Two lessons the Flyers can carry into their second-round series with the Carolina Hurricanes

Turning the page comes quickly in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Less than 24 hours after the Flyers’ dramatic overtime win to send the Pittsburgh Penguins golfing, they must bear down because there is a storm front approaching.

The Flyers will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round, who have some familiar faces in Rod Brind’Amour, Shayne Gostisbehere, Sean Walker, and Nic Deslauriers. And while a new team brings new challenges, there are things the Flyers learned over the past six games that they can use against the Eastern Conference’s top team.

» READ MORE: Five eye-popping stats from the Flyers’ overtime win over the Penguins

After all, doesn’t coach Rick Tocchet always talk about lessons?

With that, here are two lessons the can carry forward against the Hurricanes.

It’s been a mantra all season, but when facing a high shot volume team like the Hurricanes, it is one the Flyers must consistently remember.

Carolina finished the regular season No. 2 in points and No. 2 in shots per game, trailing the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche in both categories. They amped it up in their first-round sweep of the Ottawa Senators, going from an average of 32.2 to 33.8, and outscored the Senators 11-5.

This is a team that has [shot from everywhere] for the past few seasons, and as Tocchet said via Zoom on Thursday, “It doesn’t matter what the other team does, that’s the way they’re going to play.” The Flyers will need to, pun somewhat intended, weather the storm.

And that’s OK for this young squad, which has built up the mental acumen necessary to bend and not break.

Against the Penguins, the Flyers faced an average of 26.5 shots per game, which seemed to come in bunches as Pittsburgh hemmed the Flyers in. It was especially true in Game 6 when Pittsburgh put 42 shots on goal amid 85 shot attempts (30 missed the net), notably during sustained pressure in the third period and overtime.

“Bend not break, I think that’s something that we really focus on,” defenseman Jamie Drysdale said after the game. “We stuck together throughout this whole time, even when they were pressing and obviously a backbone like [Dan Vladař] to play in front of. And then you just need that one chance.”

The thing is, while the Flyers were pinned, they kept the Penguins to the outside. According to Natural Stat Trick, of the 35 five-on-five shots Vladař faced, 18 were low-danger saves, with only seven coming from high-danger spots. More based on location, it doesn’t take into account things like traffic in front, but even that was limited by a defense that has transformed since the Olympic break, while heeding Tocchet’s long-held belief of giving the opposition the outside.

Now facing Carolina,Tocchet said they’ll have to make a few tweaks to their structure, but will want to protect the guts of the ice.

“Running around, leaving [the] weak side open, and all that sort of stuff, is a recipe for disaster. So the bend-don’t-break defense at certain parts is going to help,” Tocchet said Thursday.

“It can’t be a steady diet because you’re just basically giving them the puck all night. But there’s going to be some times, and they’re a good team, and they’re going to press on you where we’re going to have to make sure that we protect certain areas of the ice and let Vladdy see the stuff that we want [him to because] if they’re going to shoot, at least we know where they’re going to shoot it from.”

Did the Flyers stall for a pair of games? Sure. Did they play a little too close to the fire in Game 6? Absolutely. But after missing the playoffs for six years and still — technically — amid a rebuild, the Flyers are playing with house money right now.

A large part of that is that the team bought into the messaging that Tocchet brought with him to Philly when he was hired almost a year ago.

“Not to sound cheesy, they buy in,” he said after the win on Wednesday. “I know we might not be pretty sometimes, but I’ve got to tell you, they’re a very attentive group, and I’ve got to be on top of my toes sometimes, because they’re listening to every word I say.”

After months of it looking like the hockey gods were not on their side — remember what happened in Game 2 of the regular season when a Bobby Brink overtime goal against the Hurricanes was negated on a could-go-either-way call — they seem to be correcting their past mistakes now and shining down on South Philly.

Part of it is the structure and strategy implemented by the coaching staff. Part of it is the play on the ice. And a big part of it is the closeness in the room, because when facing a team that is fighting for the guy next to them and not themselves, that bond can feel unbreakable.

“It’s great. This group of guys, too, has just been working so hard the last month, and we earned that,” forward Travis Konecny said postgame. “We played hard, we just didn’t quit on each other the last stretch of games to end the season, and in the playoffs. We’re just so confident in our group.”

Now the Flyers have to keep the train rolling down the track against a Carolina team that is really good but always seems to be a little shaky — and has demons — once they get past the first round of the playoffs.

Since Brind’Amour took over at the start of the 2018-19 season, the Hurricanes have extended their season each year, finishing first in the division four times. But there’s been no Stanley Cup like the one Brind’Amour raised with the club in 2006, as the ‘Canes have advanced past the second round just three times, losing in the conference final each time.

» READ MORE: Dan Vladař’s 42-save shutout wills the Flyers to Round 2: ‘He was phenomenal’

And while the oft-injured Frederik Andersen was great in the first round, posting a league-best 1.10 goals against average and .955 save percentage, he has his own ghosts of postseason pasts. Those include a .895 save percentage in 2023-24 and a ghastly .838 save percentage last year in a five-game defeat in the conference finals to Florida. That’s after four first-round exits with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The counter for the Flyers is that they have Vladař and his 1.61 GAA and .937 save percentage. They have youth and exuberance and are rolling after a tough, competitive series, while the Hurricanes glided through. And they don’t have recent failures creeping in, which never helps a team facing the scrutiny of being really good but always falling short of its ultimate goal. Just ask those same Maple Leafs who had their postseason dream crushed for decades by Jeremy Roenick’s overtime winner.