Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov scored on the power play and Jalen Chatfield added a short-handed goal, keying a special teams effort that helped the Carolina Hurricanes win their seventh straight playoff game, 4-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 3 on Thursday night.
The Hurricanes – who outshot the Flyers 30-19 -can complete their second straight postseason series sweep in Game 4 on Saturday in Philadelphia.
The Hurricanes – coming off a Game 1 shutout and a Game 2 overtime thriller – again rode the hot hand of Frederik Andersen in net to move to the brink of a sweep.
The Flyers, the last team in the East to clinch a playoff spot who then beat Pittsburgh in the first round, had a few sensational early looks at the net but again failed to finish and again failed on the power play. They had the worst power-play efficiency (15.7%) in the NHL this season and did not score with the man advantage in Game 3.
To make it worse, Chatfield scored to make it 2-1 in the second just 11 seconds into the Flyers’ power play with Taylor Hall in the box for boarding.
The Flyers hit Andersen with 15 shots during 19 minutes of overtime in Game 2 and whiffed on their chance at the win – and perhaps their best shot at making this a competitive series – when Travis Konecny missed a makeable look on a breakaway.
Konecny fired another clean look minutes into Game 3, only for Andersen to knock it away with his pads. Porter Martone, the Flyers’ teen sensation, rang the right side of the post moments later and two great chances at goals meant nothing on the scoreboard.
The Flyers still had a chance on the power play but were stymied and fell at that point to 1 for 12 in the series and 3 for 29 in nine playoff games.
The Hurricanes are too playoff tested, too veteran savvy to not capitalize on Philadelphia’s slow start.
Staal punched in a rebound in the first period for the 1-0 lead.
Trevor Zegras, a 26-goal scorer held without a point the previous four games, tied the game for the Flyers from one knee in the second period.
That was it for the Flyers. They went 0 for 5 on the power play while the Hurricanes were 2 of 7.
Svechnikov and Nikolaj Ehlers scored in the third period, the latter of which sent Flyers fans headed toward the exits.
NHL playoff history is still against the Flyers. Only four teams that trailed 3-0 in a seven-game series have come all the way back to win – the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1980 New York Islanders, 2010 Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings.
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