Flyers clinch playoff spot with shootout win against Hurricanes, who take East

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday.

Tyson Foerster scored the only goal in the fourth round of the shootout, and Dan Vladar clinched the victory when he stopped Alexander Nikishin of the Hurricanes.

It's Philadelphia's first time in the postseason since 2020. The Flyers will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference First Round.

"That's a big win," Flyers forward Owen Tippett said. "It's going to be a lot of fun. 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, and we're going to soak it all in. But the job's not done."

Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zegras scored for Philadelphia (42-27-12). Vladar made 24 saves before stopping four more in the shootout.

"'Vladdy' kept us in it, he never quit," Foerster said. "We got the win, and we're all fired up."

Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist for Carolina (52-22-7), which clinched first place in the Eastern Conference with the point gained by playing past regulation. 

"That's a huge accomplishment," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It says you had a real good year and you came to play every night. You can't luck into that."

Bradly Nadeau scored, and Brandon Bussi made 21 saves.

"I thought we were good," Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. "Thought we competed really hard. You know what that game meant to (the Flyers) ... felt like we probably had the better of the chances. Proud of the guys that were playing tonight. We gave it our best and whatever it gets to the shootout, it's flip of a coin. I was happy with it."

Foerster scoring the playoff-clinching goal was a bit of a surprise considering the Flyers didn't expect him to play again after he had surgery on Dec. 15 for an injury to his right arm. He was expected to be out for five months but instead returned on April 2. 

"I'll be honest, I didn't think he was going to come back," Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. "We didn't have a target date, but he was determined. Lot of lonely days for him working out and stuff like that. ... That's a (heck) of a goal. Didn't seem like there was a lot of room there. That goalie looked big, and I'm not sure how he found it. It was a great shot."

Foerster has four points (three goals, one assist) in seven games since returning.

"These guys battled all year for me to come back, so I love them all," he said.

Nadeau gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 8:41 of the first period when he one-timed Ehlers' pass from behind the net past Vladar's glove.

Ehlers scored on the power play to make it 2-0 at 15:30. Logan Stankoven's pass from along the goal line on the left side of the zone bounced off the skate of Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim and through the slot to Ehlers, who scored from the right post.

Michkov made it 2-1 at 7:57 of the second period when he scored from the left side after a cross-ice pass from Denver Barkey.

Zegras tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 10:30. Porter Martone passed through the crease to Zegras on the right side, and the forward deked and slid the puck between Bussi's skates.

It was Philadelphia's 20th win when allowing the game's first goal, the second-most in the NHL behind the Anaheim Ducks (21).

"We've been doing it all year," Tippett said. "We know we're not out of games until that final whistle goes and I think we proved that tonight."

Carolina had the best chance in overtime, but Jackson Blake hit the goal post with 3:48 remaining.

The Hurricanes played without three of their top four scorers, with forwards Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis being held out. They also played without captain Jordan Staal and defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere.

"Whatever many games we've done this, we're missing a large portion of our group, and we just hung in there," Brind'Amour said. "Tonight was problaby the best game of those that we played. It looked like how we should play, we just don't get the extra point. But we had the opportunities."

NOTES: It was the Flyers' 10th shootout win, the most since they've won in a season since the tiebreaker was added in 2005. ... Martone had an assist on Zegras' goal to give him seven points (three goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak. ... Foerster also had an assist on the goal for his 100th point in the NHL. ... Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker had an assist on Nadeau's goal to extend his point streak to six games (two goals, five assists), the longest of his NHL career. ... Ehlers' goal was his 250th in the NHL and gave him five points (one goal, four assists) during a three-game point streak. ... Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield had one shot on goal in 23:11 of ice time after missing two games because of a lower-body injury.