The Flyers’ rebuild is about to meet the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n
Rick Tocchet’s club capped off a concerted climb in the standings with a thrilling 3-2 shootout win Monday night over the Hurricanes at Xfinity Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n
Tyson Foerster won it for the Flyers in the skills competition. Dan Vladar was magnificent.<\/p>\n
The victory snapped the organization’s five-year postseason drought. In Year 1 under Tocchet as head coach and Year 3 of Danny Briere’s tenure as general manager, the Flyers made the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 season.<\/p>\n
“It’s a dream,” Foerster said. “This is why you play. We’re looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n
The Flyers went 17-6-1 since Feb. 26 to clinch third place, the final berth in the Metropolitan Division. They entered Monday night needing two points over their final two games<\/a> to punch their ticket. They won’t have to worry about an all-important Game 82.<\/p>\n The Flyers (42-27-12) overcame a 2-0 deficit at first intermission and eventually capitalized on a stripped-down Carolina lineup. The Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes sat Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Jaccob Slavin, Seth Jarvis, Shayne Gostisbehere and Jordan Staal.<\/p>\n “Carolina’s a tough team,” Tocchet said. “I know they had six, seven guys out, but they didn’t give in. We had to earn it and we did.”<\/p>\n Matvei Michkov screamed to the crowd in the second period when he drew the Flyers to within 2-1. At that point, the building was about to erupt. Trevor Zegras sent it into a frenzy 2:33 minutes later with a game-tying power play goal.<\/p>\n “The fans were unbelievable tonight,” Zegras said. “Like, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. The reaction when Foery scored in the shootout, I’ll never forget that.”<\/p>\n The Flyers went 1-0-3 in their regular-season series with the Hurricanes (52-22-7).<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTyson Foerster scored the only goal in the shootout and Dan Vladar came up huge for the Flyers, who beat the Hurricanes to clinch a playoff spot.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u2022 Tocchet, Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones deserve a ton of credit.<\/p>\n Last season, the Flyers finished tied with the Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s worst record. They went 33-39-10 as their rebuild went into another gear<\/a>.<\/p>\n This season, after Briere and Jones landed their handpicked head coach<\/a>, the Flyers have 96 points. The front office made critical offseason additions in Zegras, Vladar and Christian Dvorak. All three have had career seasons.<\/p>\n Tocchet has done a quality job maximizing some key players and incorporating youth down the stretch.<\/p>\n “To me, it was the development of the team,” the head coach said Monday morning<\/a>. “Obviously the players are a part of it. It’s not about coming every day worrying about one player and developing that guy. Yeah, he’s a part of the process, but it’s how we do things around here and I really wanted the identity of a Flyer. It’s something that we’ve built on every day and we’re getting there. Long way to go, but it’s starting to come around.”<\/p>\n The Flyers will face the rival Penguins in the first round. The NHL playoffs kick off Saturday. We’ll see if that’s when the Flyers and Penguins get underway in Pittsburgh. The schedule has not yet been announced.<\/p>\n “Man, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” an emotional Owen Tippett said. “These guys in this room love each other. All the doubters all year. We believed right from the start, right from training camp. It’s going to be a blast. We’re going to soak it all in, but the job’s not done.”<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOwen Tippett, Trevor Zegras and Rick Tocchet shared their thoughts Monday night on the Flyers clinching a spot in the playoffs.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u2022 Vladar converted 24 saves on 26 shots.<\/p>\n