Carolina’s Playoff Streak Continues With 4–1 Win Over Flyers, Making 7 in a Row

The brooms will be out among Carolina Hurricanes fans on Friday at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena.

After Thursday’s 4–1 victory in Game 3 of the NHL’s playoffs, two things are clear: The Philadelphia Flyers are on the verge of going home for the summer, and the Hurricanes are one victory away from advancing to Round 3 to the Eastern Conference Final. Carolina is now 7–0 in playoff opportunities this spring. The Hurricanes swept the Ottawa Senators in the opening round of the postseason.

“We just can’t worry about anything else other than winning one hockey game,” Philadelphia forward Christian Dvorak said in Thursday’s NHL.com report. “You win one and then the pressure starts to flip. We know we have it in this room. We’re not going to quit. We’re going to bring our best effort and just do what we can Saturday.”

The puck drops on Game 4 in Philadelphia on Saturday at 6 p.m. EDT.

Carolina captain Jordan Staal scored the first goal on the night in the first period at 17:27. Staal’s power-play score found its way under Flyers’ goalie Dan Vladar’s glove. Staal’s goal was assisted by Andrei Svechnikov and Shayne Gostisbehere. Staal, 37, has skated 20 NHL seasons, the past 14 with Carolina. Although holding a commanding lead over their opponent, Staal isn’t taking anything for granted leading into Saturday’s Game 4, according to ESPN.com on Friday.

“The fourth one is the hardest one to win; no one wants to go home,” said Staal, who scored the opening goal and assisted on the winner Thursday night. “It’s going to be a brand-new challenge, a brand-new start. We’re going to have to find ways to win the game, and it might look a little different than the first three.”

Philadelphia tied the game 1–1 at 2:31 in the second period with a goal that found its way to the back of the Hurricanes’ net past goalie Frederik Anderson, who made 18 saves on the night. Trevor Zegras’s score was assisted by Emil Andrae and Porter Martone. This would be all the offense the Flyers were able to generate in their home arenas on Thursday. Carolina would tally three unanswered goals.

Carolina’s Jalen Chatfield, at 15:59 in the second period, put his team ahead for night with a short-handed goal. Staal and Jordan Martinook assisted on Chatfield’s score. At the conclusion of the second period, the Hurricanes led 2–1.

As the third period began, Carolina picked up where they had left off in the previous period in scoring. First, at 3:52, Andrei Svechnikov got the scoring started with a power-play goal. Assisted by Sebastian Aho and Gostisbehere (his second on the night), Carolina increased their lead over the Flyers to 3–1. Minutes later, at 7:08, it was Carolina’s Nikolaj Ehlers who would put the puck past Vladar to make it a 4–1 game. Martinook and K’Andre Miller assisted on Ehlers’s score.

“We’re all gonna say the right things as coaches and try to get [players prepared],” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said in Friday’s edition of The Athletic. “But they gotta come ready to go, and they’ve been able to do that all year.

“The guys understand: We’re not going to be able to win if we don’t put our best foot forward.”

Brind’Amour speaks of what he has experienced with the Hurricanes as both a player and coach. Aside from skating for 10 seasons with the Hurricanes, including in 2006 when the team won the Stanley Cup, he has also spent 15 seasons coaching for them on the NHL level (seven seasons as an assistant coach, and the past eight seasons as the head coach).

Carolina advanced to Round 3 in 2024–2025, but lost in the Eastern Conference Final to the Florida Panthers. Florida would go onto win their second consecutive Cup championship.

Thursday’s game, which saw 58 penalty minutes registered (Philadelphia 10 penalties/20 minutes and Carolina 15 penalties/38 minutes), was reminiscent of the Flyers teams of the mid-1970s that won two Stanley Cup titles, built on a reputation as being the penalty-happy “Broad Street Bullies.”

While the Carolina–Philadelphia game was the lone one on the NHL playoff schedule on Thursday, two more Round 2 games are on tap for Friday. The Montreal Canadiens are in Buffalo for Game 2 with the Sabres (Buffalo leads 1–0) with a 7 p.m. ET puck drop. Out west, the Vegas Golden Knights will be in Anaheim for a 9:30 ET for Game 3 with the Ducks. This series is tied 1–1.

Flyers center Noah Cates is expected to remain out of the rest of the games of Round 2 due to a lower-body injury sustained during Monday’s Game 2 Philadelphia overtime loss.