RALEIGH — The Hurricanes, despite a weeklong break, picked up where they left off in Round 1 of the playoffs.
So did Logan Stankoven.
The Carolina center scored his fifth and sixth goals of the postseason, Frederik Andersen made 19 saves, and the Hurricanes dominated the visiting Flyers in a 3-0 win in Game 1 of their second round series Saturday at Lenovo Center.
Carolina needed 91 seconds to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
“That was the big question, how we were going to come out,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “And obviously that answered that question.”
On his first shift of the night, Stankoven won an offensive zone faceoff that led to Jackson Blake setting up Mike Reilly — making his Hurricanes playoff debut — for a one-timer from the point. Stankoven got a stick to the shot in the high slot and redirected the puck past Dan Vladar (20 saves) to extend his postseason scoring streak to five games — including four game-opening goals.
“It’s nice to have that confidence that comes with putting the puck in the net,” Stankoven said, “and you just kind of build off of it.”
Blake added, “He’s been probably the hottest guy in hockey right now.”
That line wasn’t done, and it only took two more shifts.
Reilly rimmed a puck around the defensive boards that Taylor Hall collected inside the Carolina blue line. Hall made a spinning backhand that caught Blake in stride. Blake split Matvei Michkov and Travis Sanheim, then fended off Sanheim and slid a backhand past Vladar to double the Hurricanes’ lead to 2-0 at 7:30 of the opening frame.
“I just had a little speed, and I saw that the guy on my left was a forward, so I just tried to beat him,” Blake said. “And then I got a pretty lucky bounce, I’d say, back to my backhand. So God willing on that one for sure. But, yeah, I got lucky. It was a great play by (Hall) — I’ve got to give him a lot of credit there.”
It gave Reilly, who hadn’t played in nearly three weeks, two points in 7½ minutes.
“I don’t know if I’ve had two assists in the last, like, few months,” Reilly said.
Meanwhile, the Flyers were failing to generate anything. Carolina limited Philadelphia to four shots in the opening 20 minutes.
“I thought a lot of guys were on their heels tonight,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said.
Stankoven returned to the top of the playoff goal-scoring list in the second period.
Andrei Svechnikov forced a turnover with his skate on the forecheck, and Seth Jarvis controlled the puck at the top of the left circle. Stankoven — who had just come on the ice for Sebastian Aho — created a fast-developing 2-on-1. Jarvis saucered a backhand pass over Nick Seeler’s stick, and Stankoven buried the chance for his sixth goal of the postseason.
“It’s nice to see (Stankoven) get rewarded,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “He’s been good for so long, and I hope he can keep it going.”
The penalty kill improved to 24 for 25 in the postseason, even holding the Flyers’ power play without a shot on goal on its first three chances.
“It was really good,” Staal said. “It’s going to have to be like that. Everyone was sharp, eating pucks when they needed to.”
And when a puck did get through to Andersen, he was again the last line of defense.
“Steady. … He’s been solid, and I can’t overstate that,” Brind’Amour said of Andersen’s performance in this postseason. “That’s a big deal.”
The win was Andersen’s 24th playoff win with Carolina, moving him past Cam Ward for the most in franchise history. It’s an accolade that is a means to an end for Andersen.
“We have a goal in mind,” he said. “I think that’s what’s really important. Obviously, we’ve got to get there. That means getting the wins. So we’ll take it. But again, it’s a team thing where we’re working hard to collect wins, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Notes: Forwards Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nicolas Deslauriers, and goalie Pyotr Kochetkov were healthy scratches. Alexander Nikishin (concussion) did not dress. … Flyers leading goal scorer Owen Tippett did not play due to an injury. … Blake, Shayne Gostisbehere, Seeler and Trevor Zegras all received 10-minute misconducts in the second half of the third period. … Staal had seven hits.
