May 04, 2026
James Guillory/Imagn Images
Sean Couturier and the Flyers have to take up the Carolina net front with better consistency in Game 2.
The Flyers "gotta be dog on the bone" if they want to keep up with Carolina, head coach Rick Tocchet said.
Game 1 was a wash. The Flyers jumped straight into their second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the top-seeded Hurricanes on Saturday night, and immediately, they were in over their head. Carolina skaters were constantly attacking, the Flyers could barely get a shot on the opposing net through two periods, and pretty methodically, Logan Stankoven and the Hurricanes soon enough had Philadelphia in a 3-0 hole that it wasn't equipped to climb out of.
No Owen Tippett, with his unique blend of speed and power, in the lineup due to injury definitely didn't help the Flyers' cause, and neither did a power play that still can't punish teams for the man advantage – the unit couldn't even generate a shot through its first three tries on Saturday night.
But utlimately, the Flyers' biggest problem against the Hurricanes was "there's a lot of standing around," Tocchet said. "A lot backs on the wall."
Game 2 on Monday night has to be different, otherwise, the Flyers are in trouble – or rather, moreso than they already are.
If they want a chance, they have to get after the puck better, and they have to work it into the middle of the ice way more frequently.
"Find the hard ice," Tocchet continued as he spoke to the media after the team's practice in Raleigh on Sunday. "The easy ice is taking it back or playing the outside, of course. But if you want the hard ice, it's inside.
"You might get hit, but somebody might hook you. Somebody might hold you, somebody might drag you down. I'm a big believer in hard ice, especially in the playoffs, and we, the first half [Saturday night], were more on the easy ice side. That's what I think."
But it's what most saw, and what the Hurricanes pounced on, like a dog on a bone. "That's how Carolina plays," Tocchet added.
So to beat them, it's going to take way more.
The Flyers can play to that "hard ice" style. It's what helped them push into the playoffs down the stretch, especially after they gained star rookie Porter Martone and dependable two-way winger Tyson Foerster as stronger bodies who could power their way to the net front and were always looking to shoot, and it's what propelled them to a first-round series win over the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, of which their jumping out to an immediate 3-0 series lead stunned many.
Games 4 and 5 against Pittsburgh, though, felt more dialed back by comparison, which allowed the Penguins back into the series until Cam York put it away for good with his overtime winner in Game 6 back in Philadelphia.
But even in that deciding Game 6, for as many chances as the Flyers generated and for as much control of the puck that they seemed to seize back over Pittsburgh, they were leaving opportunity on the table.
Pretty routinely on that tense night last Wednesday, Pittsburgh defenders would leave the space open for a Flyers puck carrier to walk right into the offensive zone and down the half wall. But just as routinely, Flyers puck carriers always seemed to favor dumping it in and chasing back after it, rather than working the puck down and trying to make a play from there.
They were good enough to get by a veteran but somewhat thin Penguins team doing that in the latter half of the first round.
But the Hurricanes, who are flush with depth and playing with clear Stanley Cup aspirations? Yeah, that's not going to work.
The Flyers have to get after the puck better. They have to fight harder to get to the "hard ice" on the inside, and when they do have the puck, they have to skate with it. Not come to a stop and look to pass or throw it away.
They have to skate like a dog on a bone, because that's how Carolina is coming to play, and what they already saw and know from Game 1.
Right now, there's no other way for them to last.
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