It may not always be sunny in Philadelphia, but the Flyers are providing difficult conditions for the teams they play. After going through a slugfest with the Boston Bruins last Saturday and beating the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, the Flyers pushed the Carolina Hurricanes to overtime before losing 3-2 in the extra frame.
Thursday’s game held extra weight, considering the Hurricanes are No. 2 in the Metropolitan Division and the Flyers are No. 3, meaning they’ll likely play one another in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss Thursday’s game, then dive into the impact of Sean Couturier being healthy scratched for the second consecutive game by head coach John Tortorella.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s go out to the East where we saw a potential playoff preview last night between the Hurricanes and the Flyers. They’re separated by 15 points in the standings, and yet the Flyers dragged this into overtime. The Hurricanes eventually won, but I thought Philly showed some fight in them.
Frank Seravalli: When you consider playoff seeding, we’re thinking the Hurricanes are in the best position in the Eastern Conference. If you win the No. 1 seed in the East, you’re getting one of the Detroit Red Wings or the Washington Capitals. That may not be as comfortable as the cushion between the Hurricanes and the Flyers.
But then you watch last night and see how hard the Flyers work and how they fight, even if they’re out-gunned, they’re always in it. That’s been a constant for this team all season long. I think they sent a message to teams like the Maple Leafs and the Hurricanes that they’re not that far out of the mix.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I think what was impressive about last night was the way the Flyers, with just 16 shots going into the third period, put up 16 in the third period alone and show some push. And again, they’re doing it without Sean Couturier.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…
More must-reads: