Coming off their Game 6 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Flyers won’t be resting for too long as they are set to open their second round matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
The NHL has only announced that Game 1 will be played in Raleigh, North Carolina at 8:00 P.M. on Saturday on ABC and that the remaining schedule will come out at a later date.
For the Hurricanes, that means nearly an entire week of rest after they swept the Ottawa Senators during their first round matchup last Saturday. It was a relatively tight series despite the 4-game sweep as the Hurricanes outscored the Senators by a margin of 11-5.
They defeated the Senators 2-0 in Game 1, 3-2 in double overtime in Game 2, followed by a 2-1 win in Game 3, before their series clinching 4-2 win in Game 4. Frederik Andersen had a series to remember, posting a 1.10 GAA and a .955 SV%.
Additionally, the Hurricanes were paced by their second line that featured Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall, and Jackson Blake with the trio combining for 7 goals and 16 points in the 4-game series. Stankoven scored a goal in each game, Hall added 5 assists, and the trio also featured on the power play together where they scored twice with the extra attacker.
The Flyers won’t have nearly as much time off as the Hurricanes, but perhaps that could be a bit of a blessing in disguise, as they won’t lose as much momentum with just a few days off in between rounds. Nevertheless, the Hurricanes were the best team in the Eastern Conference for a reason, so it will be interesting to see how they match up in Game 1.
If their season series is indicative of what’s to come, we’re in store for another tightly contested battle with not a lot of room to make plays. All 4 games between the divisional rivals went to overtime, including 2 that were decided in the shootout, with the Hurricanes winning the first 3 games.
The Flyers earned their lone season series victory in their final matchup, which was also their playoff clinching victory in Game 81, albeit with the Hurricanes resting a lot of their players.
Now set to square off for the first time ever in the postseason, there should be plenty of storylines to follow, including former Flyers behind the bench in Rod Brind’Amour, on defense in Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker, and up front with Nicolas Deslauriers.
