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Heading into their penultimate game of the regular season on Monday night, the opportunity was there for the Philadelphia Flyers (42-27-12) to make their first postseason in six years.
In front of a sell-out crowd (19,795) at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, they seized it.
The Flyers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 (1-0), in a shootout. Winger Tyson Foerster scored the only goal of the “skills competition,” beating Carolina goalie Brandon Bussi.
Consequently, they had to do it the hard way, as they came back from a two goal deficit in the first period to make it happen.
The win caps off a remarkable 17-6-1 post-Olympic break run, prior of which they had been seemingly left for dead in late January.
It’s a noteworthy moment for Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, and Travis Sanheim. They are the only players from the team’s last postseason appearances six seasons ago, to bring to an end a long drought of postseason hockey.
In addition , it guarantee the team’s first true home playoff games since the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Setting The Stage
A resounding 7-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets in their final road game of the season on Saturday set up a weekend of games where everything seemed to line up for them.
On Sunday, the New York Islanders were eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens, losing 4-1. That was followed by a surprising 3-2 loss by the Columbus Blue Jackets to an undermanned Boston Bruins team that had already clinched a postseason spot.
So as the puck dropped on Game 81 of the regular season, the Flyers knew a win would get them into the playoffs.
First Period
In the first period, the Flyers were able to establish early possession against an undermanned Hurricanes team. They got the first five shots of the period.
However, Carolina struck first on their first shot on goal. Rookie winger Bradly Nadeau got to the net after Nikolaj Ehlers got in ahead of the Flyers defense. A quick behind the pass in front found Nadeau who whippped it past Dan Vladar’s glove.
The Hurricanes would add to their first period lead when Nikolaj Ehlers scored his 25th goal of the season on the power-play. Winger Jackson Blake drew a holding call on Christian Dvorak. Off the draw, Logan Stankoven got the puck to Blake. Blake found Stankoven, who sent a cross-crease pass to Ehlers.
Shots were 8-7 in favor of Carolina.
Second Period
In the second period, Carolina turned the tables on Philadelphia as they dominated puck possession for long stretches of the second period. But the Flyers third line of Noah Cates, Matvei Michkov, and Denver Barkey got them back within one goal.
After Cates was able to get a hold of the puck, he found Barkey with a pass. The left winger hit a perfect cross ice pass to Michkov at the left circle and he fired it past Brandon Bussi.
WIth the crowd back into the game, the Flyers were able to draw their first power-play of the game. Former Flyers defenseman Sean Walker got called for roughing (which involved tearing off Trevor Zegras helmet). Zegras would make him pay when rookie Porter Martone would complete a quick, crisp pass onto his stick that he fired through Bussi’s pads to tie the game at 2-2.
In many ways, the second period was the reverse of the first, in which Carolina dominated puck possession, but the Flyers scored the only two goals.
Third Period
As expected, both teams played tactically sound, but the Flyers did have some dicey moments.
One of the first moments where the intensity really picked up was a nasty elbow by Carolina defenseman Charles Alexis Legault on Denver Barkey who was holding his mouth. Initially he was called for a high sticking double minor. Then they reversed the call and didn’t call the elbow. So the Flyers got no power-play time as a result.
As good as Dan Vladar was in making critical saves in the game, he had a few moments where he had trouble handling the puck behind the net. Those moments led to extended Carolina offensive zone chances.
The Flyers nearly took the lead when Noah Cates was on the doorstep near the left post for a chance, but he couldn’t get it past Bussi.
Subsequently, Owen Tippett used his speed to get a break-in on Bussi. He rang a shot off the post and drew a penalty on Ehlers, but the Flyers were unable to take advantage.
As the game creeped under five minutes, both teams seemed to be aware of the potential for lost points so they played conservatively for the overtime.
Overtime and Shootout
Both teams traded chances in the overtime period. Trevor Zegras gets the first scoring chance in overtime, following Konecny’s ragging of the puck. Then Blake fired a shot that somehow didn’t go in.
Following that, Michkov got a break in, but couldn’t beat Bussi. And as the clock ticked near zero, Vladar had to make a huge stop on Nadeau to send it to the shootout.
Vladar would prove to be outstanding in the shootout, stopping Blake, Nadeau, K’Andre Miller, and Andrei Nikishin. Bussi was able to deny Zegras, Michkov, and Konecny, but not Foerster.
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