First Period Dominance and Persistance Against Devils

In an uproar of productivity from young, key players and exceptional goaltending, the Flyers defeated the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night 6-3. The game was promising all around, as there was lots of success from players that have stalled, many of it coming from our recently horrific first period. 

To quote myself last week, the Flyers needed to “look for a stronger first period to prevent the chase” that has set us back recently and pushed us into overtime 9 times this season. Boy did they accomplish this. After an early power play goal following a hooking call against Cam York, Noah Cates kicked off the scoring for Philadelphia after taking advantage of a rebound from Travis Konency, who did not earn any points on this officially unassisted goal. Cates has had an exceptional year, largely due to his ability to read a play and adapt to such, as seen in this goal. Following a few attempted shots, he was able to position himself in a way to handle the rebound in the best way possible.

A little over three minutes later, Matvei Michkov earned his fifth goal of the year and began a series of historic goals for Philadelphia. After a pass from Couturier at the Flyer’s blueline, Michkov took the puck from center ice to the goal, creating a high-pressure situation and throwing Devils’ goalie Jake Allen off the play. A simple shot from Michkov earned his fifth of the year and reinvigorated a hope for his exceptional goal scoring capabilities. Just nine seconds later, Tyson Foerster increased the Flyers’ lead 3-1. Konecny was able to earn a secondary assist on this goal, passing the puck to Cates for his second point of the night, a backhand pass across the ice to Foerster, whose one-timer snap shot went top-shelf. Foerster and Cates were back at it just 17 seconds later. Cates in the middle of the action in front of the goalie passed the puck to Foerster in the wing and generated the perfect opportunity for a successful slapshot. The chemistry and talent between Cates and Foerster is undeniable. Between Cates’ ability to read and create plays, and Foerster’s intelligent plays and exceptional goal-scoring capabilities, the Flyers led the game 4-1. 

These 2 out of 3 goals Foerster’s last 2 games set a franchise record for the Flyers, as his 2 goals and Michkov’s 1 were only 26 seconds apart. 

Image courtesy of @philadelphiaflyers on Instagram

A mid-second period goal from Bobby Brink gave the Flyers a 5-1 lead. Two unanswered goals from the Devils across the second and third period finished their scoring at 3 goals for the night. This gave Dan Vladar 32 saves on 35 shots, making his season average this far 2.42 GAA and a .912 SV%.

Trevor Zegras’ goal late in the third was his 7th of the year, his 21st point overall. This allowed him to join impressive company between Danny Briere (24) and Peter Forsberg (36) for most points in their first 20 games with Philadelphia. 

With tonight’s game in Tampa, the Flyers begin a tough road trip of games Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday to close out November. Luckily, travel is limited between Monday and Wednesday, as they travel from the Lightning to the Panthers, and then back up to the east coast against the Islanders on Friday and down to face the Devils again on Saturday. 

The Flyers only have two less wins than Tampa this season, are not far behind them leading goals scored, and actually have the advantage on most assists by a single player. They very much are in the game for tonight’s 7pm puckdrop.

Flyers Lead in Comebacks After Second OT Win Against Blues

6 days after defeating the Blues on the road in a shootout, the Flyers hosted the Blues for an overtime win. At 6-0-3 in overtime, the Flyers now lead the league with 8 comeback wins after defeating St. Louis 3-2.

After a rocky first period for Dan Vladar, the Blues led 2-0 on 9 shots. Justin Faulk earned both points after achieving his 1000th regular-season game earlier this week. His second goal of the night was a powerplay goal, even though the Flyers are a top team in the league for the penalty kill at this point. The Sabres lead the league at an 89.8 PK%, with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia following at 86.2. The cross-ice pass from Neighbours allowed Vladar to lose sight of the puck and Faulk’s shot to miss his shoulder. 

Yet after the first, things started coming together for Philadelphia. Just as last week worked out, this is a team we should be able to beat, however a sluggish first period leaves us playing catch-up for the next 40 minutes. Zegras passed the puck to Tippett in the corner, who sent the puck to Rodrigo Abols in a between-the-legs pass for Abols’ first goal of the year. This was Zergas’ 14th assist of the season so far. 

The Flyers continued to hold their own throughout the third period. Tyson Foerster tied the game, his first point back since his injury a few weeks ago. After a hot start to the season, his week off halted that greatly. Hopefully this is him getting his footing back, as he has become an asset to this team offensively. Although their defense showed improvement and they were offensively productive. With the game tied, the team went into overtime for the 9th time this season. 

Travis Sanheim earned his fourth career overtime goal in a great play with an assist from Konecny. The Travii gave the Flyers the leg-up to lead the league in comeback wins.

While any points are points, there are a few different ways I look at this accolade for Philadelphia. On the positive end of things, I think this is a testament to the grit of this team. Plenty of our guys are young, new, or simply having breakout years. Even when things aren’t going in their favor, they hold their own and stay in the game. Just last week against St. Louis, the Flyers came back after being down 1-0, 3-1, and 5-3 before securing a spot to overtime and eventually win in a shootout. It helps that we have the moving pieces to pull this off, such as acquiring one of the top shootout guys in the league in Trevor Zegras. As successful as Dan Vladar has been, Ersson is undeniably great in the shootout. He excels under that pressure when he has the ability to keep an eye on the puck directly. So while we can make these games work, I also believe the quantity of overtime we’re playing is a testament to the slow first period we’ve grown to adapt to. They are typically able to catch up, yet it causes a game of catch-up as I’ve previously mentioned. If we were able to come out with the grit, speed, and connectedness of our second and third periods, we wouldn’t have to spend so much time in OT. Because of this, I would love to see some more flexibility and speed in the first and lose the accolade of most comeback wins. But at the end of the day, we have a young team that’s hungry for wins, and as long as we’re leaving with 2 points, that’s all we can ask for.

The Flyers have a packed schedule coming into Thanksgiving week. They’re back at home on Saturday against the Devils before a 4-game road trip next Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday to close out November.

In their last 10 games, the Devils have gone 5-4-1 compared to Philadelphia’s 5-3-2. Trevor Zegras has one assist advantage to New Jersey’s leader in assists, and although our leading scorer, Owen Tippett, has 4 less goals than the Devils’ Jack Hughes, who’s earned 10 so far this year, Hughes is out for a few weeks after needing surgery on his hand. This may give the Flyers a leg up, but they will still have to look for a stronger first period to prevent the chase.

Weekend Closes with Dallas Dominance

Be prepared for a short read, as there really isn’t a whole lot to say here. After a 5-game point streak (3-0-2), the Flyers fell in a drastic 5-1 loss against Dallas at the American Airlines Center. I wish I had something positive to say, or even something blatantly negative, but there just really isn’t with this one.

Simply put, the Flyers looked like a team playing the second of a back-to-back weekend in 2 different cities. When you take this into consideration, as well as the fact they played a clear cup contender, this game was not in our favor in the slightest. Although the numbers weren’t far off, with Dallas coming into the game 11-4-3, and Philadelphia 9-4-3, the Stars are a talented team with top scorers, as Philadelphia saw.

Dallas is a team that has its structure down, excelling in breakouts, neutral-zone play, and a stacked roster of forwards. Philadelphia on the other hand, has a young team with many new additions and a few recent injuries that are still oiling the gears. It doesn’t help when you take into consideration that many of these young Flyers have had years far more successful than they did with their previous teams. What does this mean for us? Well, many of our new guys like Grebenkin and Vladar have little to no experience travelling like this and being expected to play at a high level. Even guys that have been with the Flyers for a while, like the FCB line, have not been expected to perform like this in years prior. This travel, as well as the high-productivity game on Friday night, did not allow for peak performance from Philadelphia. 

I’m not happy about this game, but I’m certainly not mad about it either. We were truly never expected to win this game. Granted, I didn’t expect it to go this poorly, but the odds were not in our favor. Even though Vladar sat on Friday and didn’t perform to his typical level, he hasn’t yet had to play behind a tired team and against such a skilled team in his short tenure with the Flyers.

After a break and some recovery, the Flyers return to home ice on Thursday night for a 7:00pm rematch against the Blues. We’re looking for a substantial win to celebrate Hockey Fights Cancer Night.Weekend Closes with Dallas Dominance

Nailbiter Win in St. Louis

The first game of Philadelphia’s back-to-back weekend ended in a shootout win against St. Louis. Although the 6-5 win was exciting to watch, what could have been a blowout win for Philadelphia ended up as a model for poor goaltending and defense. 

Philadelphia should have had this game in a landslide. Yet as I mentioned earlier this week, their first period has been a challenge. Friday night was no different, as a turnover from Zegras allowed a Blues goal 1:19 seconds in. On the broadcast, Brian Boucher questioned how a guy like Zegras could come back from a disappointing moment like that early on, and Zegras was up for the challenge. Just a little before the halfway point in the first period, he earned his first of three points for the night with a wrist shot, with assist points going to Dvorak and Sanheim.

Then the first-period-plague came back with a turnover from Travis Konecny allowing Jimmy Snuggerud the goal for St. Louis. The Blues ended the first period with a 2-1 lead after a disappointing performance from the Flyers’ defense. Most of the period was spent playing catch-up and overall slow hockey. As the Blues maintained overall possession for a majority of the first, many Philadelphia forwards faced long shifts, with Konecny even being on the ice for more than 2 minutes at one point.

The second period turned things around. After an early goal from St. Louis, Dvorak caught up under a minute later. His second point of the night was earned after a messy attempt by Juulsen, allowing Tippett to take a shot, and the rebound to earn Dvorak his first goal of two for the evening. After an offensively dominant play, completely opposite to the first period, Zegras tied things up deep in the period. The Flyers outshot the Blues 11-4, gaining significant momentum heading into the third. 

The third period began just as worrisome as the first. The Blues regained the lead only 40 seconds in, Ersson failing to stop the puck over his shoulder. They earned their final point of the night early in the period as well, giving them the 5-3 advantage over Philadelphia. Yet both Dvorak and Zegras weren’t done yet, along with some help from Owen Tippett. Dvorak earned his third point of the night after a backhand pass from Tippett. Tippett responded three minutes later with the tie goal after Zegras’ 13th assist of the season. Although Philadelphia continued to outshoot St. Louis 6-4 this period, it wasn’t enough to catch up from the first period slump and St. Louis’ successful third period. For the 7th time this season, they would be going to overtime. 

The Flyers continued to outshoot the Blues 6-1 in 5 minutes of overtime play, yet still sent the game to a shootout.

After 6 goals on 16 shots, Ersson managed to shine in the shootout. He saved the shots of Robert Thomas, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Dylan Holloway for St. Louis. Although Matvei Michkov had his shot blocked as well, a backhand shot from Zegras won the game for Philadelphia. Their 5th overtime win of the season leaves them tied for most overtime wins in the league. 

Defensively, Philadelphia struggled throughout this game against St. Louis. However, some key forwards continued to shine in Philadelphia, and I’m incredibly optimistic towards Christian Dvorak’s future. His play alongside Couturier and Zegras has earned him 5 goals and 7 assists so far this season, placing him one goal behind Philadelphia’s leader, Owen Tippett.

Dan Vladar will be back in net tonight for an 8:00pm puckdrop in Dallas. I’m hoping to see similar productivity with an improved defense tonight. Be on the lookout for Dallas powerplays, as their #2 ranking in the league will put our #2 penalty kill up to the test.

Flyers Fall Short in OT Against Oilers

The Flyers closed a brief homestand on Wednesday night against the Oilers for Military Appreciation Night. However, after an offensively difficult game, the Oilers took the 2 points in overtime. 

At the end of a dominant first period for Edmonton, McDavid earned his 18th assist of the season on Evan Bouchard’s goal. The goal slipped past Vladar after a congested net at the fault of Cam York, who was directly in front of Philadelphia’s goaltender. With a 13 to 5 shot difference in Edmonton’s favor in the first 20 minutes of play, the Flyers continue to struggle in the first period as they have so far this season. In years prior, the team has generally been successful in the first, a trainwreck in the second, and 50/50 in the third period. This year, the pattern has generally switched up to struggle in the first period. As a whole, the team comes out looking disconnected to start many of their appearances so far. The past week or so has been particularly rough with the brief injury bug in both Sean Couturier and Tyson Foerster, as the adjusted lines on their behaves have taken longer to click. 

This leads to the catch-up in the second period. The recent pattern has been a stagnant first half and productivity in the second, and Wednesday night was no difference. After an Oilers penalty for hooking Owen Tippett, Michkov extended his goal streak to three consecutive games with a power play snapshot. A dominant play from York to Mickov, back to York for the final pass to Michkov for the goal kept the Oilers on their toes and allowed Michkov a beautiful top-corner goal through all Edmonton’s defensemen. 

Just as the pattern goes, the Flyers played a dominant third period, outshooting Edmonton 9-5. After each team served respective penalties early on, things got heated midway through the third. After Edmonton’s Trent Frederic skated into Dan Vladar, earning himself a 2 minute minor for goaltender interference, Vladar snapped back and earned himself his third penalty of his career for roughing. The penalty against Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark was served by Emil Andrae. However, Philadelphia still got the man advantage as Janmark served a 2 minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct against Noah Juulsen. 

The Flyers scored with 23 seconds left in the game to take the lead, yet the goal was called back for offsides. The game then went to overtime. 

Celebration of the winning goal before it was overturned

After an offensively lacking game for Philadelphia, Edmonton scored a little over a minute into overtime for the win. Our offense generally lacked the same hunger and drive we’ve seen recently, with fans growing increasingly worried about Owen Tippett. Head coach Rick Tocchet shared that he too was looking for more in the young forward, expressing his need to use his mind more on the ice. He shared that Tippett is a naturally skilled forward, yet needs to tap into his intellect in game situations. 

However, our defense was particularly strong, assisting in reducing the high-chance situations for Edmonton against Vladar. Additionally, Vladar earned second star honors after 29 saves on 31 shots throughout the night.

The Flyers begin the first of their back-to-back weekend in St. Louis tonight at 8pm, before heading on the road to Dallas for another 8pm puck drop on Saturday. The Blues have gone 3-5-2 in their last ten games, compared to the Flyers 5-3-2 as their goaltending looks to stay hot and Michkov keeps heading in the right direction.

Successful Road Trip Concludes in Nashville

The Flyers finished their short yet successful road trip with a 3-1 victory against the Nashville Predators. After a less than ideal first period, they came together for a solid game both ways. Their powerplay was more stagnant than usual, yet they generated chances regardless. Goalie Dan Vladar had a successful game after a challenging night on Tuesday.
The first period started out rocky, with Nashville getting on the board 1:44 in. Drysdale honestly could have gotten the assist if he wasn’t wearing orange, as the shot from Ryan O’Reilly bounced off his shoulder and over Vladar to give Nashville the early 1-0 win. An unfortunate start for Philadelphia, made worse by the slow start to the night. Nashville outshot the Flyers in the first period 10-7, and just overall dominated the play. When Philadelphia is playing well, they have become very acquainted with maintaining possession, the same skill that’s allowed our powerplay to improve significantly this year, although they did not close on Nashville’s penalty late in the first. Where they don’t shine is playing catch-up, which is what we spent most of the first period doing. They were messy and uncoordinated on all aspects. Our defense especially seemed to leave opportunities unguarded for Nashville, especially early on.

The second period was far stronger, with Matvei Michkov putting the Flyers on the board early. After a messy play, Cam York secured the puck and offered it to Michkov, whose simple slapshot broke his nine-game no goal streak. He wanted that goal and positioned himself to do so, something we haven’t seen much with his slow start to his sophomore season. It was good to see him have some of the vigor he was known for last season, and I hope to see this fuel some momentum for the young forward.

Cates scored his fourth goal of the year on the rebound from Drysdale’s shot deep in the second. Cates has strong positioning skills, frequently setting himself up to either provide a solid assist or give himself scoring chances. This continued last night with this play, as he took advantage of the shot from Drysdale regardless of the hectic play. 

Travis Konecny earned the third and final goal of the night, and his fifth of the year, late in the third with an empty-netter. 

Dan Vladar also had an exceptional game, only allowing one of the Predators’ 24 shots. He would have likely recorded his first shutout with Philadelphia if it wasn’t for the unfortunate play by Drysdale in the first period. This gives hope that his questionable performance in his last two games was simply a rough stint. 

The Flyers are still without Tyson Foerster. He was initially expected to return for next Wednesday’s game against the Oilers, but it now appears that he will join the team for their back-to-back road trip against both St. Louis and Dallas.

The Flyers are back on home ice for their second meeting with the Senators on Saturday at 1:00pm.

Flyers Bounce Back in Montreal

After a worrisome weekend, the Flyers bounced back for a 5-4 shootout win against the Canadiens on the road on Tuesday. They came out with a bang, and offensively dominated for the whole game. Our two consecutive powerplay goals in the first period allowed the Flyers to slip into the top 50% of the league’s powerplay rankings. Our once-notoriously-awful shootout seems to be turning a corner, as the Flyers have won three shootout games so far this year. 

The Flyers came out on fire after a 0-2 weekend at home. Just under two minutes in, Bobby Brink scored his fourth of the year with the tip-in off of Sanheim’s shot. Just minutes later, the Flyers earned a powerplay after Mike Matheson earned a penalty for Montreal after delaying the game with the puck deflected over the glass. Cam York, a power play weapon for the Flyers, seized the opportunity for his first goal of the year. While this is a known strong suit for York, credit has to be given to Trevor Zegras, who completely rerouted the play by giving York a behind the back pass. With Montreal’s Montembeault scrambling to find the puck, York’s onetimer was all it took to give the Flyers the 2-0 lead.

Not even a minute later, Noah Dobson earned the second Montreal penalty of the night for cross-checking against Bobby Brink. I suppose Brink took that personally and went out for revenge, as the powerplay earned him his fifth goal of the season and second of the night. Brink took the rebound off of Zegras’ shot for the Flyers to earn a 3-0 lead just barely 8 minutes in.

Although scoring paused halfway into the first, they remained dominant the whole period, earning 12 shots compared to Montreal’s 2.

The second period was more questionable, as Montreal scored all 4 of their goals for the night completely interrupted. Vladar was simply too slow to reach the post in a cross-ice play from Montreal earning Kirby Dach his first goal of the night. Just a minute later, Montreal captain Nick Suzuki earned a point with a snapshot off a cross-ice pass from Demidov. I’ll cut Vladar some slack here, it was an impressive play from Montreal.

The second half of the second period was just as productive for Montreal. Kirby Dach tied the game with his second of the night with a somewhat messy play off a shot from Hutson. Dach was right in front of the net with the perfect setup, yet so clear its shocking Vladar didn’t even get a hand on it. Ivan Demidov earned his second point of the night for the final Montreal goal with an awesome feed from Slafkovský.

Our defense is not award-winning. Yet they only allowed 9 shots for Montreal in the period, and Dan Vladar allowed 4 of them. Suzuki’s goal was a great play, but the other three could have been solid saves. Vladar was just slow for the first Montreal goal, something he hasn’t been struggling with so far this season. Dach’s second goal was basically in Vladar’s lap, making that a concerning goal in and of its own. While Demidov’s goal was a strong play for Montreal, it was clear that he was going to make a shot with plenty of time for Vladar to get his head around it. Vladar has been off his last few games, and it shows. He hasn’t been a starter consistently throughout his career, and maybe he’s tired. Maybe he was just hot to start the season. Regardless, we’ll have to keep a close eye on him to see if these issues are a few rough games, or something more permanent. 

On the other side, the Flyers had 17 shots on goal in the second period alone. For a team that isn’t known to shoot the puck, a newfound topic this year under Rick Tocchet, this is a shocking number. Of their 11 third period shots, Nikita Grebenkin earned his first NHL goal to tie the game. After 40 regulation shots for the Flyers, the game was going to overtime. 

An uneventful overtime allowed only 2 shots each for both teams. In the shootout, Demidov and Suzuki missed both their shots and Vladar saved Cole Caufield’s shot. Michkov and Zegras were up for Philadelphia, with only Zegras scoring in the first round to win the game for Philadelphia. 

All in all, the Flyers played a great game offensively. I’m comfortable with the line adjustments made as Tyson Foerster is still on IR, as they’ve generated success both in the one period they were used on Sunday against Calgary and Tuesday against Montreal. Yet Dan Vladar really gave the game away with his performance, allowing four goals on only 20 shots throughout three periods of regulation play and overtime. 

The Flyers finish their road trip tonight against the Nashville Predators at 8:00pm as they go into an easy week, followed by two back-to-back weekends on the road across three weeks.

Injuries, Broken Streaks, and New Lineups for Halloweekend

It was a spooky weekend in Philadelphia, and I’m not talking about Thursday’s Halloween game. A weekend of injuries, lackluster goaltending, and broken streaks left the Flyers to face a Canadian sweep. Back-to-back home games ended with no points for the Flyers, as they fell 5-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday and 2-1 to the Calgary Flames on Sunday.

After 4 points in the last five games, Flyers captain Sean Couturier was out on Saturday in a game time decision. Couturier blocked a shot up high Thursday night, and while he was on the ice for the team skate on Saturday, he was not fit to return to gameplay. He returned to play on Sunday against Calgary.

The injury bug was passed around to Tyson Foerster, who blocked a shot in the first period against Toronto, yet came back for the rest of the game after a few shifts down the tunnel. The team shared after the game that upon taking his skate off, Foerster couldn’t put any pressure on the foot. He was a scratch for Sunday night and will take some time off throughout the week as his swelling goes down, and will be reevaluated by the end of the week. He was placed on IR on Monday morning as Emil Andrae was called up to fill his spot in the coming games. Foerster is tied with Zegras for second most goals this season, only behind Owen Tippett, who filled his spot on Sunday alongside Bobby Brink and Noah Cates. However, Tippett hasn’t scored a goal in five games, and he didn’t fit the chemistry on Sunday either. 

Tippett played alongside Brink and Cates for the first two periods Sunday, yet was moved to the top line alongside Zegras and Dvorak for the third. Brink remained on the second line alongside Grebenkin and Konecny, yet Brink was sent to the third line beside Michkov and Couturier. It’s disappointing to halt the chemistry this team has fostered so far, and I’m curious to see how Tocchet will handle the lineup until Foerster returns. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the third period pairings mostly stick throughout the week, as they did earn the only goal of the night.

Enough about the injuries, let’s get into what else went wrong. Dan Vladar played his worst game yet with the Flyers, allowing 3 goals on 18 shots in the first two periods against Toronto. Alongside the disappointing-at-best performance, our offense scored one goal on 14 shots in the first 40 minutes of play. The early goal was scored by Dvorak just beyond the first minute of play with assists by Grebenkin and Konecny. After Vladar broke his streak for the 2nd-longest streak of no more than two goals allowed in consecutive games (6), he was pulled for the final period. After Ersson had sustained a lower-body injury earlier in the week, Kolosov had been called up and saved all 7 shots against him in the third period. 

Yet this wasn’t enough. The Flyers had 19 shots on goal in the third period alone, and only closed on one of them. Tyson Foerster earned himself a power play goal with the assists from Zegras and Michkov, making the game 4-2. However, an empty net goal from Toronto with just a little less than 20 seconds left in the game made the final score 5-2. It was a shockingly weak offensive game, especially given the chances this young team has worked to make for themselves so far this year. Losing Couturier had a ripple effect on the lineup, as did losing Foerster on Sunday. All of the offensive grit and promising goaltending just simply wasn’t there against an offensively dominant team with some of the league’s top scorers. With that, the Flyers 3-game win streak came to an end. 

Sunday’s results were less disappointing against a much less daunting team, yet they still fell 2-1. Kolosov played well for his first start of the season, allowing only two goals on 21 shots to bring his season average to a .929 SV%. Furthermore, both goals he allowed were challenging situations where his view was blocked by mostly his own teammates, especially Jonathan Huberdeau’s goal in the second period. The Flyers’ lone goal of the night came in the third period with a wrist shot off the feed from Cates, his new linemate for the night as I previously explained.

It wasn’t necessarily a horrible game given the circumstances of a substantial injury and third-string goalie. It was certainly a messy game as the entire lineup was thrown off, and it showed. As I’ve said before, there has been a lot of positive chemistry on this team so far. You can’t necessarily expect that to carry over with a young team in the second of a back-to-back game. Sunday did however show this team that the adjustability of this team is a struggle, as seen in years past with our disappointing power play statistics. 

The Flyers look to adjust to the temporary lineup as they begin a 2-game road trip tonight at 7:00pm in Montreal.

Zegras Shines Against Nashville

The Flyers defeated the Predators 4-1 last night as former Anaheim teammates Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale had successful games. Michkov also had a productive evening, earning assist points on Drysdale’s first goal of the year and Zegras’ two last night. Although these shots worked out, our offense was not overall on their A-game last night, only recording 18 shots compared to Nashville’s 33. There were definitely some aspects looking strong, and plenty of holes as to be expected with a young team and the luck of Philadelphia.

First things first, Trevor Zegras is undeniably on a hot streak. He’s recorded 12 points in 10 games with Philadelphia. In this time, he has also recorded two of his four career multi-goal games. I’ll say that I’ve been a Zegras fan since long before him coming to Philadelphia was even conceivable, but that has significantly grown since he joined the correct orange and black. He himself has explained in multiple interviews in recent weeks that the culture of this team has motivated him, especially the fans. To me, Zegras seems like a hockey guy through and through. Moving to Philadelphia from Anaheim must have hit him like a bus in the best way possible. There’s excitement in this team and the fans are feeding off of it, and Zegras keeps it coming. 

Zegras recorded three points last night, two goals and an assist. He started the scoring for the night in the second period with a gorgeous wrist shot from behind the faceoff circles. An urgent yet tactical pass from Michkov earned him his first assist for the night. Moving Michkov to Zegras’ line has been one of my personal favorite moves by Tocchet so far this season, as the playing style of the two is much more complimentary than that of Michkov and Couturier. Michkov has had four assists in the last five games, which is more stagnant than I’d like, but he’s a young kid who missed most of camp this year, of course he’s going to have a slow start. Things are slowly picking up, and while I’m not saying he’s completely in the clear, I’m still optimistic about the upcoming weeks. 

A goal from Drysdale in the second earned both Michkov and Zegras their second points of the night for the assist. While it wasn’t an overly exciting goal, it was a dominant play showing the skill of these young guys. After a few shots, Drysdale had himself in a great spot to receive the puck from Michkov behind the net, and a simple wrist shot was all it took. As simple as it sounds, the playmaking this team has created this year, lots of which is thanks to Zegras, is a big shift from years past. It’s what has allowed us to play competitive games against top teams in the league and is certainly an overall strong point in the team’s play.

Zegras’ second power play goal in three games gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead in the third. A pass from York gave Zegras this opportunity, and he seized it with a cross-ice slapshot over Saros’ shoulder. When talking about playmaking, it’s impossible to ignore York’s skills on the power play. He’s played a role in nearly all of the power play goals since his return off injured reserve, this one was no different. 

Konecny earned the final point of the game with an empty net goal late in the third.

Vladar was back in net after Ersson was labeled day-to-day with a groin injury following his exceptional performance against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Vladar allowed one goal on Nashville’s 33 shots, bringing his season average to a 1.67 GAA and a .939 SV%. 

Sean Couturier came out in the first period with an undisclosed injury. He did not return, and there have been no further comments. We should know more by tomorrow. 

The Flyers face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday at 7:00pm in the first game of a back-to-back weekend at home. Aleksei Kolosov may get his first start of the season this weekend depending on the status of Ersson’s injury.

Flyers Earn Win After High-Stakes Shootout

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.