Hurricanes stamp their place in NHL history after sweeping Flyers

Hurricanes players celebrate goal in Game 4 against Flyers
Hurricanes players celebrate goal in Game 4 against FlyersBRUCE BENNETT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA

The Carolina Hurricanes swept the Philadelphia Flyers after their 3-2 win in Game 4 on Saturday.

They became just the fifth team in NHL history to win their first eight games of the playoffs, sweeping their way to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they await the winner between the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.

After scoring the first goal of the game for Carolina, Jackson Blake would be the one to complete the sweep for the Hurricanes with his fourth goal of the playoffs. 

Goaltender Frederik Anderson has now gone eight straight games without allowing more than two goals. 

Recap & Highlights

Despite having only five shots on goal in the first period, the Flyers were the ones to get on the board first.

Tyson Foerster not only recorded his first goal of the playoffs to put the Flyers up 1-0, but it was his first point outright with an assist from Trevor Zegras (4) and Porter Martone (3).

It marked Martone's fifth point of the playoffs as he now holds the second-most by any teenager in Flyers history, sitting just four behind Dainius Zubrus, who had nine points in 1997.

Foearster was the 16th player on the Flyers to score a goal these playoffs. They needed just one more player to tie the 2025 Florida Panthers for the most in the past 30 years. 

After failing to go up by two goals after going on their first power play of the game, the Flyers managed to kill off the Hurricanes' first power play as well before heading into the second period, where momentum swung in Carolina's favor. 

The Canes finally got on the board almost a full 33 minutes into the game after Blake scored his third of the playoffs to tie it up 1-1. K'Andre Miller (6) and Taylor Hall (7) got the assists. 

Carolina's Mark Jankowski thought he scored his first goal of the playoffs, second of his career, just moments later. But after further review, the refs would rule goalie interference as the game remained 1-1 heading into the third period. 

Philly was outshot 23-9 through the first two periods, but put up 15 blocked shots to the Canes' three.

Both teams entered the third 0-for-3 on the power play, including a crucial penalty kill for the Hurricanes as the Flyers failed on a 5-on-3 advantage almost at the midway point into the second. 

The Flyers had multiple scoring opportunities, including shots off the post and a two-on-one scenario where Andersen made a fantastic save, but couldn't put it home.

The anxiousness of elimination from the Flyers and the excitement of a sweep for the Hurricanes showed in both of the teams' play in the third period. 

Carolina took a 2-1 lead after none other than Logan Stankoven scored his league-leading seventh goal of the playoffs. Hall recorded his second assist of the game, eighth of the playoffs, with Blake picking up his seventh. 

But the Flyers wouldn't be kept down long...

No more than two minutes later, Xfinity Mobile Arena was sent into a frenzy. 

Alex Bump scored his second goal of the playoffs off a beautiful assist from Travis Konecny (4) to make it a 2-2 game with almost 14 minutes left to go.

He joined Scott Hartnell (2010, 2011) and Scott Laughton (2020) as the only players in the past 20 years of Flyers playoff history to score a late game-tying goal in an elimination game. 

It was also the fifth goal by a Flyers rookie this postseason. After neither team could finish it off in the third, the game headed into overtime with the Canes outshooting the Flyers a whopping 36-15.

In the end, it was the Canes who came away with the win. 

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