Flyers’ Rick Tocchet makes striking admission ahead of do-or-die Game 4

The Philadelphia Flyers are on the brink of elimination in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Philadelphia trails the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0, with a crucial Game 4 on Saturday. Ahead of the game, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet is sending a message about his team.

“There’s just times where you’ve just got to take a punch in the mouth,” Tocchet said, per NHL.com. “It’s discipline. We just can’t take eight or nine penalties. It’s the flow of the game. I thought for the most part, other than Game 1, the 5-on-5 (play), we’ve been pretty good against this team. It’s just the other parts of the game. Even the 4-on-4 stuff. They’re better at that stuff than us. So we’ve just got to play our game, and that’s more disciplined.”

Carolina has dominated the Flyers with their defense in this series through three games. The Flyers have scored just three total goals in the entire series.

“We’ve been dead before and we’ve climbed out of it,” Tocchet said Friday. “We’ve played a lot of playoff games the last two, three months, and now we’re in a situation where it’s a must-win. It’s a do-or-die game.

“How do you go into this game making these guys play relaxed. … Can we be more determined tomorrow night? Yeah, I think we can.”

Even though the Flyers haven’t been scoring, players say the opportunities have been there.

“I think we had a ton of ton of good looks (in Game 3), especially in the first period,” forward Trevor Zegras said. “I think when you score one goal, obviously it’s going to be tough to win games. But we’ve shown a ton of fight all season. We’ve got a lot of belief and confidence in the room.”

Philadelphia and Carolina play Game 4 on Saturday night. The Flyers got some love on Friday, when former Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson wore Flyers colors during the 76ers-New York Knicks NBA Playoff game.

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