Hurricanes sweep Flyers in OT, advance to East finals

Jackson Blake scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the visiting Carolina Hurricanes swept their second straight Stanley Cup Playoffs series with a 3-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup on Saturday evening.

At 5:31 of the extra session, Blake scored off Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar's left shoulder from between the hash marks to finish off a rush and advance the Hurricanes to the conference finals against either the Buffalo Sabres or Montreal Canadiens. That series is tied 1-1 entering Game 3 on Sunday.

Blake also had an assist, Logan Stankoven also scored, Taylor Hall had three assists and Frederik Andersen made 15 saves for Carolina, which became the first team since the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 to begin a postseason 8-0.

Tyson Foerster and Alex Bump scored and Vladar made 37 saves for the Flyers.

Foerster scored his first goal of the playoffs to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead at 7:50 of the first period.

Porter Martone fed a pass ahead to Trevor Zegras, who had more speed as they both crossed the Carolina blue line. Zegras pulled up along the wall and saucered a centering pass to Foerster entering the zone. He brought the puck to the right hash marks before scoring with a wrist shot.

Blake took a wrist shot from near the wall above the right faceoff circle and the puck hit the midsection of Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale as he battled Logan Stankoven in front of the crease, causing it to be redirected into his own net and tying it at 12:35 of the second period.

The Hurricanes briefly thought they moved ahead on a goal by Mark Jankowski at 13:03 of the second, but the Flyers successfully challenged for goalie interference on William Carrier as he jostled with Oliver Bonk in front of the crease.

Hall made a centering pass to Stankoven on a 3-on-2 rush and he redirected the puck into the net for his NHL-leading seventh goal of the postseason, giving the Hurricanes their first lead of the game, 2-1, at 4:13 of the third period.

That lead didn't last long as Travis Konecny forced a turnover below the Carolina goal line and passed the puck out front to Bump, who scored with a one-timer from between the hash marks to tie it at 5:52.