In easily their best effort of the season, the Flyers improved to 7-3-2 with a big win over the visiting St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Let’s wrap on the gaudy win for Philadelphia.
First Period
Minus: The Flyers spent a majority of the opening frame playing in their own end. This has happened a lot this season, but like so many times this year, the goaltending was suburb and kept the opposition off the scoresheet.
Plus: Coming into Tuesday night, the Blues had been losers of their last seven games. It was evident tonight they were upset by that fact, by their two first period fights from Brayden Schenn and Robert Bortuzzo. Nick Seeler and Zack MacEwen answered the bell for the Flyers, as the two weren’t going to let St. Louis attempt to run Philadelphia out of their own building. Here’s a better look at the Seeler/Schenn tilt:
Second Period
Plus: At the 10:11 mark of the middle frame, the Flyers broke the scoreless tie with a Wade Allison scramble in front of the Blues’ goaltender Thomas Griess. The play began with a face-off win from Scott Laughton, with some help from Joel Farabee. Farabee then kicked back to Provorov and the two teamed up for a give-and-go play that bought Provorov some space. The Flyers defensemen then sauced a pass over to Allison and the pass caught him in the pants and ricocheted into the net. The goal was Allison’s 3rd of the year.
Plus: Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett teamed up on the second goal of the game at the 16:37 mark. Each player would tally a goal and an assist in the contest.
Plus: In the waning seconds of the second period, the Flyers would tally again, but this time, it would come on a well-executed tic-tac-toe passing sequence after Scott Laughton knocked down a Blues clearing attempt. He would then find a wide-open Travis Sanheim, who would then find a Noah Cates for the redirection goal.
Third Period
Plus: At the 6:44 mark of the final period, the Flyers would get a timely goal from Lukas Sedlak. It was Sedlak’s first goal since joining the Flyers last month. His speed and three-zone awareness has been a welcomed addition to the team.
Plus: Carter Hart was expected to be in goal tonight, but an illness popped up late to push him out of the contest. Backup goaltender Felix Sandstrom filled in admirably, making 12 of his 27 saves in the third period. The win was Sandstrom’s first of the season.
Quick Hits
- The Flyers own a +10-goal differential in the second period of games this year.
- Joel Farabee registered his 100th NHL point on Allison’s opening goal, per the broadcast.
- Entering Tuesday night’s contest, the Flyers were ranked 30th in the league in goals-per-game. They handed the Blues their eighth straight regulation loss and scored five goals in this one: hockey’s a strange sport sometimes.
- Defensemen Ivan Provorov led all Flyers skaters in ice-time Tuesday night, as he logged 24:12 TOI in the game.
- Each team was charged with 14 giveaways in the game.
What’s Next
The Flyers will head out to the road and meet the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday for a 7:00 puck drop.
