The Flyers were in Boston Monday night to face off against the Bruins in a pre-season rematch. The visiting Flyers were 1-and-3 coming in with two games left on the exhibition schedule before the regular season opens up on October 9th. Boston defeated the Flyers 4-3 at the pre-season home opener in Philly this past Saturday.
Philly vs Boston
The Flyers had less star power on the roster tonight but came out with considerably more jump. Losing their last three in a row the team looked much more focused as this tilt got underway.
Dan Vladar
This was our first chance to see recently acquired netminder Dan Vladar play the entirety of a game. He was solid in the period he played a few nights ago. As the pre-season is winding down the goalies are being given the opportunity to get a full sixty minutes under their belt.
Vladar was tested right off the bat with a speedy wrap around attempt from David Pastrnak. The Flyers netminder had to move quickly post to post to get a skate on the attempt. Vladar is 6′-5″ tall and his huge frame covers a lot of the net. As we know all too well it takes more than size to stop a puck. His positioning was on point and he was handling the puck well.
The shots on goal were a shockingly low in the opening period with the Bruins outshooting the Flyers 5-3. Although few and far between Boston’s chances were quality and Vladar proved up to the challenge.
This was also the first opportunity to see Tyson Foerster with the squad in a pre-season game. Before camp started it was announced that Foerster was dealing with an infection in his arm related to a previous injury. At the time of the announcement is was not certain if he would be available by the season opener.
Tyson spent the first couple weeks of camp skating with the team but wearing a color coded “no contact” jersey. That jersey came off last week and he appeared in his first game tonight. Obviously Foerster is ready for opening night. He picked up right where he left off. Tyson Foerster is a pro hockey player through and through.
“Shoot the puck”
Halfway through this contest Boston was outshooting the Flyers 8-5. You may get the impression that this was a boring game. It was not.
The Flyers got a break 13:38 into the 2nd period when Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman misplayed a puck behind his own net. He was attempting to wrap the puck around the boards. Instead he hit Bobby Brink with the puck. A very alert Brink managed to take control of the puck and send it right back around behind the net to Tyson Foerster. Foerster passed the puck out front to Noah cates who made Swayman pay for his mistake. 1-0 Flyers.
Less than three minutes later Sean Kuraly perfectly deflected a David Pastrnak shot up and past Dan Vladar to tie the game at one.
Again, just under three minutes after the tying goal Rodrigo Abols recaptured the Flyers lead. Abols skated the puck into the Boston zone from the red line storming down the right hand side. He dinged a wrister in off the far side post from the dot. Abols looked good all night, confident, aggressive, and hungry for the puck.
Eyeball Test
Jett Luchanko is slowly starting to look more like his noticeable self. The nagging injury that kept him out of both development and rookie camps has left him with a very short amount of time left to make his case. He’s getting the ice time. Tonight he was even on the penalty kill paired with Garnet Hathaway.
Abols looks good, Anthony Richard always plays hard and gives you a reason to take notice. Nikita Grebenkin keeps creating dangerous chances for himself.
Regulation
The Flyers went on the power play one minute into the 3rd period when Morgan Geekie sent Adam Ginning into the boards face first. The Flyers have had a recent proclivity to allow a heck of a lot of odd man rushes even with the man advantage. Dan Vladar was called on to make a huge save on a 2-on-1 break during the Flyers power-play.
Halfway through the 3rd things started to really open up. Prolonged pressure at both ends of the ice. With 8:39 left in the period Geekie tied the game with a shot that went off Vladar’s shoulder and floated up, over, and into the net.
Overtime
It was an action packed extra period. Bobby Brink made an incredible defensive play diving in the slot to break up a cross slot play that may have ended the game.
Grebenkin suffered a broken stick on a breakaway. And the Flyers spent the remainder of the overtime period on a 4-on-3 powerplay. Denver Barkey had a beautiful chance in the final seconds but to no avail. this game was going to a shootout.
Shootout
Bobby Brink scored hi blocker side on the 1st shot of the shootout and that was all that it took. Dan Vladar was perfect in the session and the Flyers went on to win this pre-season rematch against the Boston Bruins 3-2.
Next Up: Flyers host the New York Islanders Thursday night at 7:00 PM.
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