In Game 3, the Canes got three more players to break the ice as Staal, Chatfield and Svechnikov's goals were all their first of the playoffs.

"Obviously it gives you a little bit of confidence and it feels a little bit lighter on the ice and all those stuff," Svechnikov said.

That's now 10 different players who have scored at least one goal in these playoffs for Carolina and 16 different players have collected at least a point, which is pretty impressive given that the Canes have only played in seven games total so far.

3. Another Day, Another Great Showing For The Penalty Kill

I mean, how many more games are we gonna have to talk about how great the Hurricanes' penalty kill has been?

"It's been good," Brind'Amour said. "Certainly in the playoffs here. I think it's just sacrifice. Guys are obviously working extremely hard and I think we've been in sync. And we have good players. They know what they're doing out there. That helps."

The Canes went another 5-for-5 Thursday night and outscored the Flyers 1-0 while shorthanded.

For once, Philadelphia actually did manage to have more shots on goal than Carolina on their own power plays this time (3-1), but that one shot on goal they gave up was obviously the shorthanded dagger.

The Flyers even had over a minute of a 5v3 opportunity and just did nothing with it as the Hurricanes thwarted them at the blueline multiple times and just generally kept everything to the outside.

"When we step over the boards, no matter if it's 5v3, 5v4, bad call or not, we're looking to kill it and we have no excuses," Chatfield said. "We're holding each other accountable and everyday we're watching video and getting better. Working on the small details that maybe not the average person would see. It could be two feet that way, a stick position that way and I think we've dialed that in a lot and I think that's been huge and showing off."

4. The Power Play Is Starting To Heat Up

On the other side of the special teams coin, the Hurricanes are starting to get the ball rolling on the power play.

Last night was the first time the top unit has found the back of the net and they did it twice, now giving the team five power play goals in the postseason and back-to-back games with power play tallies might I add too.

"We got two goals today and that's big for our unit," Svechnikov said. "Just have to continue working, watching video and hopefully we're gonna do that [again] next game."

Obviously it helps having a plethora of opportunities as the Flyers were so gracious to hand out, but I really liked the way that the power play was moving the puck and putting shots on goal.

"I think for us, it's just about sticking with it and taking what they give us," said Shayne Gostisbehere, who collected his first two points of the postseason in the win. "Not forcing anything. We know when the seams are going to be available. We don't have to fit it through or anything. Just back to basics. When you're struggling a little bit, just put pucks on the net and get some good bounces."

5. Not Backing Down

In both of the Canes' series now, we've seen teams trying to raise the physicality and engage the Hurricanes in post-whistle antics.

However, Carolina hasn't backed down one bit from any of it and have shown to be as feisty as anyone that has challenged them.

Two of the Flyers' biggest guys in Nick Seeler (6-foot-3) and Rasmus Ristolainen (6-foot-4) both went after Logan Stankoven toward the end of the game, but he didn't back down one inch.

And as he stood his ground, all of the Hurricanes' skaters rushed over to help him out too.

In years past, we've seen the Hurricanes getting pushed around a bit without a response, but that hasn't been the case at all this year.

6. Discipline

Having said that, discipline is going to be vital for Game 4.

The Flyers are obviously an extremely frustrated group and that's starting to spill over into the scrums that have been popping up.

I'm sure Philadelphia won't want to go quietly, but the Canes' best course of action will be to just to play between the whistles and take care of business.

Obviously you can't let them take liberties, but if they want to take dumb penalties, let them. The best response would be to score on the power play and potentially end their season at the same time.

7. A Couple Of Milestones

With his two-point night, Svechnikov became just the second player in franchise history to record 50 playoff points (Sebastian Aho was the first).

The Russian winger has really elevated his game the past few playoffs and he now has 24 goals and 51 points in 73 games.

Jordan Staal's two-point night also moved him into fifth all-time in for playoff points with 41 in 96 games.

According to Hurricanes team reporter Walt Ruff, Jordan and Eric Staal both rank in the franchise's top five for both playoff and regular season points.

The only other pair of brothers to do that with one franchise are Henrik and Daniel Sedin with Vancouver.

8. Andersen Continuing To Stack Wins

In a win where his save percentage actually went down despite allowing just one goal, Frederik Andersen reached a few milestones of his own.

The Danish veteran is now 7-0 to start the playoffs, becoming just the 12th goaltender in NHL history to do that.

That seven-game winning streak also matches a franchise record set by Cam Ward.

In that span, Andersen has a 0.957 save percentage, a 1.02 goals against average and two shutouts.

"To have goaltending like that, it can win you games and you need goaltending like that," Chatfield said. "He's been nothing short of excellent and we know he's gonna keep going like that and we have to play hard in front of him to do our best job."

9. Alexander Nikishin Back In The Lineup

After missing the last two games due to a concussion, the rookie defenseman was back in the lineup for Carolina and it looked the team wanted to ease him back a bit.

Nikishin played just 13:55 in the win and while he didn't start the game with the second power play unit, he did end up there when K'Andre Miller wound up in the box.

It was a fine game for the Russian blueliner, which is pretty good to say about a defenseman as that normally means nothing went wrong with him on the ice, but I do want to compliment his work on the PK.

Coming out of the 5v3 into the 5v4 kill, Nikishin did a tremendous job of killing a play three separate times. At that point in the game, it was still a fairly close contest, so those plays he made ended up mattering a lot.

It was good to see him back in the lineup and hopefully he can start making more of an impact as he readjusts.

10. Job's Not Done

Despite the 3-0 series lead and dominant 7-0 start to the postseason, you won't see too much celebrating in the Hurricanes' locker room.

This is a team with big goals and they know that this series is just a step on the path.

Everyone in the room echoed the same sentiment when asked about the approach to Game 4, that being coming in with the exact same mindset as every other game this postseason.

Carolina's built a winning culture and it starts with nobody being satisfied with anything they've accomplished so far.

"Just the same approach that it's been," said Jordan Martinook. "We've been taking it one game at a time and every game is so different. We just have to be ready for their best and show what we can do in a close out game."

Recent Articles

Despite Toughening Matchups, Hurricanes' Second Line Continues To Dominate

NHL Announces Second Round Schedule

Hurricanes Top Line Confident Heading Into Second Round Despite Lack Of Scoring

Former Flyers Excited To Take On Old Team

Image

Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.