Boston holds on to beat the Flyers by a 4-3 final score Saturday night. Notable performances come from Nikta Grebenkin in this contest, along with Matvei Michkov, Trevor Zegras and the rest of their powerplay unit. Let’s wrap:
Grebenkin vs. Bump
It was the tale of two games for Flyers rookies Alex Bump and Nikita Grebenkin Saturday. Of course, both players are pushing to make the club’s opening night roster, but only one stood out in a positive manner against the Bruins. With 0.6 seconds to go in the first period, an unchecked Bump lost the handle on the puck behind the Flyers net. Boston’s Johnny Beecher then jumped on the puck and tucked the disc behind an unsuspecting Sam Ersson to tie the game.
The night wouldn’t get much better for Prior Lake, Minnesota native, as he ended the game skating on the fourth line with Rodrigo Abols and Jacob Gaucher.
Grebenkin, on the other hand, has continued to build on his strong play from rookie camp. With 12:47 remaining in the second period, he scored a goal after Trevor Zegras backhanded a puck from the slot that got deflected on its way to the goal. Matvei Michkov then chopped the disc through the goalmouth to Grebenkin, who swatted it into the net.
Grebenkin, 22, played quite well, even without the goal. The Serov, Russia native won a number of board battles for loose pucks, in addition to showcasing plus playmaking ability and generally making smart decisions with the puck. He even had a near goal on a penalty shot as well.
“He’s a sticky guy,” Rick Tocchet said of Grebenkin postgame. “He finds the pressure and goes to it, he’s not shy. There’s some really good parts of his game. We have to clean up some stuff. There’s a lot of turnovers at center ice; other than that though, I thought he had a good game for us.”
At this time, it appears he owns the inside track for a roster spot over Bump. That became clearer as this game wore on, as Grebenkin took Bump’s spot with Couturier and Konecny on line one.
Key Chemistry
The line of Christian Dvorak-Michkov-Zegras played well together in this one. Particularly Michkov and Zegras were able to create a few high danger scoring chances together. The pair teamed up for a pretty give-and-go goal at the 6:56 mark in the second period. Zegras controlled the puck on a zone entry before handing off to Michkov at the Boston blueline. Michkov then drew two Bruins defenders to him and skated towards the middle of the ice before he found Zegras below the circle on the one-time shot.
Likewise, the Flyers powerplay produced two of the team’s three goals with Michkov and Zegras featured as focal points of the unit. The puck movement was quick and decisive, markedly improved from what it looked like a season ago.
In fact, there appeared to be more of a desire to work the puck into the middle of the ice to create chances. In the event that Michkov and Zegras are creating plays the way they did Saturday, it’ll be a great sign this season for the Flyers’ offensive attack.
On Deck
The Flyers will run it back with the Bruins on Monday night in Boston. The game is set for a 7:00 p.m. puckdrop and will be available to stream on the Flyers website.
