RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — It was a rough start for the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the NHL playoffs. Coach Rick Tocchet knows his team has to adjust quickly against the Carolina Hurricanes as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Hurricanes won 3-0 in Saturday night’s best-of-seven opener, with Tocchet saying his team didn’t react quickly enough to the Hurricanes’ aggressive skating that ultimately smothered the Flyers’ attack. Game 2 is Monday night.
“You can’t have three or four games like that,” Tocchet said before the team’s practice. “You’ve got to figure it out quickly. Tomorrow night we want 21 guys wanting the puck. That’s the mindset.”
The Hurricanes pounced on the Flyers with a dominating first period, with Philadelphia struggling to apply any kind of pressure on Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen. The Flyers managed nine shots through two periods and managed just two through four power plays on the night.
Ultimately, Carolina had a 17-7 edge in scoring chances at 5-on-5 play and a 5-2 edge in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
It didn’t help that regular-season goals leader Owen Tippett didn’t play due to an unspecified injury. He is considered day to day.
Tippett, who scored 28 regular-season goals and brings needed speed to the lineup, skated Sunday. But he spent part of that session working with goalie Aleksei Kolosov at one end of the ice while the rest of the team worked at the other end.
Still, Tocchet said, Saturday’s issues went beyond Tippett’s absence in the Flyers’ first postseason run since 2020. Things improved as the game wore on with Tocchet changing his lines hunting for a spark. Yet that came after Carolina had jumped to the 2-0 lead by midway through the second period, pressing the attack while backed by that lead on the way to winning a fifth straight playoff game without trailing.
“To me it was the first 15 minutes where we — just watching the video — it didn’t look like a whole lot of guys wanted the puck,” Tocchet said. “And against Carolina, you want to want the puck. You’re going to want confrontation. You’re going to want to make that play.
“I just said, ‘We’ve got to hit singles every shift, can’t try to hit home runs,’” Tocchet added later. “And I just felt a lot of guys are either all-in on a home run or not skating. So we learned from it and and we’re moving on from it.”
The baseball analogy clearly was a key emphasis, with defenseman Cam York — who had the overtime winner in Game 6 of the first-round series against Pittsburgh — referencing it without being asked in the locker room after practice.
“They’re on top of you and super aggressive,” York said. “But if you can use the middle of the ice, you can use that against them pretty well and get a bunch of odd-man looks. We’ve just got to reset, refocus and get ready for the next one.”
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Aaron Beard, The Associated Press
