The Canes sent the Philadelphia Flyers packing Saturday night with a 3-2 overtime victory, as Jackson Blake buried the winner past Dan Vladar early in the extra frame. It was Blake’s second of the night and third of the series, with the Flyers being outclassed for most of the proceedings. It was a valiant effort from Vladar, who turned aside 37 shots in his best game of the series, but ultimately, Carolina was just too much for Philly. The Canes attacked in waves, and it was only a matter of time before they punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference Final.
Carolina has been powered by incredible balance throughout their lineup this post-season. The Canes have goals from 10 different skaters, and six of their players are averaging well over 20 minutes per night. That includes four members of their blue line, while 15 of their skaters are playing north of 15 minutes per game. Frederik Andersen has been rock-solid as well, allowing just 10 goals in eight games thus far. He’s answered every question in the Canes crease, and there’s absolutely no doubt about who should be starting for Carolina going forward.
The Hurricanes are the first team since 1987 to start the playoffs 8-0 with a pair of sweeps and technically the first team ever to do so. 1987 was when the post-season started with all four series as a best-of-seven.
It’s going to be a massive challenge for either Montreal or Buffalo to topple a rested Hurricanes team in the conference finals.
Hall of a game for Taylor
Taylor Hall was public enemy No. 1 on Saturday night, but he wasn’t fazed at all. The Flyers faithful serenaded Hall with boos when he touched the puck throughout the contest for his hit on Travis Sanheim in Game 3, but the Hurricanes forward answered by assisting on all three Carolina goals.
It was the second time this post-season Hall has responded in a big way in a hostile environment during a close-out game. In round one against the Ottawa Senators, Hall was on the receiving end of a huge hit from Brady Tkachuk that could’ve given the opposition some major momentum. However, Hall scored a goal shortly thereafter, silencing the crowd as his team swept the Sens.
Tonight played out in a similar fashion, as Hall fed off the crowd’s jeers to continue his stellar post-season. The veteran forward is up to 12 points in eight games during these playoffs, doubling his post-season point total from last year in about half as many games. The line of Hall, Blake and Logan Stankoven has been virtually unstoppable this spring, now combining for 14 goals, 17 assists, five game winners, 72 shots and a plus-25 rating. Not too shabby.
Canes defence gave Flyers next to nothing
As impressive as Carolina’s offence has been, it’s been equally dominant on the defensive side of the puck. Much of the credit deserves to go to Andersen for his play between the pipes, but the Canes have been making it easy on him.
Carolina gave up just 17 shots on Saturday night in a game that went into an extra frame. In fact, if you exclude overtime in this series, the Hurricanes conceded just 18.5 shots per game. That’s even lower than their league-leading mark of 23.9 in the regular season. Part of that is because the team is spending so much time in the offensive zone, but Carolina has also been stifling in their own end.
Much of that is due to a dominant penalty kill, which saw the Flyers manage only a single goal in 19 attempts through four games. Philadelphia ultimately failed to reach 20 shots in three of the four games against Carolina, and its top players could never find their footing. Having Jaccob Slavin and K’Andre Miller both playing around 24 minutes a night in the playoffs on two different pairs gives the Canes a massive edge.
The fact that Andersen isn’t being overly taxed with shots is a huge bonus, but so is all this extra rest he’s getting. Carolina can now sit back and watch the Canadiens and Sabres go at it, as their series is still tied at one, and the earliest it can end is next Thursday.
Andersen didn’t start more than two games in a row all year for Carolina, so the fact that he’s started all eight in the playoffs hasn’t been an issue. There was some talk earlier in the playoffs that maybe Brandon Bussi would get a start to give Andersen a night off if the Canes went deep into a series, but so far, there’s been nothing to worry about in that regard.
At 36, you could see why playing every night during a long post-season run could’ve been a concern for Carolina after the regular season he had. Andersen finished the campaign with an .874 save percentage, though that’s shot up to a mark of .950 in the playoffs. If they were handing out the Conn Smythe Trophy tonight, there’s a good chance Andersen would be claiming it.
It’s not like anyone on the Flyers lit it up in this series, though Travis Konecny’s output was arguably most disappointing. Konecny managed just a single assist and only five shots on goal in four games. He also finished minus-2. The frustrating part for the Flyers was that Konecny had his chances. He had multiple breakaways and good looks throughout the series that resulted in a post or missed net.
Saturday capped off a forgettable post-season for Konecny, who finished with just one goal in 10 playoff games. Add in the fact that he was passed over for Canada’s Olympic roster after being a part of the Four Nations squad, and you can bet this season left a bad taste in Konecny’s mouth. I’d expect him to come flying out of the gates next season with a chip on his shoulder.
You could describe Matvei Michkov’s play in this series similarly. He was pointless in three games before Rick Tocchet scratched him Saturday in favour of a Hail Mary in Jett Luchanko. The 19-year-old was playing in his first playoff game, though, and couldn’t help spark a dormant Flyers offence. Philly has some young talent like Luchanko and Porter Martone who are going to be key players for the Flyers for years to come, but they still need some time to develop and get acclimated to the NHL.