Flyers clinch a playoff spot with a 3-2 shootout win over Hurricanes

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 13, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — The roars started when the Philadelphia Flyers came out onto the ice. They dipped and dropped and rose again across 65 minutes of heart-racing action and became deafening when Tyson Foerster found the back of the net in the shootout to give the Flyers the lead.

But it was nowhere as loud as when Dan Vladař stoned Carolina Hurricanes’ Alexander Nikishin, raising his hands in the air as the bench emptied with Porter Martone jumping into his arms first.

With a 3-2 shootout win over the Hurricanes, the Flyers clinched the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Philly came out firing on all cylinders, and before Carolina got its first shot on goal more than eight minutes into the game, the hometown team had six shots stopped by Hurricanes goalie Brandon Bussi, in addition to another six shot attempts.

But on the Hurricanes’ second shot of the game, Bradly Nadeau found the back of the net. Former Flyers defenseman Sean Walker sent a dump-in around the boards, and Nikolaj Ehlers got there before Travis Konecny. He carried it low and fed Nadeau as he crashed down the middle untouched.

Later in the period, Christian Dvorak was called for holding when he bear-hugged Jackson Blake. On the ensuing power play, the Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead when Ehlers banked the puck in off Vladař from the goal line. Logan Stankoven tried to find Blake in the middle, but his pass went off the skate of Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, right to an open Ehlers.

Vladař allowed two goals on six shots, and things started to look bleak as the fans booed the team off the ice when the period ended.

Reminder, these are the “never-say-die” Flyers and, while they outplayed the Hurricanes for the most part in the opening frame, they put two past Bussi on five shots in the second.

Matvei Michkov, who had his legs going from the puck drop, got the comeback started with his 19th of the season. Martone smartly went to the bench as the Flyers controlled the puck along the right wing boards, with Noah Cates and Denver Barkey doing the work.

Michkov came on for Martone, glided with his stick on the ice into the left circle, and got a cross-ice pass from Barkey on the tape. The Russian winger then snapped it past the blocker of Bussi, and the Xfinity Mobile Arena roared. Michkov now has six goals and 19 points since the Olympic break and three goals and eight points in his past six games. Only Cates, who got an assist to up his total to 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists), has more than him on the Flyers since the break.

Less than three minutes later, and with the crowd still buzzing, Trevor Zegras drew a penalty, and the winger ended up tying things up.

Skating on the second unit with Martone, Cates, Jamie Drysdale and Tyson Foerster, Zegras found himself all alone at the right post after the puck went around to the left boards, along with the attention of all four Hurricanes penalty killers.

Foerster chipped the puck down to Martone, who got the puck and quickly moved it across the ice to the open Zegras. The crafty center caught it, moved to the middle, and buried it past Bussi. Zegras now has 26 goals and 67 points, while Martone continues his point-per-game pace. In eight games, Martone has eight points (three goals, five assists) and extended his point streak to five games (seven points).

Breakaways

Forwards Alex Bump, Carl Grundström, Garrett Wilson and defensemen Noah Juulsen and David Jiříček were healthy scratches. … Flyers prospect Jack Berglund, who made his pro debut in North America with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Saturday, watched the game from the press box. Selected in the second round of the 2024 draft, Berglund signed his entry-level contract, which starts next season, and a professional tryout agreement with Lehigh Valley for the rest of this season, on April 9. … Lauren Hart sang “God Bless America,” again to kickstart the night. … Of course this game went beyond regulation. In each of the previous three meetings, the two teams went to one overtime and two shootouts, with Carolina winning the three prior meetings.

Up next

The Flyers finish the regular season on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens.