The Philadelphia Flyers had a practice Friday morning prior to flying out to Raleigh, getting set for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semi-final commencing Saturday evening against the Carolina Hurricanes. And in preparation, head coach Rick Tocchet decided to shuffle up his lines and make some key personnel changes before the all-important first game of the series.
Now that the dust has settled after Cam York’s heroic series-winning goal and all the reflection of the Flyers overcoming the odds and beating the rival Penguins in six games, and winning their first playoff series in front of a home crowd since 2012, we get to focus on what’s coming up next. And, it’s a Carolina Hurricanes team that has plenty of rest.
To address this matchup, Tocchet has decided to not go with the same exact lineup that he had for Game 6 and that he won the series with, but went back to some more trusted and veteran presence.
Rick Tocchet reveals Flyers’ lineup for Game 1 vs. Hurricanes
According to just about every single Flyers beat reporter that was at practice, the lines are as follows:
Alex Bump — Trevor Zegras — Porter Martone
Denver Barkey — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanehim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Noah Juulsen
To get the most obvious thing out of the way: Owen Tippett is banged up and just like past practices and morning skates, took the time to rest and recover off the ice. The idea is if Tippett isn’t in game action at this point in the season, and conserving energy by not taking part in a practice, then it’s a no-brainer he sits out. And coach Rick Tocchet confirmed afterwards that the winger was simply taking a maintenance day.
Going from the top, Porter Martone was put next to Trevor Zegras ahead of Game 6 and it seems like Tocchet liked that pairing well enough to keep the rookie there. But with Tippett’s absence, Alex Bump was taking his place in the lineup. That means that if Tippett is good enough to go — which he should be if it was just a maintenance day — then Bump will be coming out of the lineup entirely. Which is somewhat surprising but if Tocchet wants Michkov to remain in for the start of the series, but also doesn’t want Garnet Hathaway or Tyson Foerster to sit, and Denver Barkey is the rookie playing a more meaningful role, then Bump is the odd man out.
The second line? Well that looks to be the same with Barkey and Travis Konecny between Christian Dvorak. Konecny hopefully has a little more gas in the tank after looking a bit off in Game 6, and thankfully Dvorak’s nasty looking cut over his eye after a hit from a Penguin shouldn’t keep him out of the lineup. He was wearing a shiner however Friday at practice. This trio was the only Flyers forward line to be able to outshoot the Penguins during Game 6, as they had a 7-5 SOG advantage while the others were in the red.
The third line looks interesting as it would have Noah Cates with something old and something relatively new. Cates has been tied to Matvei Michkov most of the year. Seeing Foester on the other side of him also would seem like a solid plan considering how much Foerster and Cates played together for last season and parts of this season. Foerster’s injury brought that to a halt, and the trade of Bobby Brink to Minnesota for David Jiricek altered the line as well. If Cates and Michkov can generate some offensive production for Foerster then great. Or if Foerster and Cates can do the same for Michkov, that works too.
The fourth line would see Luke Glendening, Sean Couturier, and Garnet Hathaway together. It looks like Hathaway is going to return to the lineup after sitting in Game 6 and the vet-heavy depth line has returned. But to be honest, it was fairly unlikely that he was going to sit for two consecutive playoff games, especially after Tyson Foerster didn’t blow the doors off as his replacement.
The Flyers’ power play and blue line get a slightly different look
In terms of the power play units, they were also slightly different due to Tippett’s absence.
Power play units:
Konecny, Michkov, Dvorak, Barkey, Ristolainen
Martone, Zegras, Foerster, Cates, Drysdale
— Charlie O’Connor (@charlieo_conn) May 1, 2026
On the blue line, Noah Juulsen looks to be in the lineup for Game 1 as he was paired with Nick Seeler. The other foursome remained the same, with Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen together. And Cam York and Jamie Drysdale also paired up. It’s almost a certainty that Dan Vladar, barring some sort of mishap in the next 30 hours, will start Game 1 in goal, especially after a stunning 42-save shutout.
So, the only possible change could be seeing Bump put out of the lineup and Hathaway returning in terms of personnel, but some shuffling amongst the lineup in search of some combinations that can start this playoff series on the right foot.
Puck drop for Game 1 in Raleigh will be at 8:00 p.m. and hopefully the Flyers don’t fall flat on their faces.
