Hurricanes vs. Flyers Game 4: Takeaways as Carolina makes history with another sweep

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksPlayoff bracketNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterStanley Cup A pair of third-period goals ensured that Philadelphia and Carolina would need overtime to settle Game 4. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Share article4PHILADELPHIA — Jackson Blake’s goal at 5:31 of overtime gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win in Game 4, as they completed a second-round sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Taylor Hall, who had three assists, found Blake as he was entering the zone. Blake’s shot hit goalie Dan Vladar in the arm before bouncing behind him and into the net. The Hurricanes, just the fifth team in NHL history and first since the 1985 Edmonton Oilers to ever start the playoffs with wins in their first eight games, now await the winner of the Buffalo Sabres-Montreal Canadiens series in the Eastern Conference final. That series is currently tied at 1-1 entering Game 3 on Sunday night. Carolina took its first lead of the game early in the third period. Hall drove around Flyers rookie Oliver Bonk and found a charging Logan Stankoven, who had a step on Alex Bump. Stankoven easily smacked in his seventh goal of the playoffs at 4:13. But the Flyers responded less than two minutes later on Bump’s second goal of the playoffs. Travis Konecny made it happen with his work behind the net, streaking in to hit K’Andre Miller and then outmaneuvering Miller and Jordan Staal before sliding the puck to an open Bump between the circles. The Flyers had previously opened the scoring at 7:50 of the first period. Trevor Zegras feathered a pass to Tyson Foerster in the high slot, Foerster took a couple strides forward, and beat Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen cleanly with a wrist shot. The goal was Foerster’s first playoff point in 10 games. Shortly after the Flyers had a five-on-three power play opportunity for 40 seconds on which they failed to convert, the Hurricanes tied it at 12:35. Hall won an offensive zone draw, leading to Blake’s shot from the wall that deflected in off of Jamie Drysdale, who was battling for position in front of the net with Stankoven. Blake was credited with his third of the playoffs. After a rough regular season, Andersen has been a rock for Carolina throughout the playoffs. He stopped 15 of 17 shots and added a second close-out win in a performance that actually dropped his save percentage; Andersen began the night at .957 with more than 13 goals saved above expected in seven games, according to Natural Stat Trick. A close-range stop on Garnet Hathaway was his best of the night and served as an example of what the Hurricanes expect from their goaltenders: quality over quantity. “His game always looks the same,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said before the game. “That’s the thing about him. You never really know when he’s playing good or bad. It just kind of looks the same. Obviously, he’s been great for us.” Thirty-eight seconds after Carolina’s Blake tied the game 1-1 with a second-period shot that bounced off Philadelphia’s Drysdale and past Flyers goalie Dan Vladar, the Hurricanes thought Mark Jankowski gave them the lead. The Flyers challenged for goaltending interference, though, and they were proven right. Bonk and Hurricanes defenseman William Carrier were battling in front of Vladar, and Bonk indeed made contact with Carrier at the top of the crease, but Carrier seemed to re-establish his position deeper in the paint and bump Vladar (37 saves) on his own volition. The non-goal came with 6:57 remaining in a period with a brief, welcomed amount of five-on-five flow that was pretty quickly snuffed out by, of course, more penalties. Three — two on Carolina, one on Philadelphia — were called in less than three minutes. It wasn’t all that surprising that Bonk was inserted into the lineup for the first time in the playoffs, after Tocchet said the rookie defenseman was a consideration for the Penguins series. Bonk took the place of Emil Andrae on the third pair with Nick Seeler, and even saw some shifts on the second power-play unit. What was much more eye-opening was Jett Luchanko, fresh off of his OHL team’s elimination in the playoffs, getting into the lineup for Matvei Michkov, who came out as a healthy scratch for the second time in the playoffs. Michkov, who has just one assist in eight games (albeit an important one, as he set up Cam York for the series-clinching goal against Pittsburgh), skated just 9:29 in Game 3, and hasn’t looked anything at all like the player who led the Flyers in scoring from the Olympic break through the end of the regular season. Bonk skated 19 shifts in regulation, totaling 11:56 of ice time, including 1:35 on the power play. Luchanko was close behind at 11:02 on 17 shifts, both the lowest totals of any Flyers player. A few Hurricanes players talked about being prepared to get the Flyers’ best out of the gate Saturday. “It’s going to be hard right from the start, and we gotta be ready,” Sebastian Aho said. In the first period, Carolina hit its mark in some statistical spots, out-attempting the Flyers 13-11 at five-on-five, holding a 57 percent expected goal share and killing yet another penalty, but there was a level of sloppiness and disengagement in the proceedings that you rarely see. Jarvis had the Canes’ two best opportunities, on a post-turnover breakaway and a cross-ice feed from Aho, but neither came all that close. The Hurricanes had a 25-3 edge in shot attempts at five-on-five in the second period, but the Flyers arguably had the better of the scoring chances. Although they didn’t generate much on their brief five-on-three, Porter Martone had a great look at the net, but fired high. Hathaway, on a two-on-one with Luke Glendening, saw his point-blank slam dunk try denied by the left pad of Andersen, and in the closing seconds, Christian Dvorak’s shot from the slot as set up by Konecny rang off of the inside of the post. Overall, the Hurricanes held a 23-9 advantage in shots on goal after two, but it didn’t feel that particularly lopsided. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms