The Philadelphia Flyers' well-documented power-play struggles have lasted long before this series and even this season. Now, the Carolina Hurricanes can complete the sweep on Saturday.
PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia Flyers coach Rick Tocchet used a morbid topic – death – to explain how he still had faith in his team heading into Game 3 on Thursday night.
"We've been dead before," he said, "and we've climbed out of the grave."
This time, however, their futile power play figures to be the main reason they will remain buried in this Round 2 series against the Carolina Hurricanes. It looks even worse than it did in the regular season, when it was last in the NHL.
Carolina scored three special teams goals – two on the power play, one shorthanded – as it defeated the Flyers, 4-1, at deflated Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Hurricanes, now 7-0 in the playoffs, took a 3-0 lead in the series and can wrap it up Saturday in Philadelphia.
"You can win games with the power play, and you can lose games with the penalty kill," Flyers center Sean Couturier said after the defeat. "Tonight, that's kind of what happened."
The Flyers' power-play doldrums are well-documented.
They have finished last in the NHL in four of the last five years, including this season with their 15.7 percent efficiency.
For all the good things the team has done while unexpectedly reaching the Eastern Conference semifinal this spring, their power play in the playoffs has been a disaster.
They went 0-for-5 on the power play Thursday, including a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 1:15 late in the second period, during which Philly managed just one shot.
"Obviously, that was a big moment of the game," center Christian Dvorak said. "We need to create a little more and, worst case, get some momentum."
Added Couturier: "We definitely have to be better; it's been like that all year. We have to get more pucks to the net."
Defenseman Jamie Drysdale said the Flyers need to come into the zone with more speed on the power play. They miss the injured Owen Tippett, and Tyson Foerster has not been himself since returning from an injury.
In the playoffs, the Flyers are 3-for-33 (9.1 percent) and just 1-for-16 (6.3 percent) in this series against a well-schooled, aggressive Canes team that plays with structure and tenacity.
Tocchet said the Flyers' inexperience on the power play, poor reads, and being "too antsy" hurt their power-play effectiveness. Philadelphia gave Carolina nine power plays.
"We want to play a 5-on-5 game," Tocchet said. "We're a 5-on-5 team."
Carolina gained momentum from easily killing a power play in the first period. A couple of minutes later, the Hurricanes drew a penalty and cashed in on a power play of their own as Jordan Staal made it 1-0.
After Trevor Zegras tied it in the second at 1-1, the Flyers' power play allowed a 2-on-1 – Drysdale took the blame for a miscue that led to the odd-man rush – that Jalen Chatfield converted into a shorthanded goal, giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead with 4:01 left in the stanza.
Carolina turned the game into a rout in the third period, securing the win with another power-play goal – Andrei Svechnikov scored during a 4-on-3 advantage – and Nikolaj Ehlers' breakaway score.
Afterward, some of the Flyers talked about all their missed scoring chances early in the game: Travis Konency's breakaway, Porter Martone's shot that hit iron, Alex Bump firing wide while alone in front.
"We got off to a good start," defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "I think if we score a couple on some of our Grade A's, get some confidence, it would have helped us throughout the game."
But the failed power-play chances gave Carolina momentum and turned the game in the Canes' favor.
Now the Flyers will try to stay alive Saturday. In NHL history, only four teams have overcome a 3-0 playoff deficit to win a seven-game series.
"We'll take it shift by shift on Saturday," Dvorak said. "We're not going to quit. Everyone thought we were dead at the Olympic break, and we fought our way into the playoffs."
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