Flyers’ Cinderella playoff run ends with a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss

Danny Brière tried to change the mojo.

Normally, standing inside the Flyers’ suite in the press box when Lauren Hart sings “God Bless America,” on Saturday, the general manager was instead standing outside it. Superstitious? Well, he may not be the only one, as president Keith Jones swapped his usual seat to Brière‘s right for the one on his left, tucked against the wall.

Although their playing days are over, they wanted to do their part while coach Rick Tocchet was making changes on the ice. In were rookies, forward Jett Luchanko and defenseman Oliver Bonk, making their playoff debuts with the objective to bring more speed to the lineup, and out were Matvei Michkov and Emil Andrae.

» READ MORE: Philly is in peril of an unprecedented double sweep after the Flyers fall to the Hurricanes

Despite the changes and a resilient, hard-fought effort, the Flyers lost 3-2 in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes. They were eliminated from the postseason via a sweep in the Eastern Conference’s second round by Carolina, which became just the fifth team in NHL history to start a postseason 8-0.

Just over five minutes into overtime, Taylor Hall scooped up the puck in the neutral zone and carried it into the Flyers’ end. Skating in two-on-two, he fed the trailer, Jackson Blake, who sent his wrister off the glove of Dan Vladař and over the goal line.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow right now,” captain Sean Couturier said. “We really believed that we had a chance. It’s tough right now, but at the same time, I’m proud of the way this team battled to the end. There’s no quit. For a young team like us, it’s a great experience.”

The Flyers goalie slammed his stick on the post in frustration, but the faithful did not allow their hometown squad to dwell on the loss long as they gave them a standing ovation and chanted “Let’s Go Flyers.”

They chanted as the team consoled each other on one end while the Hurricanes celebrated on the other.

They chanted during the handshake line — and booed when they showed some of the Carolina players on the scoreboard.

» READ MORE: Philly fans are still proud of the young Flyers despite sweep by the Hurricanes

And they chanted even louder when the Flyers went to center ice, raised their sticks, and clapped in appreciation for the fans.

“I think it’s amazing. I really wanted to thank the fans for that. It was awesome for them to cheer us and yell, ‘Go Flyers.’ ... I was just talking to Jonesy, he was saying, ‘Man, that was awesome to hear the fans cheer the guys on,’” Tocchet said.

“So that’s a good thing for the guys to understand this summer. We got [these] fans behind [us], and we got this organization back on the map, and we got a taste of what it’s going to take. But I’d really like to thank the fans for that. That was wonderful.”

Things started well for the Flyers. As Travis Konecny said on Saturday morning, “If we can replicate that start, I think we’ll be in a good spot.” That start was in reference to Game 3, and like Thursday, the Flyers came out like gangbusters in the opening frame. This time, when 20 minutes had elapsed, they led 1-0.

“We came out great again. We had a lot of energy. ... You could tell we were ready to play,” Konecny said postgame. “We were excited. We we’re trying to put all the pressure on them and just play free, and I thought we did a pretty good job, and just didn’t get the results. It’s frustrating.”

But the biggest point of emphasis wasn’t that they had taken the lead; it was who scored because, if the Flyers wanted to get back into the series, they needed Tyson Foerster to get going. He did so with a snipe 7 minutes, 50 seconds into the game, notching his first career playoff goal and point in the process.

The play started with Carl Grundström laying a hit on Blake in the neutral zone, causing him to cough up the puck to Travis Sanheim. The defenseman rotated the puck across to Cam York, who banked it off the boards to Porter Martone. The 19-year-old caught it, smartly gained the blue line, and fed Trevor Zegras, who was flying past him and Carolina defenseman Jalen Chatfield.

With his footwork, Zegras was able to create space by curling towards the boards and buying time before hitting Foerster with a saucer pass over the stick of Logan Stankoven, who was turned around. Known for his shot, Foerster zinged it past Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen as Martone went to the net.

After one period, the Flyers were hanging tough with the high-shot volume Hurricanes, with the hometown team putting five shots on goal and the visitors eight. But then it went off the rails, as is expected for Carolina, which, like their nickname, is a storm on the ice, pelting opponents. They put 15 shots on goal in the second and another 13 in the third, with Vladař allowing just one per period.

“They had the puck a lot. It was bend, don’t break,” Tocchet said. “We didn’t have a lot of juice, so I was proud of the way we tried to keep them on the outside and get scoring chances. Vladdy was terrific tonight, like all year, he’s been like that.”

“We were more disciplined,” Couturier said as each team only had three power plays after the last two games were what Tocchet called penalty fests.

”I think there was a better pace to the game, that’s for sure. Obviously, we gave up a lot of shots, but that’s kind of the way they play. We had our chances at moments, [but] couldn’t capitalize. I wasn’t too worried about the response; we’ve done it all year, and there’s no quit around here, and guys battle hard till the end.”

In the second period, the Hurricanes tied the game and temporarily took the lead 28 seconds later. Off a face-off deep in the Flyers’ end, Hall won it against Christian Dvorak, sending it to the wall. He tracked it down himself, passing it back to his defenseman, K’Andre Miller, who shoved it deeper into the zone.

The puck ended up on the stick of Blake, who curled up the boards before curling toward them again for a shot on goal that squeaked through. At the time of Blake’s shot, which came from just above the half-wall, it looked like Vladař was double-screened with Nick Seeler on Blake, and Dvorak and Hall cutting through his line of sight.

Not long after, Mark Jankowski poked the puck away from Luchanko, who was recalled on May 6 after Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League was eliminated in Game 7 of the OHL semis.

The Hurricanes broke out, and eventually Jankowski beat Vladař from above the slot; however, Tocchet and his video staff — they were 6-1 entering the night — opted to challenge it. And the NHL’s situation room confirmed that Hurricanes forward William Carrier, who had backed up into Vladař, impaired his ability to play his position in the crease.

“There wasn’t a lot of people outside of the locker room who really believed in us,” Vladař said. “I thought we really stuck together as a team and we really played hard for each other, and we gave it all.”

Then hockey gods did what they do best — taketh and giveth.

Once again, the Hurricanes broke out, with it turning into a three-on-two as Alex Bump got stuck flat-footed high in the Hurricanes’ end. He ended up losing his guy, Stankoven, who tapped the puck in backdoor off a beautiful cross-crease pass by Hall that snuck past three players.

It gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead less than five minutes into the final frame. But 1:39 later, Bump made up for his miscue with his second goal of the postseason.

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Initially, it looked like the Hurricanes were going to get the puck out of their own end, but Dvorak hounded Miller behind the net, and Konecny came barreling in, knocking him off the puck. With two Hurricanes on him along the end boards, Konecny made a terrific play, kicking the puck up to his stick with his left skate and sending a sharp pass right onto the tape of Bump in the slot to tie it at 2.

“You can’t even take a stride off; they make you pay. I think I took a stride off,” Bump said of the goal against. “So, I just kind of knew I had to go do something after that. Great play by TK, got me in the slot all alone [and] I just had to do what I do.”

Martone finished the postseason with five points, including an assist on the goal by Foerster, to register the second-most points by a Flyers teenager in a single postseason behind Dainius Zubrus’ nine points in 1997. ... The Flyers finished with 16 different goal scorers, tying the 1987 postseason for the most in the franchise’s history through the first 10 games. In the past 30 years, only the 2025 Florida Panthers had more (17). ... Forward Jack Nesbitt and defenseman Spencer Gill joined the Flyers before the game after their junior teams were eliminated from the postseason. ... Bonk played more than 12 minutes and appreciated the fans’ reaction, making him excited for next season: “Yeah, it was amazing to see that. Hopefully they’re proud of how far this team made it this year, and hopefully we keep building on it for the years to come.”

» READ MORE: Philly fans are still proud of the young Flyers despite sweep by the Hurricanes