The report says the Philadelphia Flyers are one loss away from being swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs after a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3, a defeat the team blamed on officiating, Carolina’s penalty kill and its own mistakes.
Center Christian Dvorak, whose team fell into a 3-0 series hole with the loss, said, “We’re not going to quit,” per the report. Carolina moved to 7-0 in the postseason after the win, having swept the Ottawa Senators in the first round, the report adds.
Discipline proved costly for the Flyers in Game 3. The report says Philadelphia amassed 38 penalty minutes and 14 minor penalties, with Dvorak and defenseman Jamie Drysdale each picking up three minors. Travis Konecny was assessed 14 penalty minutes in the third period while attempting to engage Carolina defenseman K’Andre Miller.
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet declined to critique the officials’ performance, according to the report, but said his players did not adjust to how the game was being called. “We’ve just got to understand that when you’re in a scrum and you take a punch in the mouth, just don’t do anything. Just take the power play,” Tocchet said.
The game’s turning point came when what was initially ruled a five-minute major on Carolina’s Taylor Hall for boarding was downgraded to a minor after a lengthy video review. Travis Sanheim called the hit dangerous and said Hall “drove my head right through the wall,” per the report. Instead of gaining momentum, the Flyers surrendered a sequence in which Jordan Martinook poked the puck past Drysdale, setting up Jordan Staal to feed Jalen Chatfield for his first playoff goal and a 2-1 Carolina lead.
Carolina extended the cushion in the third after a Flyers interference penalty on Cam York against goalie Frederik Andersen. Andrei Svechnikov scored his first goal of the postseason at 3:52, and, per the report, Nik Ehlers scored on a breakaway just 3:16 later. Staal said the series is a new challenge and added that “the fourth one is the hardest one to win; no one wants to go home,” per the report.
