If you let a die hard Philadelphia Flyers Fan write a script for the ideal season home opener it would probably read pretty darn close to how this game actually played out.
You have the two time reigning Stanley Cup Champions come to town to face off against the rebuilding underdog Flyers. The night opens with a beautiful ceremony paying tribute to the late great Bernie Parent. Chants of “Bernie Bernie Bernie” rain down from the rafters before the game begins.
The game is a rematch of the Season Opener where the Flyers lost by a respectable score of 2-1 after being far out-played by the Florida Panthers. The stage is set.
Philly vs Florida
The Flyers went on the power-play just 1:23 into the game but it was Florida who came away with the most dangerous chance of the man advantage. Bobby Brink lost control of the puck on the point and the Panthers broke in on a 2-on-1 rush. Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar came up with a fantastic save, his first of many on the night.
Owen Tippett was called for an invisible slash giving the Panthers their first man advantage of the game. I don’t want to get in a habit of complaining about calls. Flyers Fans took care of that for the better part of the night. Head Coach Rick Tocchet said after the game that they need to take less penalties. Some of the box time tonight was from no fault of their own.
The Flyers produced some short-handed danger of their own on their first penalty kill due to rushes by Garnet Hathaway and captain Sean Couturier. Coots had a great night all around, he has been logging monster minutes and playing some great hockey.
First Blood
Tyson Foerster scored the first goal of the game 8:54 into the 1st period. He accepted a pass from Couturier and cut to the middle surrounded by Panthers and unleashing a beautiful wrist-shot that beat Danil Tarasov blocker side.
The last time these two teams met Florida was very successful in pushing the Flyers to the boards with the puck and winning the battles there. Tonight the Flyers had adjusted their game plan keeping more possession and driving more from the center lanes. They outshot the Panthers in the 1st period 8-6 and went to the intermission ahead 1-0.
Special Teams
The Flyers took and killed a penalty early in the period and then went on to have the next three man advantages. Some lazy and incomplete break outs left the Flyers bottled up in their own zone with the man advantage.
With 4:13 left in the middle period Travis Konecny hit Sean Couturier with a blue-line to blue-line stretch pass that sent Coots in all alone. Couturier beat the Florida netminder high glove side putting the underdog Flyers up 2-0 late in the period.
Play to the horn
The Flyers had put in a ton of hard work and goalie Dan Vladar was again exceptional in this game. The Flyers were so close to heading into the 2nd intermission with a two goal lead when things suddenly broke down during a Flyers power-play.
Seth Jones was in the box for delay of game but play was bottled up in the Flyers zone. Vladar faced a flurry of shots from the shorthanded Panthers. With the Flyers scrambling and Vladar flopping Sam Reinhart scored with just 37.2 seconds left in the period. After all the hard work the Flyers had strung together it was a terribly deflating way to end another hard fought period.
Big Finish
Florida was not going to go down easy. The physicality started to pick up as the 3rd period got underway. The Panthers were swarming at times. Vladar was called on often as Florida’s chances were coming in clusters.
Owen Tippett was called for tripping Brad Marchand. There was a delayed call and almost a full minute went by between the infraction and the Flyers making contact with the puck. Sam Bennett scored on the power-play and the score was tied at two with less than ten minutes left in regulation.
With just over four minutes left the Flyers captain scored his second goal of the night. Trevor Zegras completed a beautiful pass from behind the net with two Panthers on him.. Couturier scored the go-ahead goal from the top of the circle at 15:50. The hearty crowd at the Xfinity Mobile Arena was ecstatic.
With two minutes left the Panthers pulled their goaltender and Bobby Brink scored on the empty net making it 4-2 Flyers. After the ensuing faceoff Florida again pulled their goaltender. This time the Flyers again took control of the puck in the offensive zone.
The Flyers were passing around the zone looking for the player with the clearest shot at the gaping net. At one point the hattrick was on the captain’s stick but he chose to pass the puck. Finally Christian Dvorak helped a Travis Sanheim shot into the net making the final score 5-2 in favor of the Flyers.
Sean Couturier ended the night with two goals, two assists, and four shots on goal. Owen Tippett had four shots on goal. Travis Sanheim had a pair of assists. Dan Vladar stopped 24 of 26 shots for a .923 SV%. This was a fantastic season home opener for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Next Up: Thursday night the Flyers host the Winnipeg Jets 7:00 PM opening faceoff.
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