An elite penalty kill and a sudden power-play surge silenced Philadelphia, as Jalen Chatfield’s shorthanded strike moved Carolina within striking distance of the Eastern Conference Final.
The Philadelphia Flyers were looking to change the narrative of the series now that they were back on home ice.
Unfortunately for them, the Carolina Hurricanes don't care about what the other team is going to do.
Game 3, as such, looked much the same as Games 1 and 2 with the Hurricanes inevitably skating away with another win.
While no one game has been the same, the end result has been, which is a testament to Carolina's ability to play out most any style of game.
"Tonight was not the prettiest of games for anyone, but I thought... it's kind of been our calling card all year," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Whatever way the game goes, we've been able to adapt to it and figure it out. That says a lot about the group."
The Flyers actually had a strong start to the game, generating multiple odd-man rushes in the opening minutes thanks to some quick neutral zone plays, but neither Carolina nor Frederik Andersen bent and after the first 10 minutes, they started to settle into their own game, and that's when things started to tilt.
But where the Canes were really able to separate themselves was on special teams.
The Hurricanes' elite penalty kill had another perfect outing, going 5-for-5 on the night, including killing off another 1:15 of a 5-on-3.
No team in the league has been down two players more than Carolina (4:53), they they've given up exactly zero goals while on a 3v5.
"When we step over the boards, no matter if it's 5v3, 5v4, bad call or not, we're looking to kill it and we have no excuses," said defenseman Jalen Chatfield. "We're holding each other accountable and everyday we're watching video and getting better. Working on the small details that maybe not the average person would see. It could be two feet that way, a stick position that way and I think we've dialed that in a lot and I think that's been huge and showing off."
And not only that, but Carolina also got its first shorthanded goal of the postseason as Jordan Martinook sprung a 2-on-1 for the Canes, which resulted in Chatfield finishing off a beauty of a feed from Jordan Staal for the eventual game winner.
"I honestly just saw a lot of open space and so I jumped up," Chatfield said. "It was an unbelievable pass. I just had to shoot the puck, that's it."
"The bench was yelling at me, telling me it was two," Staal said. "I didn't see him, but the bench let me know. The rest was Chatty finishing off a great shot."
The game also saw the first two power play goals from the team's top unit these playoffs as well.
Staal got the scoring started late in the first period, putting home a fortunate bounce off the end board past Dan Vladar, and then Andrei Svechnikov grabbed his first goal of the year, blasting a one-timer home on a 4v3.
"Obviously it gives you a little bit of confidence and it feels a little bit lighter on the ice and all those stuff," Svechnikov said. "But it's especially big scoring on the power play. We got two goals today and that's big for our unit. Just have to continue working, watching video and hopefully we're gonna do that [again] next game."
Even with the game turning chippy once again as the Flyers' frustrations boiled over, the Canes never really lost their composure and simply kept the pressure up all the way to the final horn.
"It's just being physical, making it hard on them and playing in their end and just doing that over and over and over again until they break," Staal said about the team's approach. "It's been obviously a great start to the series. We've played the way we've wanted to play. It's part of our whole identity as a group and we want to continue to build on that."
Now, the Canes find themselves with a 3-0 stranglehold on the series, but they know that they still need to bring their A-game if they want to advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the fourth time since Brind'Amour became coach.
"[The approach] is the same way as we've been approaching every game since the start of playoffs," Staal said. "It's a brand new challenge. The fourth one is always the hardest one to win. No one wants to go home. It's going to be another brand new challenge, a brand new start and we're gonna have to find ways to win a game. It might look a little different then the first three, but we have to find a way to get a win and get that fourth one."
"Just be locked in," Chatfield said. "Have a good recovery day tonight and tomorrow and be really focused, because even tonight, they started off hard. We have to be ready to step on the gas full throttle and play for each other and have our best game of the series."
"They have to come ready to go," Brind'Amour said. "We've been able to do that all year, so I would anticipate that we're gonna give it our best, because we're going to need to. We know that. That's the thing. The guys understand that. We're not going to win unless we put our best foot forward."
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