In Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinal, Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers are home on Saturday to take on Rod Brind'Amour's Carolina Hurricanes. The Flyers trail in the best-of-seven series, three games to zero.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 6:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised nationally on TNT, TRUTV and HBO Max.
In the penalty-filled third game of the series, the Flyers lost 4-1. Special teams were the deciding factor. The Hurricanes scored two power play goals plus a shorthanded goal that turned a 1-1 tie into a 2-1 Carolina lead in the latter stages of the second period. The Flyers found themselves shorthanded nine times in the game (11:57 of game clock time).
Scoring on a delayed Carolina penalty, Trevor Zegras (2nd goal of the playoffs) notched the lone tally of the game for the Flyers. Through the first 35-plus minutes, the game looked winnable for Philadelphia. The shorthanded goal by Jalen Chatfield and the parade of penalties that followed turned the very competitive game into a comfortable win for the Hurricanes.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch in Game Four.
1. Play with pride and smarts
The Flyers can't erase their Game Two overtime loss after controlling most of the sudden death frame. Nor can they magically take away what happened in the final 34 minutes of Game Three.
What they can -- and must -- do: refuse to go down without a tough fight the same way the Pittsburgh Penguins did to the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. Play with urgency but not "desperation". Desperation, by its very definition, reflects despair.
Don't despair. Show pride, composure and smarts. That starts with puck management and positional awareness. It's not the time, for example, to seek retribution on Taylor Hall for his dangerous hit on Travis Sanheim in the second period of Game Three.
2. Scoring from the wing
The Flyers need goals from any source in Game Four: centers, wings or defense. They'd even glady take a fluke own goal from the Hurricanes. However, the lack of goals from Flyers wingers in this series has stood out most of all in the team's offensive frustrations.
The injured Owen Tippett did not play in Games One, Two, or Three. Porter Martone struggled in Game One but improved in Game Two and had a very strong Game Three (including an assist for his first point since Game Three of the Pittsburgh series). Tyson Foerster, who returned late in the regular season from a four-month injury absence, has struggled for most of the playoffs. Foerster is still looking for his first point in the postseason.
Travis Konencny, the Flyers' leading scorer in five straight regular seasons, has had more downs than ups in the 2026 playoffs and his NHL playoff career on the whole. In 31 career playoff games, he has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) but 50 penalty minutes. Konecny also cannot afford to lament an unsuccessful Game Two breakaway opportunity or Grade A scoring chance he fired wide of the net in Game Three. He has an opportunity in Game Four for the first step toward redeeming his 2026 postseason run. He needs to capitalize.
The same goes for Matvei Michkov. Michkov set up the series winning goal in Game Six against Pittsburgh. He was the Flyers' best forward on the ice in the Game Two overtime against the Hurricanes. Otherwise, however, Michkov has had a very disappointing playoff run after leading the Flyers in scoring down the stretch drive of the regular season. With Michkov, it comes down to a three-word mantra: "move your feet". When he gets stationary, Michkov is too easy to take off the puck or force into low-percentage gambles. He also takes an excessive number of stick penalties. When he gets moving, uses his edges effectively and gets to areas where he can make plays, that's when the Russian forward becomes a major offensive threat.
Taken on the whole, the Flyers do not have a single goal from a winger in this series. Zegras returned to center after Noah Cates went down in the current series. The last goal by a Flyers winger was from Konecny (lone goal of the playoffs) in Game Four of the first round.
3. Captain Coots
The Flyers two most consistent players during the playoff run have been two of their senior statesmen: team captain Sean Couturier and top defenseman Sanheim. With Cates unavailable, the Flyers have had to extend Couturier's all-situations usage. He seemed a tad worn down as Game Three progressed on Thursday night. Couturier is the forward who brings stability and 200-foot smarts to the lineup when things otherwise get chaotic and scrambly.
4. Special teams
In Game One, the Flyers lost because of how thoroughly they got outplayed at 5-on-5. In Game Two, the Flyers' perennial power play woes cost them dearly in the end (including a failed overtime power play). In Game Three, the Flyers coughed up three special teams goals and not score one (a 6-on-5 delayed penalty goal is categorized like an even strength tally). Overall in this series, the Flyers have given as many shorthanded goals as they've scored power play goals.
Bonus: Odd-man rushes
The Flyers have not lacked for 2-on-1 transition opportunities or even outright breakaways during this series and the playoffs on the whole. However, the bottom line is that they have a goose egg to show for these crucial opportunities.
For the playoffs on the whole, the Flyers have generated more odd-man rushes than they've given up. But they are in the red in terms of goals scored in those situations. In Game Three on Thursday against Carolina, the Hurricanes scored off a 2-on-1 and on a breakaway.
It almost goes without saying: if the Flyers get additional odd-man rushes in Game Four, they need to score on at least one or two. If Carolina gets them, Dan Vladar needs to find a way to make the initial save (hopefully without a rebound or loose puck scramble). Vladar must outplay Frederik Andersen.
