Flyers swept by Hurricanes as overtime loss ends their season in second round originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Trevor Zegras felt if the Flyers could take just one game, the Hurricanes would “tighten up a little bit.”
But the Flyers couldn’t get that one game. They were swept out of the playoffs in the second round after suffering a 3-2 overtime loss Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Jackson Blake scored the winner 5:31 minutes into the bonus period. It was his second goal of the night.
Carolina, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, was decisively better in this best-of-seven matchup. The Flyers hung with the Hurricanes for stretches of the series and took them to overtime twice. But Carolina’s pedigree and depth were too much.
The Flyers got goals from Tyson Foerster and Alex Bump in Game 4.
Bump’s marker drew the Flyers even 5:52 minutes into the third period. The Flyers struck first when Foerster ended his scoreless postseason with a first-period goal.
In celebration, Foerster raised his arms, gazed toward the rafters and smiled. The 24-year-old winger had gone without a point through nine games, but Rick Tocchet stuck with him.
The Flyers very much exceeded expectations by not only making the playoffs, but also winning a round. Now they need to build on it. They snapped a five-year postseason drought with an impressive surge down the stretch.
The Hurricanes have not lost in these playoffs. They’ve won all eight of their games and have surrendered just 10 goals.
Going back to the start of the 2021-22 season, the Flyers have lost 20 of their last 23 games against Carolina. Just a bad matchup for the Flyers.
• Dan Vladar once again did his job, converting 37 saves on 40 shots.
He carried the Flyers and gave them a chance.
The Hurricanes took the lead 4:13 minutes into the third period when Logan Stankoven scored his seventh of the playoffs. But Bump countered 1:39 minutes later from the slot off a feed from Travis Konecny.
It was a 1-1 game at second intermission. Just 28 seconds after Jackson Blake tied the game in the middle stanza, Mark Jankowski had a go-ahead goal taken off the board. The Flyers won a coach’s challenge that deemed William Carrier interfered with Vladar.
Carolina netminder Frederik Andersen stopped 15 of the Flyers’ 17 shots. The 36-year-old held the Flyers to just five goals in the series.
He robbed Garnet Hathaway at the doorstep with 3:36 minutes left in the second period. With 10 seconds left in the frame, Andersen got some love from his one post as Christian Dvorak rung it.
The Flyers’ offense really dried up, which was a major concern heading into the playoffs. This was not a high-end scoring team during the regular season — 2.93 goals per game, good for 21st in the NHL.
Tocchet’s club scored only 10 goals over its last seven games after putting up 11 through the first three games of the playoffs. The Flyers’ top four goal scorers from the regular season — Konecny, Zegras, Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov — combined for four goals, and one of them was an empty-netter.
Tippett didn’t play in the second round because of an undisclosed injury. Michkov was a healthy scratch twice (more on that below). The Flyers lost Noah Cates to a lower-body injury for the final two games of the second round. Dvorak, who was definitely banged up, didn’t have a goal in the playoffs.
The Flyers’ league-worst power play went 3 for 36 in the postseason.
• Michkov sat for the second time this postseason.
The 21-year-old winger struggled. He just wasn’t noticeable with his legs and activity around the net. Tocchet has stressed pace in these playoffs. And at times, Michkov looked a step behind. He had no goals and an assist in eight games, while playing just 11:50 minutes per game.
Tocchet made a pair of eye-opening moves by putting Jett Luchanko and Oliver Bonk into the lineup for their playoff debuts. Luchanko took Michkov’s spot and Bonk played in place of Emil Andrae.
Luchanko is a 19-year-old with only eight games of NHL experience. He was just playing junior hockey five days ago. Bonk is a 21-year-old with only one game of NHL experience.
So, along with Bump, Denver Barkey and Porter Martone, the Flyers had five rookies in their Game 4 lineup. A combined 78 games of NHL regular-season experience between those five — not even a full season’s worth.
On Carolina’s go-ahead third-period goal, Bonk couldn’t stay in front of Taylor Hall, who set up Stankoven.
• The offseason begins for Danny Briere and company.
Zegras and Jamie Drysdale are the team’s notable restricted free agents that need to be re-signed.
Unrestricted free agency come July 1 could be an interesting period for the Flyers. They have some dead money coming off the books and the NHL salary cap is climbing by $8.5 million.
It’s a lean market, though, at the center position, if the Flyers were looking to add there. They could address their defense or backup goaltending. Samuel Ersson is a restricted free agent, as well.
Don’t rule out Briere getting creative on the trade market. He acquired Zegras last offseason via trade.
The NHL entry draft is June 26-27.
