Game 1 wasn't a coin flip that bounced wrong. The Hurricanes shut out the Flyers 3-0, Frederik Andersen stopped all 19 shots he saw, and Logan Stankoven kept his playoff goal streak alive at five games. Carolina dictated everything — pace, zone time, the matchups they wanted. Philadelphia mustered two shots on the power play across four chances. That's the part that should worry the Flyers most.
The underlying numbers were uglier than the scoreboard. Carolina nearly doubled the Flyers in expected goals (2.87 to 1.39 per Inquirer/NHL coverage), and the Canes refused to bite on any of the after-the-whistle stuff Philly tried to pull them into. Rod Brind'Amour's group is playing like the team that swept Ottawa in Round 1 and rolled to 113 points in the regular season.
The injury picture isn't doing John Tortorella any favors either. Owen Tippett is day-to-day and his status for Game 2 is up in the air, which would lean the offense even harder on Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov. Carolina's only real concern is Alexander Nikishin on the back end, and even short-handed they're rolling four lines that all tilt the ice.
- Day-To-DayOwen Tippett RW — day-to-day
- Injured ReserveRodrigo Abols C — Abols' injury is a fractured right ankle, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reports Wednesday.
- OutNoah Cates LW — out
- OutNikita Grebenkin RW — out
Pinnacle has the Hurricanes at -249 on the moneyline with a total of 5.5, and you can see why. Andersen is sitting on a .961 save percentage and a 0.90 GAA this postseason, and he just passed Cam Ward for the most playoff wins in franchise history. Until somebody proves they can actually solve him, the under and the home side keep looking like the path of least resistance.
Dan Vladar was fine in Game 1 — 20 saves, not the problem. The problem is the team in front of him couldn't generate a sustained shift in Carolina's zone. If the Flyers are going to steal a road game and flip this thing back to Philly tied, it starts with actually getting pucks behind the Canes' defense and forcing Andersen to handle traffic. Otherwise we're talking about an 0-2 hole heading home, and that math gets ugly fast.