Does having a long period of rest between postseason series help or harm a team? The Carolina Hurricanes will find out when they begin their second-round matchup in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers next week.
Carolina, which earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference by recording 113 points during the regular season, has been idle since defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on April 25 to complete a sweep of their first-round series. The starting date for the showdown with Philadelphia has yet to be determined, but the Hurricanes will have had more than a week to recharge before hitting the ice again.
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The Hurricanes had three days of rest before even knowing who their second-round opponent would be. That’s because the Pittsburgh Penguins made things difficult for the Flyers in their first-round series, as Philadelphia needed six games to eliminate their state rivals after having taken a 3-0 lead.
Carolina will be looking to advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the third time in four years and fourth time during Rod Brind’Amour’s tenure as head coach. The 55-year-old Brind’Amour, who was the captain of the Hurricanes when they won the Stanley Cup in 2006, has strong ties to Philadelphia as he spent eight-plus seasons with the Flyers as a player before being traded to Carolina during the 1999-2000 campaign.
The line of Taylor Hall (two goals, five assists), Logan Stankoven (four, one) and Jackson Blake (one, three) carried the Hurricanes offensively in their first-round sweep of the the Senators, producing seven of the team’s 11 goals. The 23-year-old Stankoven netted a tally in every game of the series and opened the scoring in each of the first three.
Making their first postseason appearance since 2020, the Flyers had balanced scoring against the Penguins as 14 of the 20 skaters that appeared in the series recorded a goal. Defenseman Travis Sanheim and rookie Porter Martone were the only members of the team with multiple tallies (two apiece).
Dan Vladar was a major factor in the crease for Philadelphia, something that has been a problem for the franchise in the playoffs for quite some time. The 28-year-old Czech goaltender turned aside 148 of the 158 shots he faced from Pittsburgh and posted a pair of shutouts, including a 42-save effort in the series-clinching 1-0 overtime victory on Wednesday.
The Hurricanes and Flyers are facing off in the postseason for the first time. They met on four occasions during the regular season, with each game going beyond regulation. Carolina won twice in a shootout and once in overtime, while Philadelphia recorded a shootout victory on Apr. 13 to clinch a playoff berth.
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The NHL betting odds at the major sportsbooks see the Hurricanes as huge favorites in the second-round series, with futures betting odds in the -325 to -350 range. Meanwhile, the Flyers are priced from +260 to +280. Learn how to read betting odds here.
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EASTERN CONFERENCE SECOND-ROUND SERIES |
||||
|
TEAM |
DRAFTKINGS |
FANDUEL |
CAESARS |
BETMGM |
|
Carolina Hurricanes |
-330 |
-345 |
-350 |
-325 |
|
Philadelphia Flyers |
+260 |
+270 |
+280 |
+260 |
Pick: Hurricanes to advance
Carolina was second in the NHL in scoring during the regular season with 291 goals but tallied only 11 times against Ottawa in the first round. But the Hurricanes didn’t need a lot of offense as the Senators were limited to a mere five goals in the series.
Frederik Andersen wasn’t tested all that much, facing fewer than 28 shots in three of the four games. But the 36-year-old Danish netminder did what was needed of him as he posted his sixth career playoff shutout in the opener and finished the series atop the league in both goals-against average (1.10) and save percentage (.955).
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The Flyers had some difficulty scoring over the final three games of their series against the Penguins. After posting a 5-2 victory in Game 3 to take a commanding lead, Philadelphia registered a total of only five goals, and two of those tallies came from defensemen.
Trevor Zegras (one goal, three assists) was one of four members of the Flyers to record at least four points in the first round, and the 25-year-old center led the team with six (three goals, three assists) in four regular-season games against Carolina. But Hall (two goals, one assist), Blake (three assists) and Stankoven (one goal, one assist) were productive versus Philadelphia, and former Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere had three points — all assists — in the season series.
Nikolaj Ehlers (two goals, one assist) and blue-liner Alexander Nikishin (one goal, two assists) also had three points against Philadelphia while Seth Jarvis netted a pair of tallies, including the winner in Carolina’s OT victory. Ehlers missed Game 4 against Ottawa with a lower-body injury and Nikishin suffered a concussion in the contest, but Brind’Amour is hopeful that both will be ready for the second round.
Sebastian Aho, who led the Hurricanes in 2025-26 with 80 points but notched just one – an assist – versus the Flyers. However, the 28-year-old Finnish center scored three goals in the first round, with two coming in the series clincher.
Both of those tallies were empty-netters, but they may have been enough to get Aho untracked. Combine that possibility with the current play of the Hall-Stankoven-Blake line and the fact that Jarvis has yet to record a goal this postseason, and I don’t see how Vladar and the Flyers will be able to get past the Hurricanes.
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