It’s too harsh to call the Flyers frauds, but these three playoff games against the Hurricanes exposed a substantial deficit in depth and experience.
The Flyers are simply flummoxed by the Hurricanes, who can sweep them on Saturday and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals with a perfect playoff record.
We knew the Hurricanes would be a handful for these upstart Flyers at 5-on-5 after leading the regular season in puck possession (Corsi percentage) while Philadelphia ranked 26th. But in addition to that edge, special teams prowess has been the nail in the coffin.
In their 4-1 Game 3 loss, Philadelphia fell victim to their own lack of discipline with 38 penalty minutes that gave the Hurricanes’ power play two scores on nine chances. On the flip side, Carolina muted the Flyers on all five of their man advantages to improve their playoff penalty kill efficiency to 94.6 percent.
They even scored a shorty.
The Flyers are now 1-for-16 in the series and 3-for-33 in the playoffs.
Oddsmakers are ignoring the notion that the fourth win is most elusive: the Hurricanes are juiced to a deluxe price tag of -192 at DraftKings to win Game 4.
Beyond the palpable technical advantages in the series, this is business as usual for the Hurricanes. This is the sixth consecutive year Carolina has cracked the second round; many of the young Flyers are getting their first taste of playoff hockey.
The Flyers were marked at 150/1 to win the Stanley Cup in the preseason, so win or lose this game, the season has been a positive step.
Injuries have — quite literally — added insult to injury for Rick Tocchet’s group. The omission of Owen Tippett and Noah Cates was detrimental to the Flyers’ secondary scoring. Tippett, the No. 5 scorer on the roster, is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, while Cates, No. 6, is out for the remainder of the series with a lower-body injury.
With or without them, we’ve seen the desperate version of these Flyers energized by a home crowd, and they unraveled with frustration. So what can realistically change in the same exact conditions two days later?
Whatever they can muster against Carolina’s patience and pressure isn’t getting by Frederik Andersen anyway. The Dane is delivering the best playoff hockey of his career, running away from the goaltending field with a save percentage of .957 and a 1.02 goals against average.
Carolina has relinquished eight goals in seven playoff games. Defense and goaltending like this haven’t been seen since the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Hurricanes — once reliant on the Logan Stankoven-Taylor Hall-Jackson Blake line for offense — are now getting scoring contributions up and down their lineup. The Flyers are shuffling lines and forcing young players into larger roles against the NHL’s most structured defensive club.
Tocchet can preach discipline all he wants as the Flyers continue to chase hits and squirm for offense. There’s only so much effort that can be made when the truth is Rod Brind’Amour has him in checkmate.
Instead of paying the premium on the Hurricanes’ moneyline, I’m taking them to win in regulation for a more modest price of -115.
THE PLAY: Hurricanes 60-minute moneyline (-115, FanDuel)
Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.
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