The Flyers find themselves in a daunting 3-0 second-round series hole after losing Thursday night, 4-1, to the Hurricanes.
The Flyers Postgame Live crew shares their instant reactions to the Flyers’ 4-1 loss in Game 3 against the Hurricanes on Thursday. Rick Tocchet didn't hide from the daunting thought of a 3-0 series deficit against the Eastern Conference's top seed.
To put it simply, the Flyers needed to win Game 3 in this best-of-seven second-round matchup. Without dumping a load of pressure on his players, the head coach knew it. Once again, the Flyers were unable to crack the Hurricanes as they lost Thursday night, 4-1, at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Trevor Zegras made it a 1-1 game 2:31 minutes into the second period when he scored on a delayed penalty.
But Carolina picked apart the Flyers on special teams with two power play goals and one at shorthanded.
"It's tough to come back in a series 3-0, I'm going to be honest with you," Tocchet said at morning skate. "We win this game, we're back in the series. If we lose, now we're really behind the eight ball.
" They're behind by the three games and now have to be perfect for four straight if they want to somehow keep their season alive. In the history of the NHL, only four teams have survived a 3-0 series hole. The Flyers, of course, were one of them. They pulled it off inFlyers Insider: Quest for the Cup as Flyers host Hurricanes for Game 3 The Hurricanes have yet to lose in these playoffs.
They've won all seven of their games and have surrendered just eight goals. Going back to the start of the 2021-22 season, the Flyers have lost 19 of their last 22 games against Carolina. The first dagger was from Andrei Svechnikov on the power play, which put the Flyers down 3-1 just 3:52 minutes into the third period. Cam York was in the penalty box for goaltender interference.
The final dagger came from Nikolaj Ehlers, who padded the Hurricanes' lead on a breakaway. Rasmus Ristolainen made a poor read when he pinched in the neutral zone. Jordan Staal handed Carolina a 1-0 first-period lead with a power play goal. Sean Couturier was in the penalty box for tripping.
Jalen Chatfield swung the game in the second period when he gave the Hurricanes the lead on the penalty kill . The 36-year-old has held the Flyers to just three goals in the series. The Flyers have scored only eight goals over their last six games after putting up 11 through the first three games of the playoffs. The Flyers had some quality looks early on Thursday night, but they couldn't shake their scoring struggles.
Travis Konecny was denied just 59 seconds into the action after he found his way behind the Hurricanes' defense. Porter Martone hit the post 3:36 minutes later and then Alex Bump was denied in close with 8:11 minutes left in the first period. Jaccob Slavin, one of the league's top defenders, kept the Flyers off the board with 1:35 minutes to go in the opening stanza.
After a Ristolainen shot snuck through Andersen, the Carolina defenseman corralled the puck and flung it away before it could cross the goal line. • After giving up a go-ahead shorthanded goal, the Flyers' power play had 1:15 minutes of a 5-on-3 opportunity. The Hurricanes' bench was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The Flyers' power play, however, failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity to tie the game.
A prevailing opinion coming into the playoffs was that the league-worst power play would cost the Flyers at some point. It absolutely did in Game 3. Health care
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