May 9, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar (80) reacts after giving up the game-winning goal against the Carolina Hurricanes in game four of the second round of the 2026 Stanely Cup Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images James Lang
PHILADELPHIA – The Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers played as tight a hockey game as you can through three periods. But the Hurricanes completely showed their dominance in the five minutes and 31 seconds of overtime. They ended the Flyers' season when Jackson Blake's wrist shot got past Dan Vladar to give Carolina a 3-2 win and a 4-0 sweep of the series.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say, and enough desperation was felt by Flyers coach Rick Tocchet before Game 4 on Saturday that he decided to scratch Matvei Michkov in favor of Jett Luchanko. That Michkov was a scratch wasn't too surprising, as he has just one assist in eight playoff games he's played and was a minus 3. The surprise was that Luchanko was in the lineup. He hadn't played a game with the Flyers since October 20 and had played just four games in total this season.
Early on, the Flyers looked as good as they have just about all series. And they opened the scoring with 12:10 to go in the first period, when Trevor Zegras worked the puck on the boards to the left of Canes goalie Frederik Andersen and threw a great saucer pass to Tyson Foerster, who was cruising down the middle of the slot. Foerster's wrist shot beat Andersen to the blocker side and the Flyers scored in the first period for just the third time in the playoffs. It stayed 1-0 for the rest of the period as the Flyers got solid goaltending from Dan Vladar, who made several strong saves, none bigger than a pad stop on Carolina Captain Jordan Staal, who was left all alone in front of the crease at one point.
Carolina peppered Vladar and spent a good chunk of the first four minutes of the second in the Flyers zone before Sean Couturier was called for hooking. Play rarely left the Flyers zone during the man advantage, but Carolina got nothing out of it. The Flyers had a chance to double their lead when they got a two-man advantage midway through the period for 40 seconds. Though the Flyers kept play in the Carolina zone, they came away empty, and their power play woes in the series continued.
The Hurricanes tied the game with 8:25 to go in the period when Jackson Blake fired what seemed to be an innocent shot towards Vladar from the left boards. But the puck hit off Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale, and got behind Vladar for the tie. The Flyers averted catastrophe when, just 28 seconds later, Mark Jankowski put a rebound past the goalie for what appeared to be a go-ahead goal, but William Carrier was called for goalie interference and, after replay, the goal was nullified.
The Flyers had a golden opportunity at the end of the frame when Christian Dvorak took a great pass from Travis Konecny to the left of Andersen with just eight seconds to go in the period. Dvorak rifled a wrist shot that beat the goalie, but hit the inside of the left post and bounced out.
Carolina took the lead, and took the air out of Xfinity Mobile Arena, as Logan Stankoven beat Vladar after the Hurricanes broke out on a 3-on-2 break. Taylor Hall carried the puck down the right side of the zone and threw a cross-ice pass to Stankoven, who was a step ahead of Alex Bump and stuffed home the goal. It was the 26th shot on goal at the time for the Hurricanes, to just nine for the Flyers.
Bump got his revenge just 1:39 later, when he was the recipient of terrific work by Konecny. Following the puck along the boards behind Andersen, Konecny gathered it, fought off two Hurricanes players behind the net and threw a great pass in front to Bump, who lifted a wrist shot high over the left shoulder of Andersen for the 2-2 tie with 14:08 to go in the third.
Unfortunately, the Hurricanes got the best of the Flyers in overtime. Blake struck again when his shot went off Vladar's glove and into the net. A breakout season for the Flyers came to a screeching halt... but the Flyers, with all their youth, now have meaningful playoff experience under their belts. And even with the loss, the fans saluted the team with a standing ovation on their way off the ice. This run may be over, but hope abounds for next year.
