Flyers vs. Hurricanes: How to Watch, Lineups, Keys to the Game

After the dust settled on a busy day of scoreboard watching on Sunday, the task at hand is now crystal clear for the Philadelphia Flyers (41-27-12). Win one of the final two games, they make the playoffs.

So the Flyers can punch their ticket to the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs as soon as Monday night, but have to take down the Metropolitan Division winners. The Carolina Hurricanes (52-22-6) come to town for Game 81 of the regular season. Game time is at 7 PM.

How to Watch

Time: 7 PM
Location: Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, PA
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.3 ESPN and the 97.3 ESPN Free Mobile App
Streaming: ESPN+

Projected Flyers Lines vs. Hurricanes

Injury & Roster Updates

Lineup Updates: No changes are expected to the Flyers' lineup.
Starting Goalie: Dan Vladar gets the start for the Flyers. Vladar is 28-14-7 on the season with a 2.44 GAA and .905 save percentage. He made 27 saves on 28 shots in the win over Winnipeg on Saturday.
Injuries
- Nikita Grebenkin: upper-body injury, out 7-to-10 days
- Rodrigo Abols: fractured ankle, out at least two months from Jan. 21

Opponent Snapshot: Carolina Hurricanes

Opponent record: 52-22-6
Special Teams Ranking
- Power Play: 24.7% (5th)
- Penalty Kill: 80.6% (10th)
Who’s hot?: Logan Stankoven is on a six-game points streak with seven goals and nine points. Jackson Blake is on a five-game points streak with seven points. Sean Walker is on a five-game points streak with two goals and six points.
Who’s in net?: Brandon Bussi gets the start for the Hurricanes. Bussi is 30-6-1 with a 2.52 GAA and .892 save percentage on the season. He made 16 saves on 21 shots in a win over Boston in his last start on Tuesday. He picked up the shootout win over the Flyers on Dec. 14, making 24 saves on 26 shots.
Injuries: Pyotr Kochetkov is out with a hip injury. Based on morning skate, it appears Carolina will also be resting Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jaccob Slavin, and Jordan Staal.

Keys to the Game

Win and In: The task is simple for the Flyers. Win one game, and they are officially back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bring It On Home: The Flyers closed out the road schedule for the 2025-26 regular season with a commanding 7-1 win. Bringing that kind of scoring touch home can help them take care of the final step to reaching the postseason.
Stick to the Standard: The Flyers got back to the details and the standard that has put them in a position to be a playoff team. Sticking to that will help them finish the job and clinch a playoff spot.

By the Numbers

Both the Flyers and Hurricanes are 4-1-0 in their last five games and 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.
Carolina ranks second in the NHL with 3.59 goals per game, compared to 2.93 goals per game for the Flyers.
Travis Konecny has 12 goals and 25 points in 33 career games against the Hurricanes.

Quotable

"We were disappointed in our play, but we moved along the next day. We had some really good video sessions. Like I said, all year, I'm getting a lot of buy-in from these guys. A lot of buy-in. They're a fun group to coach. We're going to have our ups and downs, but I think the one thing is they're taking information even when things aren't going well and they're applying it. A game like that, it shows." - Rick Tocchet after bouncing back from Thursday's loss on Saturday.

X-Factors

Sean Couturier: The last time the Flyers were in a position to officially clinch a playoff spot, it was April 2018 – there were no official clinchers in 2020 due to the COVID shutdown. In that final game of the 2017-18 regular season, the former captain of the Flyers delivered the exclamation point. Sean Couturier took a great first step to that on Saturday in Winnipeg.
Logan Stankoven: Stankoven is on quite the hot streak, and it's allowed Carolina to maintain their pace of point production while resting players ahead of the playoffs.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.

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