Flyers Fall 3-0 in Series to Hurricanes After Embarrassing Game 3 Showing

The Flyers are on the brink of elimination. 

The Flyers were embarrassed in the first second-round game in Philadelphia since 2012. A 4-1 trashing by the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night has them up 3-0 in the series, and they can clinch on Saturday night. The Flyers’ weakness was, once again, special teams, as Carolina scored three of their four goals on the power play or the penalty kill.

That would be the biggest story of the night. The Hurricanes capitalized on their nine power-play opportunities, turning them into two goals. Meanwhile, the Flyers failed to convert on the five power plays they received, including failing on a 5-on-3. 

The Flyers would be taking two big hits going into this game. Owen Tippett missed his third straight game, and it was confirmed Wednesday that Noah Cates would miss the rest of this series. This moved Carl Grundstrom to the third line and Tyson Foerster back to the first line.

The Flyers played well on 5-on-5 and maintained possession well during the first period. They had plenty of chances but could not finish them. Travis Konecny had another breakaway, which felt like another repeat of Game 2, when Porter Martone hit the post just minutes later. 

But if they can’t finish chances, they won’t score, and that led to a Carolina lead. When Sean Couturier was called for tripping, Jordan Staal was able to put a missed shot past Vladar to give the Hurricanes the first goal of the game.

Alex Bump had a super close chance, with the puck getting by Frederik Andersen, and was so close to going in, but Jaccob Slavin was able to stop the Flyers from tying this up. Flyers received a power play after that missed chance and gave it up after 18 seconds, as Jamie Drysdale was called for holding to end the period

Trevor Zegras kicked off the second period by scoring the equalizer by making no mistake with him shooting from a tough angle. The shot bounced off Emil Andrae, and then Martone got another great chance on a rush but was denied. Bump almost gave the Flyers the lead with him being alone in front of another pass from Martone, but he was beaten by Andersen. 

And that is when the wheels fell off for the Flyers. Taylor Hall was originally sent for a five-minute major for hitting Travis Sanheim, but the penalty was shortened to a two-minute minor. It didn’t matter as Jalen Chatfield cleared the puck and went right down the ice to clear one past Vladar for a shorthanded goal to give the Hurricanes the lead. 

With the Flyers still remaining on the power play after the goal, Carolina’s bench was called for a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, sending the Flyers to 5-on-3. Surely they score, right?

Wrong. They didn’t score on the minute they had a 5-on-3 or a regular power play. The power play has become the death of this team during the playoffs, and that just can not happen whatsoever. The Flyers played well 5-on-5, but the power play during that period was astray. 

The penalties continued for both teams into the final period, with Christian Dvorak and K’Andre Miller making it 4-on-4, then Cam York caught Andersen’s leg and was booked for interference on a shot from Denver Barkey. It would come back to bite them on a 4-on-3, with Andrei Svechnikov getting just the right amount off his shot as Vladar was so close to stopping it with his leg pads, making it 3-1.

With the Flyers pressing in the Carolina offensive zone, the Hurricanes quickly got a breakaway, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored to make it 4-1. After Dvorak was called for a delay-of-game with ten minutes left, the fans hit the exits at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Both teams skated out the clock, with multiple Flyers fighting Hurricanes in the dying seconds, as Carolina earned the 4-1 win and remained undefeated in the postseason at 7-0.

The Flyers will have one more chance to keep their season alive on Saturday night in Game 4. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST. 

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