May 02, 2026
James Guillory/Imagn Images
Luke Glendening and the Flyers quickly fell behind Andrei Svechnikov and the Hurricanes in Game 1.
The Flyers never wanted to leave this playoff run as simply being "happy to be here."
"That's a slippery slope for me because I don't like the 'happy to be here,'" head coach Rick Tocchet said after their practice in Voorhees on Friday. "I've heard 'house money,' and all that stuff. I don't want to hear that. For me, personally, and I tell the players, like 'Hey, if a team wins a series, they're better than you.'
"But we're not going in like 'Hey, we're just happy to be here.' We're here to win the series. You gotta have that mindset. That's what I believe."
And he was serious. The whole team was.
The Flyers, to the shock of many outside eyes, jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead over Sidney Crosby and the more veteran Pittsburgh Penguins. Then, after a two-game stumble, they clinched their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series with Game 6, a Cam York overtime winner, and a euphoric Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philadelphia.
They were there to win. They knew they could, and going straight into the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes, they were set on carrying the belief forward.
The thing is, the Hurricanes are serious, too, and as the top seed in the Metropolitan Division and the best regular-season team in the Eastern Conference, even more so. They're a clear Stanley Cup contender, and the difference showed Saturday night at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
The Flyers were quickly overwhelmed and fell to Carolina, 3-0, in Game 1, dropping into a 1-0 series hole to begin the second round.
Logan Stankoven tipped a point shot past Dan Vladar right away for the Hurricanes.
Jackson Blake, with speed through the middle, split through Matvei Michkov and Travis Sanheim skating back to slide in a backhand shot and make it 2-0 Carolina less than eight minutes in.
Then, late into the second period, Stankoven cashed in again off a Flyers turnover in their own zone to make it 3-0, and to bring himself to six goals in the 23-year-old's past five playoff games going back to the Hurricanes' first-round series sweep over Ottawa.
LOGAN STANKOVEN STRIKES AGAIN ‼️
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 3, 2026
HE'S NOW TIED FOR THE #STANLEYCUP PLAYOFF LEAD IN GOALS WITH SIX 🚨 pic.twitter.com/samLxMJwzc
All the while, the Flyers just looked in over their head.
Carolina skaters were constantly on top of them, making it hard to establish any sort of sustained possession. In turn, it was tough for the Flyers to generate shots on goal – granted, getting a steady volume of shots on was already an issue that nagged the team throughout the season anyway.
This time, though, it was glaring.
With 12 minutes elapsed in the first period, the Flyers were outshot by Carolina 8-1.
With under two minutes left in the opening frame, Sean Couturier stripped the puck from Shayne Gostisbehere at the defensive blue line, which sprung linemates Garnet Hathaway and Luke Glendening on a rush down the ice. Hathaway kept the puck to fire away at Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen, who made the initial save, then got the fortune of having the rebound in front hop right over Glendening's stick.
That was the Flyers' best, and really, only chance to that point. They were getting outshot 11-3.
They would get a few more looks, but their situation never got much better.
Missing Owen Tippett from the lineup certainly hurt. The fast and powerful winger has been skating through some kind of injury for a couple of weeks now, and didn't practice with the team in Voorhees on Friday. He was ruled out before Saturday night's start in Carolina, and has been designated by the Flyers as "day-to-day."
But a still woefully ineffective power play did a lot of damage, too.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 Saturday night with a man advantage, and it's not that they didn't score, it's that with their first three tries through the second period, they didn't even manage a single shot.
Against the Penguins, they mostly got away with having a non-threatening power play, which had the benefit of that anomaly of a 2-for-3 night in Game 3.
Against the Hurricanes, though, it's going to be a killer unless the Flyers figure out something fast, because with where the rest stands, Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour has just too talented, too fast, and too disciplined of a group to let those wasted opportunities go unpunished.
That goes for even strength, too.
When the chances are so few in general, that hop over Glendening's stick on the rebound is brutal.
Hathaway getting the puck knocked away on a second-period breakaway because defenseman K'Andre Miller closed in before he could even shoot is crushing.
K'ANDRE MILLER DENIES GARNET HATHAWAY ON THE BREAKAWAY AT THE END OF A 2-MINUTE SHIFT WOW 😵🙅♂️ pic.twitter.com/FoCqFtt58o
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 3, 2026
And Andersen only needing to face 18 shots for a shutout in the Carolina net, while the extracurriculars and trips to the box pile up between whistles with the game already pretty far gone, well, that gets a bit discouraging.
Because, yeah, the Flyers aren't leaving this at "happy to be here." They know they can start to win a bit, and just did.
But the Hurricanes, they're a known Cup contender, with the goal to go win it clear.
There's a difference. Game 1 showed it.
Game 2 is Monday night back in Raleigh.
Things are heating up in Game 1 🍿 pic.twitter.com/xWL7RE1a7N
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 3, 2026
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
