he broke in alone with 9:56 left to go in the first after an Egor Zamula turnover at the Flyers blue line. Hart then stopped Jack Drury at the left post as he tried to bury one five-hole. He also made a save on Seth Jarvis after he cut to the middle and shot through Travis Sanheim.

In the second period, he stopped Kotkaniemi again on a quick shot from the left circle. Hart will probably want to thank his crossbar as he got some help in the third when a streaking Michael Bunting sent a backhand off the crossbar while the Hurricanes were on the power play.

“He’s been our backbone for the majority of the year and he comes up with big saves when there is a breakdown so it doesn’t surprise me that he stood on his head,” Tippett said.

It also didn’t hurt that his buddies once again sacrificed the body in front of him. After blocking 21 shots against the Ducks for Sam Ersson and 20 against the Kings for Cal Petersen, the Flyers blocked 15 through the first two periods and finished with an eye-popping 30 blocks.

“That’s another thing that Torts has put into the way we’re going to play,” Konecny said. “Instilled that in our brains that if you’re not doing that you’re not playing.”

The Tippett show continues to roll on.

After notching three goals in the last two games out West, the red-haired forward is, well, red hot as he added another Wednesday night.

After Louie Belpedio knocked down a Dmitry Orlov chip off the glass near the Flyers’ blue line, he carried it into the Hurricanes’ zone before sending it to Morgan Frost on the wing. Frost then dropped the puck for Tippett, who stepped into the puck from the top of the right circle.

Tippett has six goals in 16 games. He had a couple of chances to add to the total against the Hurricanes, including getting robbed by a perfectly placed glove of Pyotr Kochetkov above a two-pad stack with eight seconds left in the second frame. The 24-year-old finished the game tied with Konecny for the team lead in shots with four while also making a number of key backchecks.

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“He understands it. I think as we went through last year, he became that type of player, understanding the full 200-foot game,” Tortorella said. “[He] scores a big goal for us here, has another chance, I think a couple of them that just missed. So yeah, his games coming. His games coming so hopefully, hopefully it’ll continue.”

The Flyers now have 23 goals in the opening frame this season, tying the idle Tampa Bay Lightning for the most in the NHL. ... Konecny broke a four-game scoring drought and now has 10 goals this season. He is on pace for 51, which would smash his previous career high of 31, set last season. His goal was exactly what Tortorella had been asking for with him standing on the doorstep and Nick Seeler wheeling off a shot-pass. ... Poehling was moved into a more offensive role alongside Joel Farabee and Scott Laughton and continued to impress his bench boss, who commended his all-around game. It was also his first NHL goal since April 2 with the Penguins — against the Flyers. ... The Hurricanes led 9-3 in high-danger chances through two periods and finished with 11, according to Natural Stat Trick. ... Defensemen Marc Staal and Rasmus Ristolainen look close to returning after each was sporting black jerseys, and not the no-contact yellow sweaters, during morning skate at PNC Arena.

The Flyers head home for a hockey-filled weekend. The reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights visit the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday (1 p.m. on NBCSP) before the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town on Sunday (5:30 p.m. on NBCSP+).