3 Takeaways From Flyers’ Decisive Game 1 Loss to Hurricanes – The Hockey Writers –

The Philadelphia Flyers, effectively the bottom seed in the Eastern Conference, were clear underdogs against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of their second-round series. As expected, the home side came away with the victory: a 3-0 shutout that was never all that close.

This loss was pretty decisive for the Orange and Black, as things got out of hand early. Here are some key takeaways from Saturday’s contest.

Hurricanes’ Forecheck & Shutdown Defense Was the Story

The Hurricanes are notorious for their forechecking and suffocating defense, and they were both on display in Game 1. Early on, the Flyers were overwhelmed in their own zone, leading to the opening (and game-winning) goal.

The Flyers settled things down a bit after trailing 2-0 in the first period, but they had another obstacle: Carolina’s defense. According to Hockey Stats, the Orange and Black were held to less than one expected goal until the third period—they generated almost nothing in the Hurricanes’ zone.

In The Hockey Writers‘ YouTube preview for this series, I mentioned that generating offense has to be a major priority for Philadelphia. The Hurricanes are known to smother the opposition, while the Flyers don’t exactly score a ton of goals. After Game 1, the offense remains the biggest question mark. You can’t win if you can’t score.

With this in mind, it’ll be interesting to see how the Flyers switch things up for Game 2. They need to start getting legitimate scoring chances, but that would likely mean sacrificing more at the other end.

Flyers Can Make Things Closer if They Eliminate Mistakes

The Flyers made some big mistakes in this one, which cost them dearly on the scoreboard. This isn’t to say that the outcome would’ve been different without these errors, but when the Flyers played cleaner hockey—which was most of the game—things actually felt somewhat even.

The Flyers had some bad penalties and turnovers in this one, with the latter leading to goals (the penalty kill did its job). You’re never going to be perfect with the puck in the defensive zone, especially against a team defined by its forechecking, but there’s certainly room for improvement.

Carolina is too disciplined and talented to expect this kind of game from them, but the mistakes can reasonably be closer to even for the rest of the series if the Flyers play to their potential. Accomplishing this would go a long way.

Every Game Is a New Opportunity for the Flyers

There is some light at the end of the tunnel here for the Flyers. Saturday’s result was far from encouraging, but things were at least relatively close for most of the night. If the Orange and Black can clean things up, Game 2 can be a new opportunity.

With enough discipline, the Flyers can make things close enough for one clutch moment to swing a game’s outcome in their favor. The Hurricanes aren’t the Pittsburgh Penguins, but we saw this happen in Games 1 and 2 in the opening round.

First was Porter Martone‘s snipe late in Game 1 to extend the Flyers’ lead to 3-1—a total game-changer in an otherwise low-event affair. Two nights later, Owen Tippett made what was arguably the team’s best play of the season, shorthanded, gift-wrapping a 2-0 goal for Garnet Hathaway.

The Flyers have the talent to randomly break games open. It’s just a matter of finding that gene. To that point, getting Tippett back in the lineup would help. He was banged up and thus couldn’t dress for this one.

The Flyers’ admittedly slim chances of winning this series only worsened with their Game 1 defeat. But they can tie things up in Game 2, which starts on Monday at 7 p.m. EDT in Carolina.