Shayne Gostisbehere Haunts His Old Building — Hurricanes Beat Flyers 3-2 in Overtime | October 3, 2026

Former Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere took the late penalty that put Philadelphia on an overtime power play, then scored the four-on-three winner 2:51 into overtime. Sebastian Aho scored twice as Carolina picked up its first win of the season. October 3, 2026.

Carolina Hurricanes 3, Philadelphia Flyers 2 (OT) Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, PA

Joseph Woll did everything a goalie can do to drag the Flyers to their first win of the season. It still wasn’t enough against the team that swept the Flyers out of last spring’s Eastern Conference Second Round. Carolina outshot Philadelphia 40-18 and the Flyers spent most of the night defending. Philadelphia even got a gift: Shayne Gostisbehere, who used to call this building home, took a slashing penalty with 1:26 left in regulation. The Flyers carried a four-on-three into overtime and generated nothing with it, and Gostisbehere ended up scoring the winner. Philadelphia has now lost back-to-back games in overtime, and Rick Tocchet’s frustration after this one was earned.

How It Happened

First Period: Most of the crowd was still settling in when Aho scored. William Carrier won a race to the puck behind the net and took a hit from Rasmus Ristolainen. He still got the puck to an open Aho in the slot, and Aho’s shot went in off Woll’s glove 10 seconds after puck drop. Owen Tippett answered at 8:03 after Carolina mishandled the puck and Trevor Zegras made the first play, snapping a shot home from the slot. The Flyers got two power plays late in the period, on Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Aho minors, and Tyson Foerster fired two hard one-timers. Carolina still won the period 13-6 in shots, which set the pattern for the rest of the night.

Second Period: Carolina had a 17-6 edge in shots in the middle frame, but Philadelphia was the team that scored. At 7:20, Travis Konecny won a puck battle with Kotkaniemi in the Carolina zone and found Matvei Michkov alone in front, and Michkov beat Kochetkov. It was Michkov’s first goal of the season, and it gave the Flyers their first home lead of the year. Gostisbehere hit the outside of the post on a Carolina power play. Woll made a scrambling recovery save on Carrier at the doorstep at 15:46 to keep it 2-1 through intermission.

Third Period: Ristolainen started the third but left for good after one shift, so the Flyers finished the period with five defensemen. Michkov was called for holding at 3:45, and Carolina cashed in at 4:59, when Aho found space between the circles and tied it 2-2 off a Nikolaj Ehlers feed. Then Gostisbehere was called for slashing with 1:26 left in regulation, and Philadelphia couldn’t create anything with the power play. After Michkov’s goal, the Flyers were outshot 20-8 over the final 35:31 of the game.

Overtime The Flyers carried the four-on-three into overtime and came up empty. Carolina killed off the penalty, and then Tippett was called for slashing Aho at the defensive blue line at 1:35, which gave Carolina a four-on-three of its own. Woll stopped an Andrei Svechnikov one-timer. At 2:51, Gostisbehere took a Jackson Blake pass at the top of the left circle and fired it past Woll for the winner. Gostisbehere spent his first seven NHL seasons as a Flyer. Tocchet’s assessment afterward was blunt: “Our execution is not good this year. It really isn’t.”

Goaltending

Pyotr Kochetkov made 16 saves on 18 shots (.889) for Carolina in his first regular-season game since December 20, 2025. Afterward he gave credit to the goalie at the other end: “He did unbelievable today.” Joseph Woll took the overtime loss despite stopping 37 of 40 (.925) in 62:48 of work, including 30 saves at even strength and two while shorthanded.

Special Teams

Carolina: 2-for-4 PP | Philadelphia: 0-for-4 PP | Penalties: Carolina 8 min (4 infractions), Philadelphia 8 min (4 infractions)

Three Stars

⭐ Shayne Gostisbehere (CAR) — Overtime power-play winner, 4 shots, 15:39 TOI

⭐⭐ Sebastian Aho (CAR) — 2 goals (1 PP), 1 assist, 6 shots, 10-5 on faceoffs

⭐⭐⭐ Owen Tippett (PHI) — 1 goal, 3 shots, 3 hits, +1

Team Statistics

Shots by Period

Scoring Summary

First Period

• 0:10 CAR — Sebastian Aho (2) — Assists: William Carrier (2), Andrei Svechnikov (2)
• 8:03 PHI — Owen Tippett (1) — Assists: Trevor Zegras (1)

Second Period

• 7:20 PHI — Matvei Michkov (1) — Assists: Travis Konecny (2), Christian Dvorak (1)

Third Period

• 4:59 CAR — Sebastian Aho (3) (PP) — Assists: Nikolaj Ehlers (1), Andrei Svechnikov (3)

Overtime

• 2:51 CAR — Shayne Gostisbehere (1) (PP) — Assists: Jackson Blake (2), Sebastian Aho (1)

Key Notes

• NHL record tied: Carolina won its first road game of the season for the ninth straight season, tying the NHL record the Flyers set from 1980-81 through 1988-89. The Hurricanes matched it in Philadelphia. Rod Brind’Amour became the first coach in NHL history to win nine consecutive road openers.
• Franchise record: Aho’s opener was the 50th game-opening goal of his career. He passed Eric Staal (49) for the most in franchise history and became the sixth Finnish-born player to score 50.
• Franchise note: Aho’s goal at 0:10 tied Kevin Dineen (December 3, 1990, at Montreal) for the second-fastest goal to start a game in franchise history, and for the fastest to start a road game.
• Aho’s 47th career multi-goal game tied Ron Francis for second-most in franchise history, behind Eric Staal (49). Svechnikov has assisted on all three of Aho’s goals this season.
• League note: It was Gostisbehere’s eighth career overtime goal. That ties Dustin Byfuglien and Charlie McAvoy for second-most all-time by a U.S.-born defenseman, behind only Seth Jones (12).
• Career milestone: Jordan Martinook played his 800th NHL game. He had 3 shots and 3:37 of shorthanded ice time.
• Aho has 3 goals through three games. Jordan Staal went 11-10 on faceoffs. Three of Carolina’s five goals this season have come on the power play.
• The defending Stanley Cup champions are 1-1-1. Kochetkov started after Brandon Bussi started the first two games, a 1-0 overtime loss to Florida and a 5-2 loss to Washington on Friday night. Carolina won this one on the second night of a back-to-back.
• Philadelphia is 0-1-2. It’s the first time the Flyers have lost their first three games since opening 0-2-2 in 2014-15. They’ve also lost back-to-back games 3-2 in overtime and have been outshot 122-62 through three games. Woll has made 78 saves in two nights, including 41 against New Jersey on Thursday.
• Tippett and Michkov scored the Flyers’ first two goals by forwards this season. In the first two games, Philadelphia’s forwards had zero goals and two assists (one each for Konecny and Sean Couturier), which led to line shuffles before both of the next two games.
• Flyers lines: Konecny-Dvorak-Michkov, Grundstrom-Zegras-Tippett, Foerster-Cates-Porter Martone and Bump-Couturier-Acciari. Dan Vladar was the backup goalie.
• Ristolainen left after one third-period shift with an undisclosed injury and will be evaluated Sunday. David Jiricek made his season debut on the third pair with Nick Seeler, who blocked a team-high 4 shots. Simon Benoit was the extra defenseman.
• The Flyers led 29-13 in hits but were outshot 40-18. Carl Grundstrom led the game with 5 hits. Trevor Zegras led all Flyers forwards with 22:53 of ice time, including 6:19 on the power play.
• The game was a rematch of last spring’s Eastern Conference Second Round, which Carolina won in four games.
• Philadelphia went 0-for-4 on the power play with four shots on goal, and only one of those came during the overtime four-on-three.
• Next meeting: Sunday, October 11, back at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Up Next

Carolina Hurricanes: Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 PM ET at the Montreal Canadiens (away). The next home game is Thursday, October 8, at 7:00 PM ET against the Vancouver Canucks.

Philadelphia Flyers: Monday, October 5, 7:00 PM ET at the Tampa Bay Lightning (away). The game opens a three-game road trip.