- Cates ruled out for the rest of Round 2 with a lower-body injury
- Flyers recall 19-year-old Jett Luchanko from Brantford of the OHL ahead of Game 3
- Read below for the Tocchet plan, the Game 2 hit that did the damage, and how the centers shake out
The Flyers won’t have Noah Cates back this round.
Philadelphia ruled the second-line center out for the rest of the Eastern Conference Second Round on Wednesday, with head coach Rick Tocchet confirming the lower-body injury Cates picked up during Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Carolina. He stayed in that game, logging 20:53 and another 3:23 in overtime before leaving the rink in a walking boot.
Cates is one of those guys who never grabs headlines but does everything. He has four points in eight playoff games and is the only Flyers forward averaging more than two minutes a night on both the power play and the penalty kill.
“He’s a big part of our team,” captain Sean Couturier said, per NHL.com. “I think you can rely on him to really not make any mistakes. He’s just going to play the right way, be on the right side of the puck. He’s just a really reliable player for us.”
Tocchet shrugged the question off the only way you can in the playoffs.
“He’s Mr. Consistency. He does a lot of things for us, but it’s no different than other teams. Next man up.”
Jackie Spiegel of PHLY went back through the Game 2 tape and pinpointed exactly when things went sideways:
A shot from K’Andre Miller caught Cates on the inside of his right ankle with about eight minutes left in the first period. He labored through the rest of the night and was wheeled out of the Lenovo Center afterward holding the walking boot.
Now the center group gets a full reshuffle. Trevor Zegras moves back from the wing. Christian Dvorak is expected to play Game 3 after sitting out Wednesday’s practice. Denver Barkey will see more reps in the middle. And 19-year-old Jett Luchanko got the call from Brantford after his OHL season ended Monday.
Game 3 goes Thursday at Xfinity Mobile Arena, 8 PM ET on TNT. Philadelphia trails 2-0 in the series after climbing out of a 3.8% playoff hole back in March just to get here.
They’ll need every bit of that energy without their most reliable two-way forward.
