The first of four games in this year’s battle of the turnpike series earned the Flyers a 3-2 shootout win. The history between these two teams was evident last night, with lots of chances on both sides and a fight after OT taking two of the league’s top shootout guys out of the cards. The Flyers now sit at 5-1-0 at home as they continue this homestand into November.
Pittsburgh’s Brazeau started the scoring midway through the first. A penalty against Pittsburgh late in the period for interference against Trevor Zegras gave the Flyers their first of three regulation powerplays. Brink took the man advantage to score his third goal of the season. Cates’ rebound earned him the third assist point, and Zegras earned his 7th assist of the season as well. The Flyers have 5 power play goals this season in only 9 games played, showing vast improvement in their power play already. They earned only 31 power play goals in the 2023-2024 season, and only 31 last season. This team is able to dominate plays significantly more than seasons past, as shown in recent power play success. It should be a given since we quite literally have a man advantage, but anyone that remotely follows Philadelphia sports knows nothing is guaranteed.
Travis Konecny scored early in the second for his 200th career goal. As Brink secured possession coming out of the box, he passed the puck to Couturier who fed the play to Konecny for a really nice snapshot. The exceptional play gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Crosby came back in the third to tie the game in an unfortunately lucky shot. The shot from Crosby, which appeared to be an attempted pass, bounced off Nick Seeler’s stick and Ersson’s shoulder to send the game to overtime.
The post-regulation play was some of the most stressful hockey I’ve watched. The penalties given repeatedly altered the immediate outcome of the game. It looked like Pittsburgh had won it when Malkin scored just 49 seconds in, yet the goal was disallowed. There had been a delayed penalty called against Philadelphia, yet Malkin went on the ice as the extra attacker before Silovs went on the bench. The Flyers killed the penalty against Zegras. With a little under two minutes left in the game, Malkin was called for hooking against Noah Cates. The Flyers nearly had another power play goal when Foerster scored with 29 seconds left, yet that goal too was disallowed when the referees determined Drysdale was offside as Zegras initially brought the puck into the zone. After a disallowed goal from each team, the game was officially going into a shootout. Not typically the high-stakes situation Ersson strives in, especially against a team of generational shooters.
But wait! The battle of the turnpike and the hatred between the two teams reigns strong! A fight between overtime and the shootout cost 80 penalty minutes between the two teams. Ryan Shea, Parker Wotherspoon, and Noel Acciari earned misconducts for Pittsburgh, while Drysdale, Tippett, and Foerster earned such honors for Philadelphia. Crosby and Zegras earned the penalties for their respective teams as well, as they both came off the bench to join in the fun. Because of this, both were ineligible to participate in the shootout, costing both teams their top shootout players. Yeah, losing Zegras for the shootout sucked, but teammates seemed to be enthusiastic about his decision. Konecny even regarded in his post-game interview how exciting it is to see the chemistry of the team come to life in such instances.
Konecny had his shot saved by Silovs for the first round of overtime. Ersson responded and saved Bryan Rust’s shot as well to keep the game tied. Mickkov and Malkin each scored for their respective teams to keep the game tied in the second round. An immaculate backhand goal and dominant play from Brink, alongside a strong save from Ersson, won the Flyers this game in a high-stakes shootout.
Another successful appearance from the young team for their fourth overtime appearance. The Flyers return to Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday night to face the Predators at 7:00pm for their Halloween game.
Philly's Next Shift 