Philadelphia Flyers center Noah Cates will miss the rest of their series against the Carolina Hurricanes, the team announced on Wednesday.
The Flyers return home for Game 3 of their series against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, having lost the first two games in Raleigh.
Cates, 27, has a lower-body injury. He has a goal and three assists for the Flyers in 8 playoff games, after the best offensive of his five-year NHL career: 18 goals and 29 assists (47 points) in 82 games. Cates is averaging 16:20 in ice time per game. But his impact goes beyond his offense. Cates is one of the NHL’s best defensive forwards, as the Flyers averaged just 1.67 goals against per 60 minutes with him on the ice at 5-on-5 during the regular season.
“I mean, he’s been Mr. Consistency all year. Does a lot of things for us,” said coach Rick Tocchet. “But like I said, it’s no different than other teams. Next man up. You’ve heard the drill before.”
Tocchet said that the Flyers are still strong down the middle against the Hurricanes, who are deep at center. Rookie Denver Barkey, 20, has seen more time at center. Tocchet said Trevor Zegras will be moved back to center “to get him going.” The other centers are Sean Couturier and Christian Dvorak, who is day-to-day with an injury but is expected to play in Game 3.
The Flyers have been challenged offensively against Carolina’s defense and goaltending, getting shut out in Game 1 and then scoring two goals in Game 2.
“I think to help some guys out that are struggling against Carolina, they’ve got to have a shot-first mentality. You’ve got to be able to make a play around them,” said Tocchet.” I think some guys are overpassing and that’s the one thing Carolina’s good at. They make you overpass. But if you throw pucks at the net, beat their aggressiveness, you’re going to get chances.”
