Canes keep rolling, blank Flyers to open semifinal series

Logan Stankoven scored twice and goaltender Frederik Andersen collected his second shutout of this year's playoffs as the host Carolina Hurricanes opened their playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers with a 3-0 victory on Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jackson Blake scored once and added an assist for the Hurricanes, who followed a first-round sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a decisive victory to kick off the Eastern Conference best-of-seven semifinal series. Andersen made 19 saves for his seventh career playoff shutout.

Mike Reilly collected a pair of assists. Dan Vladar stopped 20 shots for the Flyers, who will attempt to regroup when the series resumes Monday in Raleigh. The Hurricanes, who finished atop the Eastern Conference standings in the regular season, are yet to trail in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs and continued that trend thanks to their hottest player.

Stankoven tallied for the fifth consecutive game to open the scoring only 91 seconds into the clash. Reilly fired a point shot that Stankoven deflected into the net. Stankoven, 23, is the youngest player in history to score goals in five consecutive games to open the playoffs.

Stankoven has scored first in four of Carolina's five playoff outings. Blake doubled the lead six minutes later with a highlight-reel worthy tally. He zipped around the defenders before tucking home the puck for his second tally of the playoffs.