Flyers’ Cates to miss remainder of second round; Dvorak out day-to-day

The Philadelphia Flyers are facing an uphill battle down two games to none in their second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes, and the path to a comeback just got even more difficult.

The Flyers announced Wednesday afternoon that Noah Cates has been ruled out for the remainder of the series with a lower-body injury. That followed head coach Rick Tocchet’s media availability in which he revealed the update on Cates status as well as the fact that fellow center Christian Dvorak is day-to-day with his own ailment.

According to Charlie O’Connor of PHLY, Tocchet was optimistic that Dvorak would be good to go for Game 3 on Thursday night, though Cates’ absence leaves a huge hole in the Philadelphia lineup.

Cates, a defensive wizard who took major strides offensively this season, was skating on the second line with Tyson Foerster and Matvei Michkov.

Tocchet described Cates’ status as day-to-day on Tuesday, and now the veteran coach will have to move some pieces around to find a lineup he’s comfortable with against a talented Carolina team. That could look like a promotion to the top six for rookie Denver Barkey, who is typically a winger, but impressed in a move to the middle at the end of Game 1 and was solid in the same role in Game 2.

Cates produced the best offensive season of his career in 2025-26, as he set career bests in every major offensive category with 18 goals, 29 assists and 47 points.

The Flyers have been without talented winger Owen Tippett for the first two games of his series, and his availability for the rest of the series remains up in the air.

Coming off of an emotional series win over their rival Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, the Flyers were totally outclassed by the Hurricanes in a 3-0 shutout that was not as close as the score suggests.

Philadelphia bounced back in a major way in Game 2, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game, marking the first time Carolina was trailing in a single game all postseason. The Canes rallied to win the game 3-2 in overtime even as the Flyers were the better team in the extra frame.

Game 3 is set for an 8:00 PM EST puck drop from Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday night.