Mar 30, 2019 3 min read

The Hurricanes broke a long power-play drought and moved closer to securing a playoff berth.

Teuvo Teravainen and Dougie Hamilton scored 21 seconds apart in the first period, and Carolina beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday, officially eliminating the Flyers from playoff contention.

Teravainen scored on the power play, ending a nine-game stretch during which the Hurricanes failed to score with the man advantage. Carolina later got another power-play goal from Justin Faulk, and Jaccob Slavin’s short-handed, empty-net goal put the game away.

“Special teams, we know how important they are, and (today) that was the difference, really,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

Petr Mrazek made 30 saves for Carolina, which is in position for the first Eastern Conference wild card. The Hurricanes increased their lead to three points over Montreal and Columbus, both of which were playing Saturday night.

Seeking its first playoff appearance since 2009, Carolina also pulled within two points of Pittsburgh for the third playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and could tie the Penguins in the standings with a win Sunday in Pittsburgh.

“Everyone likes the meaningful games and meaningful situations,” Hamilton said. “I think everybody in here will tell you that’s why we play. You want to play in these games and play in the playoffs.”

Claude Giroux and Oskar Lindblom scored and Cam Talbot made 27 saves for Philadelphia.

For a two-month starting in mid-January, the Flyers were one of the hottest teams in the NHL as they went on an 18-4-2 run to work themselves back into the playoff picture. But Saturday’s loss dropped them to 3-6 in their past nine games.

“Right now we’re in position, obviously, that we’re not making the playoffs,” Flyers coach Scott Gordon said. “We just have to find a way to play the games the right way, and finish the year out doing the right things.”

Philadelphia got off to a good start against Carolina, though, as Giroux opened the scoring with 7:55 remaining in the first period off a pass from Corbin Knight on a 2-on-1 break. It was Giroux’s 21st goal of the season, breaking a 10-game goal-scoring drought.

The Hurricanes struck back quickly. Teravainen scored with 6:25 remaining in the period when he converted a rebound after Justin Williams powered to the net and tried to jam in a shot from the goalmouth.

“Up until they scored, I thought we had done a pretty good job on the penalty kill,” Gordon said.

Florida 4, Boston 1: Troy Brouwer scored a short-handed goal and Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots to help the Florida Panthers beat Boston 4-1 and hand the Bruins their first loss at home since January. Boston has already clinched a playoff berth and will most likely open the postseason at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Panthers have been eliminated from playoff contention.