The Carolina Hurricanes are rolling, and the Philadelphia Flyers are still stuck in the mud.
Carolina heads into this one riding a four-game winning streak after hammering the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2, on Saturday night. Five different Hurricanes scored, Brandon Bussi was sharp in net, and the defending champions kept right on piling up good nights. Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake are both carrying five-game point streaks into tonight, Mark Jankowski has scored in three straight, and Pyotr Kochetkov gets the start as he goes for his third straight win.
For Carolina, this is also a quick return to the scene of one of its first breakthroughs. Eight days ago, the Hurricanes were still winless when they went to Philadelphia coming off a rough showing against the Capitals.
They trailed by a goal entering the third period before Aho tied it on the power play early in the frame. Then, in overtime, Shayne Gostisbehere beat his former team on the man advantage to finally get Carolina into the win column.
Philadelphia arrives with a very different kind of energy - and not the good kind. The Flyers are one of three teams still without a win this season, alongside the Flames and the Kings.
They were handled by the Boston Bruins on Saturday, 5-1, which dropped them to six straight losses. The numbers around the start have been ugly across the board: the Flyers have scored a league-low seven goals, average just 1.17 per game, and are giving up four goals a night.
The power play has not clicked. The penalty kill has not held up.
It has been a brutal opening stretch.
Goaltending has been one of the few places where Philadelphia has found any resistance. Joseph Woll has absorbed a heavy workload in three starts, seeing more than 36 shots per game, and enters with a .927 save percentage.
He’s also the reason the Flyers have picked up both of their points so far. With Dan Vladar starting in Boston, Woll gets the nod against Carolina after stopping 37 of 40 shots and allowing three goals last Saturday.
The injury picture only adds to the challenge for Philadelphia. On Saturday, the Flyers listed Travis Konecny and Cam York as day-to-day, put Rasmus Ristolainen on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 3, activated Helge Grans from injured non-roster, and said Nikita Grebenkin underwent successful back surgery. Missing those first three names will be especially difficult for a team still chasing its first win.
A few individual names stand out on both sides. Owen Tippett’s shot has already mattered for the Flyers, and with Konecny out, he becomes even more important to any chance of offense.
Michael Bunting, who signed with Philadelphia last week after his time with Carolina, adds some needed edge and brings the added twist of facing his former club right away. On the Carolina side, Jordan Staal is still looking for his first point of the season after a 20-goal year and a Conn Smythe Trophy in June, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi has quietly started to look comfortable on the wing, piling up assists in back-to-back games.
In Other News...
Jordan Staal News Forces Hurricanes Into A Sudden Flyers Shuffle
A late change to the lineup sent the Hurricanes into a different look for their game against the Flyers, with the center depth chart taking on a new shape just before puck drop. Jordan Staal, a fixture in Carolinas matchup-heavy minutes, was ruled out with a lower-body injury shortly before the opening faceoff, forcing the coaching staff to adjust on the fly.
Mark Jankowski stepped into Staals third-line center spot, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi slid down the middle behind him. For a Carolina team that leans on its center group to drive both pace and defensive structure, the shuffle is the kind of wrinkle that can ripple through the rest of the evening, even if it starts with one unexpected absence. [Read more 🡒]
Canes Top Line Is Creating A Feeling Fans Have Missed
The recent win over Philadelphia offered a familiar kind of lift for Carolina, the sort that has often defined its best stretches under Rod BrindAmour. The Hurricanes handled the Flyers 4-1, with the top line doing the heavy lifting and the scoring coming at even strength, a detail that can matter as much to the room as it does to the box score.
Pyotr Kochetkov backed it up with 18 saves, allowing only a redirection goal, but the bigger takeaway for Carolina was the way Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho helped set the tone in the attacking zone. For a fan base that has been waiting to feel that top-line surge again, it was the kind of performance that brings back a little of the old confidence, even if one lineup question still hangs over the group. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Just Exposed How Badly The Flyers Need Defensive Answers
Seven games into the 2026-27 season, the Flyers are already in a familiar kind of scramble, only this time the damage is showing up on the back end. A trip through Carolina offered a blunt reminder of how fragile the defensive structure has become, with coverage lapses turning into easy looks for the Hurricanes and adding to a start that looks nothing like the steadier stretches Philadelphia had managed in recent years.
The Flyers have already been forced to lean on youth because injuries and uneven play have thinned out their blue line, and Oliver Bonks arrival from the AHL was supposed to help stabilize things. Instead, the rookie found himself in the middle of a difficult night as the Hurricanes kept pressing, leaving Philadelphia still searching for answers and still waiting for someone on defense to provide them. [Read more 🡒]