As their struggles without Ersson continue, the Flyers succumb in the last minute of regulation play and fall by two goals.

Unfortunately for him (or rather for her!), life got in his way of following this dream of his. So now he must pay with his life… Flyers lose in Final Minute as Ersson-less Struggles Continue originally appeared on NBC Sports PhiladelphiaThe Flyers came within touching distance of earning at least one point Tuesday at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina; unfortunately though they couldn’t overcome a lengthy defensive zone stay that eventually cost them their game to Carolina Hurricanes, who won 6-4 with Martin Necas scoring their game-winner with 31 seconds remaining after wearing down their opponents for over one and a half minutes of weariness from them. As they skated ragged against tired skaters on both teams, Necas was able to score through traffic as part of his four-point performance (two goals and two assists). Hurricanes forward Ryan Murphy closed out their victory by scoring an empty-netter while Travis Konecny led with four points (two goals, two assists). Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost also scored goals for Philadelphia (4-8-1), starting off an difficult three-game road trip. Twenty nine seconds after Frost tied it 3-3 early in the third period, Carolina’s Jack Roslovic put himself back ahead again to give Carolina control. Konecny scored twice to tie things at 4-4 but were outshot 27-6 over the final two periods by John Tortorella’s Flyers; by contrast, Carolina is enjoying their longest active winning streak (seven). Since April 3, they’ve outscored opponents 33-16. Philadelphia will meet Carolina for their third regular-season meeting shortly thereafter. * Aleksei Kolosov filled in for injured goaltender Samuel Ersson and made 29 saves out of 34 shots faced, conceding three goals due to rebounded pucks around the net and rebounded pucks that came loose around it. Carolina took control of this contest with three goals scored within one minute during the second period, quickly turning a tie game into a 3-1 lead and crushing their young defensive pair Emil Andrae and Egor Zamula of Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in Carolina Hurricanes hockey action at home on March 2. Andrae, 22, who has shown much promise since joining the NHL just 10 days prior, lost his footing during Roslovic’s game-winning 4-3 goal and finished the match with a negative two rating in 14:09 minutes of playback time. Zamula finished his 10:58 minutes as an active Hurricane with only two minus-2s to his name; young forward Bobby Brink got stuck on the ice for Hurricanes game-winner and eventually scored it himself. Tortorella noted, in Monday’s practice game that they have improved defensively around goalie as practice has increased and they gained experience at it in games. He pointed to Tortorella being particularly noticeable as one such example of this improvement: he went scoreless while earning a minus-3 mark and did not register an assist. “I believe we have improved defensively around goalie because of more practice with it in games,” Tortorella commented on Sunday night. “We just get there too often,” Ersson noted, noting the Flyers have gone winless in every game where he didn’t start this year. Last season, they defeated Senators 4-2 with Felix Sandstrom netting. Carolina netminder Pyotr Kochetkov entered 2-1-0 against them with 1.35 goals-against average and.944 save percentage lifetime against them. On Tuesday night, 25-year-old goaltender Anton Khudobin turned aside 12 of 16 shots fired by Philadelphia. * Among many positives for the Flyers Tuesday was taking down an important opponent without their No. 1 goaltender and top pair defenseman and seeing some offensive life from them as a team on the road without these players; plus seeing signs of offensive improvement as the Flyers saw more offense. Tortorella’s club had scored only four goals (one an empty-netter) over their prior three games – an empty netter included – when facing one of the NHL’s more defensive clubs; against them however, they equalled that total with seven goals scored against them, including Tippett (one goal and assist) and Sean Couturier (two assists) having multipoint performances. Tippett may find new hope with Frost’s goal being his inaugural of the season: he “knows I can be a good player”, says 25-year-old center Matt Frost on Monday. Frost says one game might do it; we shall see! “Matvei Michkov broke his four-game pointless drought with an assist on Konecny’s 5-on-3 power play goal which opened scoring early. Michkov played 13:57 total minutes (including 2:52 in the third period). * The road trip continues Thursday when they visit Lightning (7:30 pm ET/ESPN+ Hulu). Subscribe wherever you find podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Youtube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube”