2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Flyers vs. Hurricanes Eastern 2nd Round preview

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features eight teams in four best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Eastern Conference Second Round between the Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes.

(3M) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (1M) Carolina Hurricanes

Flyers: Defeated Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 in first round

Hurricanes: Defeated Ottawa Senators 4-0 in first round

Season series: PHI: 1-0-3; CAR: 3-0-1

Game 1: Saturday at Carolina (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TSN)

The Carolina Hurricanes will play the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It is the first time these two teams have met in the postseason. Judging by the regular season, it should be a tight and long series.

The teams played four times and while Carolina won three of the four, each went past regulation.  

"We've played four times against them this season, and they've all ended up in overtime," Carolina forward Andrei Svechnikov said. "It's going to be hard. At this point, it doesn't matter who you play against. You've just got to focus on your game, do your things and stay disciplined. 

They've got young guys and good players. They're a fast team and they've got a good system. We do too, so we'll see who does a better job with that."

The Hurricanes advanced last Saturday by defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-2 in Game 4 at Canadian Tire Centre to sweep that best-of-7 series. The Flyers upset the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games, including a 1-0 win in overtime of Game 6 in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

The Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, have home-ice advantage.

"They're a really good team, play with a lot of pace," Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "We had really good games with them all year. I think we went into extra time every single time we played them. Really excited about the challenge."

Forward Taylor Hall led the Hurricanes in the first round with seven points (two goals, five assists). Forward Logan Stankoven had four goals, scoring in each game of the series, and forward Sebastian Aho had three goals. 

Frederik Andersen started all four games, going 4-0 with a 1.10 goals-against average, .955 save percentage and one shutout. He allowed five total goals in the series.

"We all know how good Fred can be and maybe he didn't have the season he was hoping for," Carolina defenseman Sean Walker said, The way he has been playing in playoffs so far has been awesome for us. It is so stabilizing for us. 

"We know if we give up a chance or something, he is back there making the big saves for us. He's been amazing. It's really helping us a lot for sure."

The Hurricanes went 3-0-1 against Flyers in the regular season and Andersen won his only start, making 20 saves in a 4-3 overtime win on Oct. 11.

Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen led the Flyers in the first round with five points (one goal, four assists), and forwards Travis Konecny, Noah Cates and Trevor Zegras each had one goal and three assists. Goalie Dan Vladar was 4-2 with a 1.61 GAA and .937 save percentage allowing 10 goals in six games.

Vladar was 1-0-1 with a 1.86 GAA and .931 save percentage, allowing four goals on 58 shots, in his two regular-season games against the Hurricanes.

Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said there is much to learn from the regular-season series.

"We've got to possess the puck more," he said. "That's the next level. I thought our neutral zone was something we got. Especially against Carolina, we have to be better at controlling the puck. But that's controlling the ice; you're skating. It's timing, it's all that stuff, it's patience, and that's something we're working on.

"And some games, it's working. Some games, we're a little bit off. But that's inexperience. That's an experienced team over there (Pittsburgh), and we will get there. But it's important that we understand, these guys are young guys, and they're going to make mistakes."

Each side pounced on mistakes in the first round, leading to victory. They expect it to continue in the second round, arguing that the space around the blue lines and through the neutral zone will be prime real estate throughout. 

"They don't make a lot of mistakes, they don't give up a lot," defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said of the Flyers. "No freebies, as (coach Rod Brind'Amour) would say. We've just got to stay disciplined in our game, just like them. They stay disciplined in theirs and wait for other teams to make mistakes first."

Game breakers

Flyers: Porter Martone showed few signs of being new to the League. The right wing gave the Penguins fits in the first round, especially early in the series. A veteran of nine regular-season games, after joining the Flyers at the end of his collegiate season at Michigan State University, scored the game-winning goal in each of the first two games of the series and had an assist in Game 3. He was held off the scoresheet after that, but remained dangerous and finished the six-game series with a team-high 15 shots on goal. 

Hurricanes: Hall was everything to the Hurricanes in the first round as his second line, with Stankoven and Jackson Blake, dominated against the Senators. He finished with five points (two goals, three assists) at even strength and had an assist on each of the two power-play goals Carolina scored in the series. Hall was a plus-5 and had 14 shots on goal, the third highest total on the team behind Stankoven  and Andrei Svechnikov (18 each). He also had five hits and his check of Jake Sanderson in Game 3 helped turn the tide of that game. Hall did it all for Carolina in the first round.

Goaltending

Flyers: In his first season with the Flyers, Vladar provided the playoff goaltending needed to advance. He had a shutout in Game 6, making 42 saves in a tense 1-0 overtime win. The free agent signing, who never started a playoff game before this season, stopped 148 of 158 shots and finished with two shutouts. His 29 wins, in 51 starts, was tied for ninth in the League during the regular season.

Hurricanes: Andersen was nothing short of brilliant in the first round, and leads the playoffs with a .955 save percentage. The 36-year-old frustrated the Senators at virtually every turn. He allowed five goals in the series and had a shutout in Game 1 to set the tone, and allowed one goal on 21 power-play opportunities, including three 5-on-3s in the final two games on the road. There have been issues raised about his durability, but the Hurricanes have had a week of rest. His 50 playoff wins are third among active goalies, behind Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning (69) and Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers (61).

Numbers to know

Flyers: Five. That is the number of points defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen had in the first round, leading the team in scoring. The 31-year-old waited 13 seasons to get to the postseason and has made a good impression with a goal, four assists, 12 shots and a plus-4 rating. That's a convincing statement about being ready for the level of play demanded in the postseason. 

Hurricanes: Zero. That is the number of minutes the Hurricanes trailed in their first-round series. The series was never a blow out and Carolina never led by more than two goals, but they never felt the panic of trailing and having to change their game. Make of it what you will. It certainly suggests that the Hurricanes are comfortable from playing in front and know how to suffocate the life out of a game with their low-risk, low-event style. But the question also remains as to whether the Hurricanes can open it up and chase a game at this level.

They said it

"You want to protect the guts of the ice. That's very important. They're going to get their looks. It's hard to keep a team like that down all the time. You have to keep the Grade A shots down, things like that. They're a really, really good rush team. A lot of goals this year have been off the rush, and there's certain things that they like to do off the rush, and we're going to have to try to counteract. It's important that we're above and all that sort of stuff that we preach all the time." -- Flyers coach Rick Tocchet

"You play against them enough, you kind of know their tendencies. It kind of boils down to compete and effort and making sure we're coming out with the right mentality." -- Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis

Will win if …

Flyers: To have a shot in this series, the Flyers need their power play on track. They went 2-for-17 (11.8 percent) against the Penguins but survived. It won't be easy as the Hurricanes only allowed one goal in 21 short-handed tries, but the first round suggests Philadelphia could get the reps they need to figure it out. The Hurricanes took 25 minor penalties in a four-game series and they hope to be more disciplined this time around. If they aren't, the Flyers need to punish them.   

Hurricanes: They get scoring for anywhere else other than their second line, which accounted for seven of the nine goals scored into a manned net last series. Sebastian Aho had three goals on the first line, but two came into an empty net in Game 4. Third-liner Jordan Martinook had the other, the game-winner in double overtime of Game 2. Stankoven, Hall and Blake had 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) and each of the two power-play goals Carolina scored in the series. Besides those three, the rest of the team combined for 16 points (four goals, 12 assists). In addition to tying for the team lead with 18 shots on goal in the first round, Svechnikov had 31 shot attempts and appears ready to break out.

How they look

Flyers projected lineup

Denver Barkey -- Trevor Zegras -- Owen Tippett

Travis Konecny -- Christian Dvorak -- Porter Martone

Alex Bump -- Noah Cates -- Matvei Michkov

Luke Glendening -- Sean Couturier -- Tyson Foerster

Travis Sanheim -- Rasmus Ristolainen

Cam York -- Jamie Drysdale

Nick Seeler -- Noah Juulsen

Dan Vladar

Samuel Ersson

Scratched: Garrett Wilson, Emil Andrae, Garnett Hathaway, Carl Grundstrom, Oliver Bonk, David Jiricek, Carson Bjarnason, Helge Grans, Hunter McDonald, Oscar Eklind, Jacob Gaucher

Injured: Rodrigo Abols (lower body), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body)

Hurricanes projected lineup

Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis

Taylor Hall -- Logan Stankoven -- Jackson Blake

Nikolaj Ehlers -- Jordan Staal -- Jordan Martinook

William Carrier -- Mark Jankowski -- Eric Robinson

Jaccob Slavin -- Jalen Chatfield

K'Andre Miller -- Sean Walker

Shayne Gostisbehere -- Alexander Nikishin

Frederik Andersen

Brandon Bussi

Scratched: Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nicolas Deslauriers, Mike Reilly, Pyotr Kochetkov

Injured: None