3 Things to Watch: Flyers at Hurricanes, Game 2 of Eastern Conference 2nd Round

(3M) Philadelphia Flyers at Carolina Hurricanes (1M)

Eastern Conference Second Round, Game 2

Carolina leads best-of-7 series 1-0

7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes will try to continue their undefeated run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Lenovo Center on Monday.

The Hurricanes have yet to trail and are 5-0 this postseason, including a 3-0 victory against the Flyers in Game 1 here on Saturday.

“We’ve been playing good hockey,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “I think the guys being prepared right off the start always helps. In this league it’s hard to win games when trailing, so we try to get as best of a start as we can, and we’d love to continue to do that.”

After sweeping the Ottawa Senators in four games in the first round, the Hurricanes carried that momentum into Game 1 against the Flyers despite having a week between games. They feel they have room for improvement, though, and expect Philadelphia to respond.

“Whenever you lose a playoff game, you want to come out, and you want to set the tone the next game,” Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. “We saw that with Ottawa last series too; you know now the other team is going come out and push, and you’ve got to be ready for it and push back even harder.

“We’ve got to double down on how we started and try to come out and put the gas down even more.”

The Flyers will be determined to have a better start after falling behind 2-0 in the opening 7:30 of Game 1. They managed only nine shots on goal in the first two periods and finished the game with 19 on Saturday, but they were not discouraged by one game.

“We're a confident group,” forward Trevor Zegras said. “It's three periods. There were points in the game that we were really good and, obviously, points in the game that we weren't so good. So, it's all learning experiences and how we can move forward, and I think we'll be all right.”

Teams that take a 2-0 in a best-of-7 series are 363-58 (.862) all-time, including 3-0 in the 2026 playoffs.

Here are three things to watch in Game 2:

1. Flyers’ adjustments

Philadelphia had trouble handling Carolina’s forecheck pressure in Game 1 and struggled to establish its own. The Hurricanes controlled play territorially, particularly in the first two periods, when they had a 20-9 advantage in shots on goal and 41-21 advantage in shot attempts.

The Flyers need to make their decisions more quickly when they have the puck due to Carolina’s ability to limit time and space.

“They're on top of you and super aggressive, but if you can use the middle of the ice, you can use that against them pretty well and get a bunch of odd-man looks,” Philadelphia defenseman Cam York said. “So, we're OK. You’ve just got to reset, refocus, and get ready for this next game.”

2. Logan’s run

No player has been hotter to begin the playoffs than Hurricanes forward Logan Stankoven, who has scored in each of their five games, including two in Game 1 against the Flyers. The 23-year-old is tied with Matt Boldy of the Minnesota Wild and Brandon Hagel of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the NHL lead with six playoff goals.

Stankoven already has set the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers record for the longest goal streak in the postseason. If he scores Monday, Stankoven would become the fourth in League history to begin playoff year with a goal streak of at least six games, according to NHL Stats, joining Valeri Nichushkin (seven games in 2023), Pat LaFontaine (seven games in 1991-1992) and Martin Havlat (six games in 2005-06).

“He's a humble kid and just puts his head down and keeps working,” Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said of Stankoven. “So, when you see that out of a guy, it makes you want to be better, and he's just doing his thing.”

3. Overcoming Tippett’s absence 

Flyers forward Owen Tippett will miss his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. 

Tippett led Philadelphia with 28 goals during the regular season, and his speed against the Hurricanes’ pressure in Game 1 was missed. Tocchet said the Flyers will need to make up for it with their team play.

“Puck placement, good passing, good stretch passes, holding onto pucks over their blue line instead of dumping into areas where we have no speed, things like that make you look faster,” Tocchet said. “When you lose quickness, you can do it other ways. Obviously, having ‘Tipp’ out, he’s a guy that can get a couple breakaways against this team, but we don’t have him and we’ve got to figure out other ways to get that kind of rush attack.” 

Tocchet said Tippett will be a game-time decision for Game 3 in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Flyers projected lineup

Trevor Zegras -- Christian Dvorak -- Travis Konecny

Tyson Foerster -- Noah Cates -- Porter Martone

Alex Bump -- Denver Barkey -- Matvei Michkov

Luke Glendening -- Sean Couturier -- Garnet Hathaway

Travis Sanheim -- Rasmus Ristolainen

Cam York -- Jamie Drysdale

Nick Seeler -- Emil Andrae

Dan Vladar

Samuel Ersson

Scratched: Garrett Wilson, Noah Juulsen, 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), Owen Tippett (undisclosed)

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 -- Mike Reilly

Frederik Andersen

Brandon Bussi

Scratched: Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nicolas Deslauriers, Alexander Nikishin, Pyotr Kochetkov

Injured: None

Status report

Tippett skated in the morning but will not play. … The Hurricanes will use the same lineup from their 3-0 win Saturday. … Miller, who played in Game 1, did not participate in the morning skate.