Flyers Shutout for First Time in Postseason in Game One Loss to Hurricanes

That was embarrassing. 

The Flyers were shut out for the first time this postseason in Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-0. The Flyers could not keep up with the Hurricanes’ pace one bit. They failed to clear the puck, made bad turnovers, and all around got humbled by the best team in the Eastern Conference to start the second round of the playoffs.

Philadelphia would already be at a disadvantage before the game even started. Owen Tippett has been playing in the playoffs banged up, and their leading goal scorer was ruled out for Game one. The Flyers never disclosed the injury and listed him as day-to-day. This caused the Flyers to make more line changes once again, just to change them in the second period.

An awful first period basically put the Flyers in a grave they never dug themselves out of, and that was all for the game.  

The Hurricanes struck first after 90 seconds. A shot from Mike Reilly deflected off Luke Stankoven’s puck and into the net to give Carolina the early lead, and they would soon double it minutes later.

Jackson Blake pulled off a fantastic transition rush past Matvei Michkov and Travis Sanheim, doubling Carolina’s lead as the Flyers just looked lost.

And lost they were. They were all over the Flyers to start the game, and controlled a majority of the puck in the Flyers’ zone. They won faceoffs, forced turnovers, and played too fast, which the Flyers could not handle. And that was reflected in their shots. Carolina shot 12 times in the first period and had more shots on goal when they were short-handed compared to the Flyers at full strength. 

The Flyers created some chances late, but to no avail. Denver Barkey and Sean Couturier both had good chances saved by Frederik Andersen, and the pairing of Luke Glendening and Garnet Hathaway got the Flyers in a 2-on-1, which led to nothing. 

The Flyers had a really good chance to cut the lead to one with Porter Martone coming so close yet again as Andersen tripped him, forcing a penalty. Once again, the Flyers couldn’t convert for the third straight time, not even recording a shot on goal.

They looked like they could break through once again with Hathaway coming right out of the penalty box and getting a breakaway before K’Andre Miller dives and breaks up the puck with his stick.

The Flyers once again changed the lines as well in the middle of the period. The fourth line remained the same, but Alex Bump went from the first line to the third line, Martone went to the second line, and Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny went to the first line.

The Canes would soon after the line change extend their lead to three, when Noah Juulsen forced a turnover under pressure, which Stankoven rifled in to make it 3-0.

After Trevor Zegras knocked Blake to the ground after he was slashed by him, he ended up cross-checking him. Both were escorted off the ice with ten-minute minors with eight minutes left in the third, ending their nights. Konecny was also sent to the box for roughing, giving the Hurricanes a power play. 

And right as the power play was going to end, Nick Seeler and former Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere were both sent off for misconduct, ending their nights.

The Flyers were sent to the power play one last time, and with Daniel Vladar pulled, turned into a 6-on-4. 

The Flyers failed to convert on the power play once again and skated out the clock, with Carolina grabbing the 3-0 win and the 1-0 series lead.

The Flyers will try to even the series on Monday night. Puck drop in Raleigh is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST.

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