Betting
Barstool BushChronicling the Barstool Universe

Carolina Hurricanes at Philadelphia Flyers

Sat Oct 37:00 PM ETESPN+Philadelphia, PA
By JR·3 min read
Hurricanes(0-0-1)
Flyers(0-1-1)
Saturday 10/037:00 PM

TLDR: The Flyers have played 2 games and been booed out of their own building in 1 of them. On Saturday, October 3, the defending Stanley Cup champions come to town on the back half of a back-to-back, so if Philadelphia is going to find a pulse early, this is a decent night for it.

SAT OCT 3, 7:00 PMESPN+
Hurricanes
(0-0-1)
L
Flyers
(0-1-1)
LL

The defending champion Hurricanes visit a 0-1-1 Flyers team that got blown out 7-0 by Pittsburgh in its home opener and then lost by a goal in New Jersey. Carolina has the deeper roster but is missing Seth Jarvis, couldn't score in a 1-0 overtime loss to Florida, and plays Washington on Friday before this second night of a back-to-back. Philadelphia is home and rested but missing Denver Barkey and Helge Grans.

Carolina Hurricanes
  • Bussi allowed 1 goal on 20 shots in the opener
  • Deep top 6: Aho, Svechnikov, Stankoven, Hall, Blake
  • Ehlers gives the 3rd line real scoring
  • Second night of a back-to-back, after Friday vs Washington
  • Jarvis out with a shoulder injury
  • Blanked for 60-plus minutes by Florida
Philadelphia Flyers
  • Rested at home while Carolina plays Friday
  • Played New Jersey to a 1-goal game
  • Shelled 7-0 at home by Pittsburgh
  • Barkey and Grans both on injured reserve
  • Tocchet publicly calling out effort 2 games in

Start with the home team, because the home team has some explaining to do. Philadelphia opened the season by getting thumped 7-0 by Pittsburgh at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and the opening-night cheers had turned into boos well before the end. Rick Tocchet didn't hide from it afterward and called his group out publicly. That came after a camp where Daniel Brière told the room that the Flyers 'have to get better' at holding the puck, playing from ahead and winning in regulation. Through 2 games they haven't done any of those, and they're 0-1-1.

The second game was a little better. The Flyers lost 3-2 in New Jersey, which at least looked like a hockey game. They're also doing it short-handed. Denver Barkey and Helge Grans are both on injured reserve with lower-body injuries, and Nikita Grebenkin is day-to-day. Barkey and Grans are 2 of the young pieces this rebuild is built around, so the bottom of the lineup is thinner than Tocchet would like.

Carolina gets here with a schedule problem. The Hurricanes host Washington on Friday in their first Metropolitan Division game of the year, then travel north to play again less than 24 hours later. Rod Brind'Amour went back to Brandon Bussi in net for Friday after Bussi stopped 19 of 20 in the opener against Florida, and Brind'Amour admitted the back-to-back made it a 'pick your poison' call. Carolina hasn't said who starts in Philadelphia. Whoever it is, the Washington result will decide how fresh, or how annoyed, the Canes are when they get off the bus.

Carolina Hurricanes
(0-0-1)
09/29LvsPanthers0-1
Philadelphia Flyers
(0-1-1)
10/01L@Devils2-3
09/30LvsPenguins0-7

As of Friday morning, the champions had 1 game on the board, and it was a strange one. Carolina lost 1-0 at home to Florida, and the only goal was a point shot in overtime. Defensively and in goal, it looked like a Brind'Amour team. Up front it didn't: Carolina outplayed Florida in long stretches and still couldn't get 1 puck past the goalie. The top 6 is the strength here. Sebastian Aho centers Andrei Svechnikov, and behind them Logan Stankoven plays between Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake, with Nikolaj Ehlers on the 3rd line. Not many teams can put that much skill on a 3rd line.

There's a hole in that group, though. Seth Jarvis opened the year on the injured non-roster list with a shoulder injury, and Alexander Nikishin is out on the blue line. Losing Jarvis takes away one of Carolina's best two-way forwards and some net-front scoring, which matters for a team that just went 60-plus minutes without a goal. Philadelphia's injured guys are younger and lower in the lineup. Carolina's loss is a top-6 regular.

So the matchup is Carolina's forecheck and depth against a Flyers team that has spent a week getting yelled at. The Hurricanes have the better roster, and nothing from the first week of the season changes that. What could tilt this game is the schedule: Carolina is playing its 2nd game in 2 nights, probably with its 2nd goalie, while Philadelphia had Friday off after 2 games in 2 days. Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET. If the Flyers can't win this one either, the boos from opening night won't be the last ones.