For much of their undefeated post-season run so far, the Carolina Hurricanes have leaned on the line of Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall, and Jackson Blake to drive the club’s scoring, with all others fading into the background.
Until now.
Things changed on Thursday night, with Carolina’s offence opening up in the club’s 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. The game saw Jordan Staal, Jalen Chatfield, and Andrei Svechnikov each score their first goal of the post-season, while Nikolaj Ehlers, who lit the lamp for the first time in Game 2, scored for the second straight game.
With the offence heating up and spreading out, Thursday’s victory was about as dominant a win as we’ve seen from this powerful team so far this spring — and that’s really saying something, considering we’re talking about a team that arrived in Philadelphia with a perfect record.
Carolina’s first-round sweep of the Ottawa Senators saw just five different goal-scorers get on the board, with three — Stankoven, Sebastian Aho, and Hall — registering multi-goal series. Through three games against the Flyers so far, eight different Hurricanes skaters have found the back of the net.
Prior to scoring his first of the post-season Thursday night as Carolina pushed Philly to the brink of elimination, Svechnikov sat second on the team in shots (23) this spring. His persistence paid off, and you could tell by his demeanour on the bench that a weight had been lifted. Ehlers’ celebration that followed his breakaway marker also told a story of a goal-scorer just heating up.
And perhaps the scariest part isn’t who is scoring these goals, but rather, how…
Hurricanes flex special-teams muscles
The only team that’s earned more penalty minutes this post-season than the Carolina Hurricanes? That’d be the Philadelphia Flyers. With two teams as heavily penalized as these foes, it was only a matter of time until special teams really swayed the series.
That time came in Game 3 of this second-round series. After struggling to score with the man advantage this spring, Carolina crashed through that wall and scored in almost every situation they found themselves in on Thursday night.
Five-on-four? Check. Jordan Staal jammed in a rebound late in the first frame, capitalizing on Carolina’s first PP of the night.
Short-handed? Check. Less than 10 seconds into Taylor Hall’s boarding minor in the second period, Staal fed a perfect pass to Jalen Chatfield on a two-on-one, and the defenceman snapped it home.
Four-on-three? Check. Svechnikov’s slap shot early in the third iced Carolina’s lead.
Even-strength? Check. Ehlers broke free and fired a wrister, just for good measure, to complete Carolina’s quad of goals on the night.
While the Hurricanes’ overall PP stats still don’t jump off the page — just two-for-nine on the night — the special-teams scoring was even more impressive considering the masterclass they put on in special-teams defending. The Hurricanes’ staunch penalty kill held Philadelphia goalless — and, in many cases, shotless — on five opportunities Thursday night.
Andersen has Hurricanes in elite territory
He wasn’t the busiest netminder on the night — the Flyers registered just 19 shots in Game 3, compared to Carolina’s 30 — but Hurricanes starter Frederik Andersen stole the show yet again on Thursday. The veteran goaltender has been incredible so far this spring and added to his illustrious post-season that has him sitting with a wild .957 save percentage and 1.02 goals against average through seven games — all of them wins, of course.
With Andersen dialled in, the Hurricanes have allowed just eight goals all playoffs. According to Sportsnet Stats, they’re the first team since the 2004 Lightning to allow eight or fewer goals through their first seven games of a post-season.
He even made a save with an upside-down stick. Hey, when you’re hot, you’re hot.
Flyers have no answers — only frustrations
At times, the Flyers looked like they might just have found their footing in Game 3. Playing in front of their home fans, Philly did well to control the pace for stretches. Trevor Zegras tied the game at 1-1 with a beauty early in the second, and gave the Flyers a little life… but that success was short-lived.
As Carolina took over on the scoresheet, Philly found itself giving in to frustration and taking too many penalties. The Flyers racked up 38 penalty minutes on the night, most of which came in the third frame of what was clearly, at that point, a lost game. The club looked as though it intended to drag the Hurricanes down with it, baiting them into some rough stuff with mixed success. While Carolina had its share of undisciplined plays — even head coach Rod Brind’Amour got in on the action, taking an unsportsmanlike penalty from the bench in the second period — they were ultimately able to regain composure to close out the win.
The third-period Flyers had the air of a team that knew its hopes of a comeback were all but lost. This series isn’t over, of course, but it certainly looked that way late Thursday night. The Flyers will have some soul-searching ahead if they’re to make a run at a comeback.
