Jackson Blake scored 5:28 into overtime on May 9 to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 4, completing a four-game sweep and sending Carolina to the Eastern Conference Finals. Taylor Hall and Jaccob Slavin assisted the winner. Blake had already scored in regulation.
The Hurricanes are 8-0 in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That sentence deserves to sit on its own. Eight games. Eight wins. Two sweeps. No losses.
What 8-0 Actually Means
Carolina swept the Ottawa Senators in the first round, then swept the Flyers in the second. They have not trailed in a series at any point.
They are the fifth team in NHL history to start the playoffs 8-0, and the first since the Edmonton Oilers went 9-0 to open the 1985 playoffs. More to the point: they are the first team to go undefeated through the first two rounds since the NHL settled on its current four-round, seven-game-series format in 1987. In nearly four decades of this playoff structure, no team has done what Carolina has done this year.
The other members of this very short list did their damage in shorter playoff formats. The 1952 Detroit Red Wings went 8-0 through the entire playoffs in an eight-game format. The 1960 Montreal Canadiens matched that. The modern version of this achievement is different in kind: two full series, eight high-pressure games, multiple elimination moments for the opponents. The Hurricanes won every one.
The Game 4 Picture
Philadelphia pushed hard. The Flyers got goals from Alex Bump and Tyson Foerster and led twice in regulation. Frederik Andersen made 15 saves for Carolina, while Flyers goaltender Samuel Vladar stopped 37. This was not a walkover. The Flyers competed.
Logan Stankoven scored in regulation for Carolina. But it was Blake who finished it, picking up his second goal of the night in overtime. Stankoven, Hall, and Slavin have been reliable contributors throughout this run, and that depth is part of why Carolina’s 8-0 record is more than a statistical fluke. Different players have been decisive in different games. Coach Rod Brind’Amour has a squad rather than a star-dependent roster.
What Stands Between Carolina and the Stanley Cup Final
The Hurricanes will face the winner of the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres series in the Eastern Conference Finals. As of May 10, Montreal lead that series 2-1, with Game 4 scheduled shortly after Carolina’s sweep was completed.
Both Montreal and Buffalo would represent interesting contrasts in style to Carolina’s structure-first, depth-heavy approach. The Canadiens, if they advance, bring speed and youth. The Sabres offer size and competitiveness. Neither has shown what it takes to beat an 8-0 team. That does not mean they cannot; it means the Hurricanes’ price for the ECF is justified by results, not reputation.
Carolina’s defensive structure under Brind’Amour remains the backbone. Andersen between the pipes has been sharp. And on nights when the offence needs a spark, Blake or Stankoven have provided it.
A perfect start means nothing if it stops here. But it is evidence, repeated over eight games, that this Hurricanes team is functioning at a very high level right now. The ECF will tell us whether that holds against a team with time to prepare specifically for them.
Eight wins from eight. The sixth team in NHL history. The only one in the modern era.
Those are facts. What comes next is the interesting part.
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