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Ryan Gilbert goes LIVE to react to the Philadelphia Flyers getting swept by the Carolina Hurricanes after a Game 4 loss in overtime on Saturday night.
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[music]
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[music]
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>> Hello
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and welcome to the final Broad Street
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Hockey post game show of the 2025-2026
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season. I am Ryan Gilbert here by myself
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on a Saturday night after the Flyers
0:28
game for overtime loss to the Carolina
0:30
Hurricanes
0:31
to complete the sweep here in the second
0:34
round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
0:37
Um, Jackson Blake scores
0:39
the game winner in a game that the
0:41
Hurricanes, you know, dominated shots on
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goal, shot attempts, all that good
0:45
stuff. But Flyers, you know, as they did
0:47
all season long
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put up a good fight. They forced
0:49
overtime, you know, Tyson Foerster
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scored the first goal. Uh, Konecny set
0:53
up Alex Bump to tie it up in the third
0:56
period, but like
0:58
this was the inevitable inevitable
1:00
outcome here in the second round series
1:02
against the Hurricanes. It just It's
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just It just hurts how this whole thing
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um came to be. But at top of the show
1:09
here, make sure you guys are subscribed
1:11
to the Broad Street Hockey YouTube
1:13
channel as well as Broad Street Hockey
1:15
uh podcast feed on Apple and Spotify.
1:18
We're going to be having plenty of
1:19
coverage for you all off season long.
1:23
Um, also check out
1:23
broadstreethockey.com, of course, read
1:25
and subscribe there. And uh thanks to
1:28
our friends at FanDuel for sponsoring
1:30
the show. Of course, no more Flyers odds
1:32
for the rest of the season, but once
1:34
those uh
1:35
2027 Stanley Cup up Stanley Cup odds out
1:37
are out, uh we'll definitely be on top
1:39
of those for the Flyers as um
1:42
Flyers definitely showed a lot of good
1:43
signs this season. We'll get into that
1:46
all off season. Not sure if we're going
1:48
live Sunday or or earlier this week or
1:50
what what it is, but just wanted to do
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something
1:53
quick here live after game four the
1:55
season-ending loss. and it really was an
1:59
unfortunate way to end with Dan Vladar
2:02
gloving the shot, but it still trickling
2:05
in behind him. Just, you know, how Dan
2:08
Vladar deserved a lot better than that,
2:10
given how he played all season long into
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the playoffs. He he he made goaltending
2:15
become something that we didn't even
2:17
need to talk about. Because we knew Dan
2:19
Vladar was going to be solid even when
2:21
he had the injury scare against the
2:23
Penguins. He was solid in those few
2:25
games there. So, you know, Dan Vladar,
2:27
hopefully this wasn't a a fluke here,
2:29
but he he deserves all the credit in the
2:31
world for how he played this season.
2:34
Credit to the fans as well. You know, as
2:36
soon as the the the the puck went in,
2:38
some fan some fans left, but
2:40
plenty of let's go let's go Flyer chants
2:42
there during the handshake line, before
2:45
the handshake line, after the handshake
2:46
line. So, I think people recognize here
2:50
what what is happening. This was a
2:52
series that the Flyers were not expected
2:53
to win. And if they had won a game, it
2:55
would have been spectacular. If they
2:57
forced overtime twice, as they did,
3:00
we're happy with it. Like, this is
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something where this is something the
3:03
Flyers can can use to learn from and and
3:07
grow from. Like, they beat the Penguins
3:08
in the first round. After that, it was
3:11
it was whatever happened happened. Like,
3:12
it was just just whatever happened, and
3:14
the Flyers
3:16
clearly were a shell of themselves.
3:17
Nolan Tippett, Noah Cates is out now.
3:19
Christian Dvorak is banged up. Rick
3:21
Tocchet now saying after the game
3:23
there's some broken ribs out there. So,
3:26
these guys are just playing through
3:27
whatever they have to to uh you know,
3:30
put up put best effort that they can.
3:32
And
3:33
you know, you you can't expect a a
3:35
series win over the Hurricanes, the best
3:37
team in the East, one of the best teams
3:39
in the league. They're a very good team.
3:41
I don't know if they're a great team
3:42
yet. I still don't think they have
3:44
what it takes to win the Stanley Cup.
3:46
And and that's because
3:48
if you
3:50
two overtime games,
3:51
one one game where, you know, Flyers had
3:53
a power play in a tie game at a five on
3:56
three. They're in game three, had a
3:57
chance to to take a lead. Like if if
4:00
this had this had been a 2-2 series
4:02
after this game four, I don't think it
4:04
would have shocked a lot of people, but
4:06
that's what the Hurricanes do. They they
4:08
swept the Senators in a series where the
4:10
Senators probably deserved to win a game
4:13
or two. They swept the Flyers here in a
4:15
game in a series where the Flyers
4:17
definitely could have won a game or two.
4:18
It It wouldn't have been too shocking
4:20
given how they played. And that's just
4:23
what they do. And I think the most
4:25
frustrating thing for me and what makes
4:28
it
4:29
the most difficult to swallow is that
4:31
the Flyers really
4:33
they kind of beat themselves a bit in
4:35
the second round. The Hurricanes, a very
4:38
top-to-bottom fantastic team, solid
4:40
team, well-coached, no no real holes in
4:43
that lineup whatsoever. So, credit to
4:45
them, but
4:46
you know, you you look at game one. The
4:48
Hurricanes had the rest advantage. The
4:50
Flyers only had, you know, two days off,
4:52
only
4:53
knew on Friday, Thursday's night
4:54
Thursday night, whatever, when they were
4:56
going to be playing
4:58
on Saturday. And then you look at that
5:00
game, and it's
5:02
three goals that two happened very
5:04
early. And there you can you can point
5:06
at what happened. Like it doesn't take
5:08
You don't have to go back and look at
5:09
the tape and analyze what happened there
5:11
to to see the goals. You had the Matvei
5:13
Michkov turnover early on. Um I think it
5:16
was Michkov at the very least. And then
5:18
the second goal, the Jackson Blake
5:19
breakaway, where he just gets past
5:21
Michkov, gets past Sanheim.
5:24
Vladar somehow doesn't save that, and
5:26
then it's 2-0,
5:27
and then the Noah Cates turnover, and
5:29
it's 3-0. And and that's really all they
5:31
get. It's not spectacular plays by the
5:33
Hurricanes. It's the Hurricanes taking
5:36
advantage of the Flyers' mistakes, and
5:38
that's what the Hurricanes do.
5:40
And then, you know, you had game two
5:42
there, and you get that one to overtime.
5:45
You You get the You get the 2-0 lead.
5:47
and you can't hold on to it. It's 2-1,
5:49
you know, middle of the of the first
5:51
period.
5:52
They're able to hold on to it that lead
5:54
until midway through the third period.
5:56
Seth Jarvis gets the goal, and it's just
5:58
not being able to to add on to that
6:00
lead. Not being able to score on power
6:03
plays when you get that opportunity.
6:05
Like I don't I don't even know what the
6:06
Flyers were on the power play in this
6:09
series. I don't know if they if they had
6:11
a power play goal in this series. I
6:12
think they had one in in game one
6:14
or no, they got shut out in game one.
6:16
So, maybe maybe in game two, but like
6:18
the power play was absolutely abysmal.
6:20
And that cost them, especially in games
6:23
three and and four at home. They had the
6:25
five on three, lengthy five on threes in
6:27
in both
6:29
in both games. And they they don't
6:30
really get many great great chances.
6:32
And, you know, it's
6:35
even on the winning goal, you see
6:36
Drysdale kind of rush a pass up the ice.
6:39
It's it's straight on the on the stick
6:41
of a Hurricanes player there. Maybe it
6:43
was Teuvo Teravainen. I forget exactly
6:44
who it was, but you see Drysdale do
6:47
that, you're like, "No, that's not the
6:48
play there." And 5 10 seconds later,
6:51
season's over. And not putting that on
6:53
Drysdale. Not putting it on any one
6:54
person in particular. It's just what the
6:57
Hurricanes do, and it's what the Flyers
6:59
aren't really able to do right now.
7:02
Even with their injuries. I think I
7:03
think if the Flyers come into this fully
7:05
healthy, 100%, they have Voracek,
7:08
Martones not, you know, hitting a wall a
7:10
little bit.
7:11
Um Tippett, obviously missing him is is
7:14
a key thing. Um
7:17
I'll I'll get into the whole Matt Read,
7:18
Oskar Lindblom, Mikhail Vorobyev, thing
7:20
Grundstrom, Hathaway
7:22
in a little bit. But I mean, Hathaway
7:23
had a great chance there in front on the
7:25
2-on-1. Not sure really how how Frederik
7:27
Andersen saved that one. So, like the
7:29
Flyers the Flyers had their chances.
7:32
They had their chances in this series,
7:33
and that's really what makes it so
7:35
difficult. Like it's easy because you
7:37
you're not expecting anything coming
7:39
into this series. If they win a game,
7:40
you're happy. But it's it's the way they
7:43
lost that you're looking at game to
7:44
game. Like, okay, yeah, they they could
7:46
have won that game. They could have won
7:47
game two. They were up two nothing. They
7:48
could have won this game. They were up
7:49
one nothing. They had some power play
7:51
chances. There was a five on three. You
7:53
know, that they had their chances
7:54
chances to score and, you know,
7:57
hitting the post, Christian Dvorak
7:58
hitting the post late in the second,
7:59
definitely sucked there for for it cuz
8:02
that would have been a huge momentum
8:03
changing goal, but, you know, it's a
8:06
it's a game of inches. It's it's just
8:07
it's just what happens here and and the
8:09
Flyers, unfortunately,
8:12
hopefully can get that power play going
8:14
for next season. That's going to be
8:16
that's going to be, I think, the big
8:17
focus as it should be this off season
8:19
for Briere. Last off season, he went
8:22
into it. He was like, all right, we got
8:23
to get a center. We got to get a goalie.
8:26
We got to we got to get some some
8:27
veteran defense. And and he did that. He
8:29
got Dvorak. He added some some veterans
8:31
on the blue line. He added some depth.
8:32
And he got got Ledar. And he, you know,
8:34
added Zegras as well in a trade. So, I
8:37
really do think they'll go out, try to
8:38
get some sort of power play quarterback
8:41
in the off season, but that's we have
8:44
a month and a half to talk about that
8:45
before July 1st. Almost two months here
8:48
even before the draft there. So, right
8:49
now, it's
8:51
unfortunately reacting to
8:53
to what happened and the Matvei Michkov
8:56
situation here is it's going to be
8:59
talked about all off season long. Matvei
9:01
Michkov has been the story since he
9:03
stepped foot in North America two
9:05
summers ago. This is this is may not be
9:08
his team, but he is what drives the
9:11
clicks. He's what drives what people
9:13
want to see. So, people are going to
9:14
write about it. People are going to make
9:16
up fake accounts and and fake things
9:18
here and there. There's some real stuff
9:20
out there. There's some fake stuff out
9:21
there.
9:22
And the facts are, you know, Matvei
9:24
Michkov had a sophomore slump. Still
9:27
scored 20 goals. Still got 51 points.
9:30
And still wasn't one of the best 10
9:32
forwards on the roster in the playoffs.
9:34
Like,
9:35
you can see game to game, you know,
9:38
healthy scratching Michkov here for game
9:40
four.
9:41
It's not
9:43
It's not an excuse It's not an
9:44
excusable. Like you understand he he's
9:46
not doing the right making the right
9:48
plays, he's not skating, he he's not,
9:50
you know, contributing the way the way
9:52
he should, but making him a healthy
9:54
scratch and then bringing Jett Luchanko
9:56
in to to play on the wing, playing
9:58
Grunstom over Michkov, and playing
10:00
halfway over Michkov really, I think, is
10:03
the big thing for me cuz like you could
10:05
just drop Grunstom down, go with a
10:08
Michkov-Barkey
10:10
Luchanko, I guess, would have been the
10:11
line or move Luchanko up to not have
10:14
three kids on that line cuz uh Tockett
10:17
leaned on that line, I think, way too
10:19
much. The Barkey line got a lot of uh
10:21
offensive zone draws that they did
10:22
absolutely nothing with.
10:24
Um but the Michkov thing, it's just
10:27
it's just Tockett adding more fuel to
10:29
the fire here in the final game of the
10:31
season. Michkov not only iced uh to
10:34
fight with his teammates there to to
10:35
give it up. So, hopefully hopefully he
10:38
he takes that and is able to to turn
10:40
that into something positive for him
10:42
heading into the off-season and and
10:43
staying in the Philadelphia area during
10:46
the off-season. You know, last summer we
10:48
saw him he wanted to buy, he went back
10:50
to Russia for a NHL KHL three-on-three
10:53
All-Star tournament. He went to all
10:55
these different things as he should do
10:57
as a 20-21-year-old
10:58
going back to his home country. He dealt
11:01
with dealt with that dealt with his
11:02
father as well, which definitely has to
11:04
be something that's weighing on his
11:05
mind. And he still got 50 points. He
11:07
still got 20 goals. He's still a young
11:09
player that wasn't supposed to be in
11:11
North America yet. And
11:13
it's tough when you have guys like
11:15
Martone that come up and and have an
11:16
immediate impact. And you see someone
11:18
like Zegras who's a few years older, but
11:21
he gets that change of scenery and he
11:22
has a career year. And you see even
11:25
someone like Bump come up and
11:26
immediately score in in Pittsburgh there
11:28
in in in his debut. So
11:30
But Michkov, like these guys are are
11:32
their own are their own guys and and we
11:34
see
11:35
all types of superstar players go
11:37
through this early in their careers. You
11:39
can look at Kucherov, you can look at
11:41
Nick Suzuki, look at you look at Nathan
11:42
MacKinnon. You can look at these guys
11:44
that that, you know, age 20, age 21
11:46
aren't even aren't even here yet.
11:48
They're they're not putting up these
11:49
numbers. Um
11:52
and and the more I think about it, the
11:53
more I disagree with Rick Tocchet's
11:55
decision to to make make Matvei Michkov
11:58
out of the scratch here. Like, I I don't
12:00
think you can
12:01
you can say with a straight face that
12:02
Carter Rowney and Garnet Hathaway and
12:05
Joel L'Entente
12:06
really give you a better chance to win
12:09
than Matvei Michkov does. Even if
12:10
Michkov's only playing 10 minutes, even
12:12
if he's, you know, a power play
12:14
specialist on the third line. Like,
12:16
I I think in in a game, in a series
12:19
where goals are at a premium, you need
12:21
someone who's able to create create
12:24
offense out of nothing. And the Flyers
12:26
don't have a ton of players that can do
12:27
that with Owen Tippett out of the lineup
12:30
and Travis Konecny beat up. Trevor
12:32
Zegras is the maybe one guy that can do
12:34
that. Mar tone as well. Forced to
12:36
scoring was nice, but
12:38
not having Michkov in the lineup for the
12:42
season-ending game at home is is a
12:44
really tough look for Rick Tocchet and
12:46
you know, maybe Michkov has an injury
12:49
or something, but that's going to be
12:51
something talked about for the next
12:52
days, for the next weeks and all
12:55
off-season. It's going to be, you know,
12:56
Michkov we're going to see Michkov in
12:58
trade proposals for the next two years
13:00
until until, you know, Danny Briere is
13:02
blue in the face saying he's not going
13:04
to trade him because there's no point in
13:06
trading Matvei Michkov right now. You'll
13:07
be trading as low as possible and
13:10
there's no reason to do that when we're
13:12
in the early stages of a rebuild. And I
13:15
think that's the important thing here to
13:18
remember and and what I'll close out
13:20
this short postgame on is that this is
13:22
still very much
13:24
the early to middle stages of a rebuild
13:27
or a retool or whatever you want to call
13:29
it because
13:30
the Flyers were not expected to make the
13:32
playoffs. They were not expected to win
13:34
a round. And I see people being like,
13:35
"Oh, if it was if it was one to eight
13:37
seeding, they would have played the
13:38
Hurricanes in the first round and this
13:40
would have been it. And this What would
13:41
you be saying then?" Well, that's not
13:42
what it is. If my If my grandmother had
13:44
wheels, she'd be a bike. Like that
13:45
that's that that's that's that whole
13:47
thing. It's like they they played the
13:49
standings. They played the games they
13:50
had to play. They got the matchups they
13:52
had they had to play. And they got rid
13:54
of the Penguins. They they they they
13:56
they eliminated the Penguins. They made
13:58
Sidney Crosby take a diving penalty.
14:00
They got Porter Martone scoring two
14:02
game-winning goals in the his first two
14:05
games. They got Dan Vladar. They found
14:07
their goalie. Trevor Zegras scoring a
14:09
goal there in in game three was huge.
14:11
Like they have their young core now. And
14:14
their young core was able to experience
14:18
what playoff hockey is like. And it's
14:20
not just the
14:22
it's not just the the games late in the
14:24
season in March where you're saying,
14:25
"Okay, this is playoff hockey. It has
14:27
the intensity of playoff hockey."
14:29
Because, you know, we we say that. We we
14:31
say that as fans, as analysts, as the
14:33
media says that as well, but there is a
14:35
complete difference in the Stanley Cup
14:37
playoffs when every shift is magnified,
14:40
every cleared failed clear, every entry,
14:44
every icing potential icing, make sure
14:46
you get the red line. Every shift is
14:48
magnified so much more and every mistake
14:52
is magnified so much more and
14:55
teams don't win the Stanley Cup. Teams
14:56
don't go deep in the playoffs without
14:58
losing in the first round, in the second
15:01
round a few times. So, making the
15:03
playoffs, getting into the second round,
15:05
being one of the final eight teams out
15:08
of 32. There are 24 other teams out
15:10
there that were not playing in the
15:12
second round. So, while it sucks to get
15:14
swept, it was still a very much
15:17
successful season. I don't think that's
15:19
even debatable. Like I don't I don't
15:20
know if can find someone who can argue
15:23
with a straight face that this season
15:24
wasn't successful for the Flyers. Like,
15:27
they found their core. They found their
15:28
pieces that they they know they know
15:30
what they can move forward with. They
15:32
know what they need. They They need a
15:33
top-of-the-line center. Need another
15:35
defenseman. Probably need a backup
15:37
goalie. They need something going on on
15:39
the power play, but
15:42
they played the Hurricanes in the
15:43
playoffs. And playing the Hurricanes in
15:45
the playoffs is so much different than
15:48
playing even the Avalanche or the top
15:52
team in the league, a record-breaking
15:54
team,
15:55
during the regular season. Because
15:57
during the regular season, that's one
15:59
game. Maybe you have the back-to-back
16:00
against the Hurricanes as they did in
16:02
December, but you have, you know, just
16:04
two games and you get a breather against
16:06
a team that isn't quite as as desperate
16:09
or as solid as the Hurricanes are. But
16:12
seeing the Hurricanes in the playoffs,
16:14
you get four straight games of every
16:16
single shift they're giving everything
16:19
they can, everything they have, to win a
16:21
shift, make the right play, and give it
16:24
over to the to to the guy behind and
16:25
that's coming off the bench. And the
16:27
Flyers seeing that, I think that's
16:29
something they're already trying to
16:30
emulate, but seeing that firsthand and
16:34
seeing it and losing to it and getting
16:36
that experience, while having the
16:38
top-end players that the Hurricane they
16:41
they don't quite have. Cutter Gauthier
16:43
has more potential than anyone on the
16:45
Hurricanes. I I really I really believe
16:47
that. Even Matvei Michkov, I think, can
16:49
be a better player than Sebastian Aho or
16:52
Svechnikov or Skjei or anyone like that.
16:54
Like, the Flyers
16:56
hopefully can become a team like the
16:58
Hurricanes who have two top lines that
17:02
can actually score and go against you
17:05
and not just grind it out like the
17:06
Hurricanes do. So,
17:08
it's it's all about getting that
17:09
experience. It's just It's
17:12
It's a disappointing ending. It was
17:14
always going to be a disappointing
17:15
ending, you know, one team wins the
17:17
Stanley Cup, every other team loses,
17:19
every other team fails. Like we can say
17:21
it's a successful season here and it
17:23
was, but the Flyers, they still lost.
17:25
It's still extremely disappointing to
17:27
see that puck go in and the knowing the
17:30
season is over. But
17:32
it's it's hockey. It's hockey, that's
17:35
sports, that's American sports
17:36
especially when championships rule all
17:39
and there's no, you know, European
17:41
tournaments like there are in
17:43
in in soccer over there in Europe and
17:45
all that, which, you know, would would
17:46
be nice, but
17:48
you know, had a good a good regular
17:49
season. They were dead so many times and
17:52
and and they came back like Rick Tocchet
17:53
said and, you know, unfortunately they
17:55
couldn't do that here in the playoffs
17:57
against the Hurricanes. We'll we'll see
17:59
what the laundry list of injury injuries
18:01
are when they finally have their locker
18:03
room day on on Sunday or Monday, but you
18:07
know, for now it's it's it's a tough end
18:09
to the season.
18:10
You would have liked to see them get a
18:11
win here against the Hurricanes, but
18:13
really it did all that could, you know,
18:15
shell of a team
18:17
right now given all the injuries and um
18:21
you know, it's uh
18:23
it's a lot better losing now than it
18:24
would be losing in game 82 like they did
18:26
2 years ago or being eliminated in, you
18:29
know, the minute beginning of March or
18:30
middle of March like they were last
18:32
year. So it's steps forward. It it's
18:34
it's positive steps here
18:36
and um yeah, just once again uh make
18:38
sure you subscribe to Broad Street
18:40
Hockey on YouTube, on the podcast feed
18:43
as well. Of course,
18:44
broadstreethockey.com read and subscribe
18:46
there. Broad Street Hockey, completely
18:48
independent. The people you see here on
18:50
YouTube, myself, Jacob, Steve, Joe,
18:53
Brian Cruickshank, everyone, the fly
18:54
guys who do a great job, the writers,
18:56
you know, Thomas Williams, Maddie,
18:58
J-Mac, a bunch of other guys there like
19:01
um that's who gets the money. If you're
19:03
subscribing, if you're if you're, you
19:05
know, just just reading and giving us ad
19:07
money, whatever, that's who gets the
19:08
money. It goes to the writers, it goes
19:11
to the people that are doing the work.
19:12
There's no There's no overhead, so we
19:14
really do appreciate all you guys for
19:17
supporting us all season long. And and
19:19
personally, I thank you guys as well for
19:22
supporting me, whether you follow me on
19:23
social media, whether you just listen to
19:25
me here on the podcast or on YouTube,
19:27
whether you read my articles on
19:29
broadstreetbuzz.com, if you agree with
19:32
me, if you disagree with me, whatever, I
19:33
appreciate you guys following me along
19:36
and joining me on this Flyers journey.
19:38
It's a lot better to do it together.
19:40
That's really what it's all about here
19:42
is having a community where we
19:44
ultimately want the best for our hockey
19:47
team, and I think that's
19:49
a good point here to end it on. So, I am
19:52
Ryan Gilbert. You can follow me on
19:53
social media. It's posted somewhere. And
19:57
until next time, until next season,
20:00
thanks for watching.
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