Staal 'does everything' in Game 3 win to put Hurricanes on verge of Eastern Final

PHILADELPHIA -- Amid the chaos of odd bounces, penalties and post-whistle scrums in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Second Round on Thursday, Jordan Staal did what he always does and provided a steadying presence for the Carolina Hurricanes.

On this particular night, Staal’s performance included scoring a goal and setting up Jalen Chatfield’s winning short-handed goal in Carolina’s 4-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. But those offensive contributions only put more of a spotlight on what the 37-year-old captain means to the Hurricanes as they moved within one win of another trip to the Eastern Conference Final. 

“Everybody always looks at the scoresheet to judge people for the most part, but that's not how he impacts us on a nightly basis,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He does sometimes. Tonight, he did. But he does everything for this team.” 

There was a lot for the Hurricanes to talk about after they took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series, with a chance to close out the Flyers in Game 4 here on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). The Hurricanes improved to 7-0 this postseason to match the franchise record for the longest winning streak at any point during a playoff year set during their 2006 Stanley Cup championship run.

With one more win, they’d reach the Eastern Conference Final for the second consecutive season and third time in four seasons. But this latest win began with Staal, whose power-play goal at 17:27 of the first period opened the scoring before he fed Chatfield on a short-handed 2-on-1 to put Carolina ahead 2-1 at 15:59 of the second.

In between and after, he helped killed of all five Flyers power plays, including a 5-on-3 for 1:15 late in the second period, went 10-9 on face-offs, and delivered three of Carolina’s 31 hits.

“I feel like he’s just getting better with the older he gets, which is fun to see and prepares better than anybody, wants it more than anyone,” linemate Jordan Martinook said. "Obviously, a huge game tonight by him. He sets the tone for our team and he did that tonight, for sure.”

Staal, who is in his 20th NHL season, including the 14 with the Hurricanes, predictably deflected the credit to his teammates. But as Carolina’s captain the past seven seasons, he’s becoming its guiding light as it tries to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2006.

“It's just the game that we've built as a whole,” Staal said. “I’m obviously a part of it, but it's being physical, it's making it hard on them and playing their end and doing that over and over and over again until they break.”

Carolina survived Philadelphia’s strong start, thanks to goalie Frederik Andersen, who finished with 18 saves, and shots from Travis Konecny and Porter Martone that went off posts. Then, the Hurricanes power play, which was 1-for-10 in the first two games of the series, got its first opportunity of the night on Sean Couturier’s tripping penalty at 16:35 of the first.

Staal usually takes the face-off to begin a power play and comes off the ice after the puck is cleared from the offensive zone. The Flyers were never able to clear the puck, though, so Staal was still on the ice to score 52 seconds after the man-advantage began.

Andrei Svechnikov’s initial shot from the right circle was deflected wide by Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, but the puck caromed off the end boards out to Staal at the right side of the net. He swatted it in off goalie Dan Vladar for his first goal of this postseason.

It was his first playoff power-play goal since June 3, 2021, against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“It took a little life out of the building, which is always nice,” Staal said. “I thought our start was good. We had probably a few too many turnovers, and Freddie bailed us out. But then we kind of built the game from there.”

The Flyers tied the score at 1-1 on Trevor Zegras’ delayed penalty goal 2:31 into the second period, though, and had a chance to take the lead on the power play when Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall was called for boarding Sanheim at 15:48. Instead, Staal and Chatfield teamed on a short-handed goal that put Carolina back ahead.

Couturier appeared to win the left circle face-off to begin the power play from Staal, but Martinook dove to poke the puck past Jamie Drysdale at the left point.

Staal raced ahead to grab the loose puck in the neutral zone and head off on a 2-on-1 with Chatfield on his left. Staal backhanded the puck between Zegras’ legs to Chatfield for a one-timer from the left circle that went in over Vladar’s right shoulder for his first goal of the playoffs.

Staal tried to downplay his pass, saying, “I don’t know what I was doing.” 

Chatfield knew better.

“It was an unbelievable pass,” Chatfield said. “I just had to shoot the puck, that's it.”

The Hurricanes pulled away in a penalty-filled third period, with Svechnikov scoring on a 4-on-3 power play at 3:52 to make it 3-1 and Nikolaj Ehlers finishing a breakaway at 7:08 to make it 4-1. Andersen took care of the rest.

When the game was over, the Hurricanes began preparing mentally for their chance to eliminate the Flyers on Saturday and the effort that will require. Again, it was Staal setting the proper tone.

“No one wants to go home, so it's going to be another brand new challenge, brand new start and we're going to have to find ways to win the game,” he said. “It might look a little different than the first three, but we've got to find a way to get a win and get that fourth one.”