Flyers set franchise history with seventh winless game to start the season in 4-1 loss to Hurricanes
The previous franchise record was six, held by the 1999-00 and 2008-09 teams; they both won their seventh game.
The Flyers made history.
Not the good kind.
On Sunday, the Orange and Black lost 4-1 to the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes and are now winless in seven games to start the 2026-27 season. The previous franchise record was six, held by the 1999-00 and 2008-09 teams. Both squads won their seventh game.
Philly is now 0-5-2, and boos rained down for much of the game with “Fire Tocchet” chants during the third period after the Hurricanes scored their final goal.
Like clockwork, lack of execution, connectivity, and an inability to play a dirty, grinding, driving-to-the-net game were missing from the Flyers.
Things started OK but were disjointed, partially because of three penalties — two of which were by Oliver Bonk in his season debut after being recalled earlier in the day.
A shot-volume-heavy team, Carolina was held to 11 shots on goal in the frame, but according to Natural Stat Trick, had 10 scoring chances and seven high-danger chances. The Flyers, who had one power-play opportunity — with one missed shot by Trevor Zegras — had five shots across all strengths, three scoring chances and one high-danger chance.
Andrei Svechnikov broke the ice with a screaming wrist shot past Flyers goalie Joseph Woll with just under 10 minutes left in the second period to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.
Sean Couturier sent a pass up the left wing boards to Matvei Michkov, but the winger couldn’t catch it in the offensive zone, and Travis Sanheim had to chase it down in the Flyers’ end. He curled and tried to hit Bonk inside the blue line on the right side, but it was too far in front.
Bonk recovered and tried to tap the puck up to Michkov; however, former Flyers defenseman Sean Walker intercepted it and fed Svechnikov as he streaked through the neutral zone. The Russian winger, going one-on-one with Sanheim, sent the puck into the net blocker side.
Three minutes and 29 seconds later, the Hurricanes made it 2-0 when another ex-Flyers defenseman got a point. This time Shayne Gostisbehere found the back of the net after a pretty passing play by the visitors.
» READ MORE: Flyers place Travis Konecny on injured reserve, recall Oliver Bonk from Lehigh Valley
Zegras lost the puck in Carolina’s end, and the Hurricanes went the other way as William Carrier skated into the offensive zone and curled in the right circle. He hit the trailing Sebastian Aho, who dipped around Michael Bunting and found a wide-open Gostisbehere down the left side.
Aho’s pass went through the legs of Bonk. All five Flyers — Bonk, Sanheim, Zegras, Bunting and Michkov — watched the puck and left Gostisbehere all alone for the easy dunk.
Less than two minutes later, the Flyers finally got on the board. An outlet pass by Simon Benoit was chipped at the red line and the line of Christian Dvorak, Tyson Foerster, and Denver Barkey — playing together for the first time this season — went to work deep in the offensive zone and along the boards.
Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov went behind the net to play the puck, and Barkey got enough of it to allow Foerster time to beat Nikolaj Ehlers down the wall. Foerster sent it around back to Barkey, who showed his ability to protect the puck along the boards, creating space and time to hit Nick Seeler at the left point.
As Barkey was along the right boards, Dvorak went to the front of the net and tipped in Seeler’s shot for his first of the year.
But just 88 seconds later, Aho made it 3-1 after Carrier was allowed to skate through the slot while surrounded by five Flyers — Sanheim, Bonk, Couturier, Zegras, and Owen Tippett — before feeding Aho for the goal. In the third period, Mark Jankowski made it 4-1 on a rebound from just above the slot.
Breakaways
Defenseman Helge Grans and forward Garrett Wilson were healthy scratches. … Forward Travis Konecny was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day. … Bonk had two shots on goal and was minus-3 across 16:28 of ice time in his season debut. … The Flyers had 19 shots on goal and 41 shot attempts; the Hurricanes finished with 30 shots on goal, marking the first time since their season opener they were held to 30 or fewer.
Up next
The Flyers host the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP). The Kraken beat the Washington Capitals 5-3 on Sunday.
