The running theme in this game from start to finish was “redemption”. You break it, you fix it.
Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers were in St. Louis Friday night to faceoff against the Blues for the first time in almost a year. The Blues reintroduced themselves very quickly scoring just 1:19 into this tilt. Trevor Zegras got his pocket picked in the neutral zone by Jordan Kyrou who skated to the dot and fired a wrist shot far-side just over the pad but under the blocker of Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson.
Fix it
The hockey gods quickly offered Zegras the opportunity to redeem himself after the turnover which he readily assumed responsibility for. “That one was big time on me“.
Zegras received a drop pass in the St. Louis zone from Christian Dvorak. The speedy center cut from right to left between the circles and sent a quick release through the five-hole of Jordan Binnington 8:18 into the first to tie the game at one.
The Blues were playing a bit over their heads keeping good pressure on the Flyers, aggressively forechecking, and forcing turnovers. The Flyers looked slightly off rhythm. They were having trouble connecting passes and getting on the same page.
One minute and twenty-four seconds after the Flyers goal St. Louis took the lead again as Robert Thomas forged his way into the Flyers zone. He looked like he could maybe make a push past Travis Sanheim but instead he put on the breaks, made the spin move, and passed the puck to Jimmy Snuggerud who buried it in the Flyers net.
The opening period ended with shots on goal tied at eight and the Blues ahead of the Flyers by the score of 2-1.
2nd Period
The Flyers started the 2nd period by giving the Blues an early opportunity with the man advantage. The Flyers well oiled PK unit kept the Blues at bay successfully killing the penalty just as they have done in 36 of the last 39 shorthanded situations.
6:54 into the middle period with the teams back at full strength Justin Faulk smacked a slapper from the point that sailed past Samuel Ersson who never reacted to the shot. The play came right off a faceoff in the Flyers end and seemed to catch everyone by surprise. 3-1 Blues.
Comeback
Twenty-three seconds later Christian Dvorak picked up an Owen Tippett rebound and easily put it past the sprawling St. Louis netminder scoring his 4th goal of the season at 7:17. 3-2 Blues.
With just 1:36 left in the period Owen Tippett used his impressive speed to power his way into the St. Louis zone with the puck. He passed from the side boards back to the point. Emil Andrae fired a slapshot that was deflected by Trevor Zegras past Jordan Binnington. It was the second goal of the game for Zegras who has quickly made himself the Flyer you hope to see coming over the boards when the team is in need of a goal.
3rd Period
After six goals the third period started just like the first with the score tied. That changed just 40 seconds into the period when Dylan Holloway threw a puck past a frozen Samuel Ersson. 4-3 Blues.
Turning Blue
At 4:56 Snuggerud passed from behind the net to set up a one-timer by Thomas that again caught Ersson looking. St. Louis had 5 goals on 14 shots and they were quickly taking over this hockey game. 5-3 Blues
Owen Tippett in an act of tenacious forechecking forced a steal in the offensive zone. He threaded a perfect pass to Christian Dvorak who smashed the cookie jar high glove side from the slot at 7:53. 5-4 Blues.
Try try again
At 9:31 it was Zegras to Tippett who teed up a one-timer from the slot to tie the score at five. Tippett ended a 10 game goal drought. Zegras, Tippett, and Dvorak were absolutely on fire offensively.
The game tightened up for the final few minutes of regulation with both teams seeming happy to just protect at least one hard earned point.
Overtime
Unbelievably after ten goals this contest needed at least one more to settle it. However that goal did not come in the overtime session. The Blues controlled the puck for the first three minutes of sudden death. Finally the puck made it’s way to none other than Trevor Zegras all alone at center ice. Before he had a chance to turn on the jets Pavel Buchnevich reached out to take his skates out from under him in an act of desperation.
Penalty Shot
Zegras was awarded the penalty shot. He had a opportunity to put this hot mess of a hockey game to bed. He started his approach very slowly. Nonchalantly moving towards the net from right to left. He picked up the pace with both his skates and stick as he hit the slot. He put a catalog of speedy moves on Binnington who patiently held his ground and got a pad on the attempt.
Binnington was the clear MVP of the overtime making key point blank stops on Coots, Brink, and Drysdale. Kyrou hit a post as time ran out and this game was going to a shootout.
The Flyers had outshot St. Louis 31-17 at this point. There is no way to sugar coat it Ersson had a dreadful night between the pipes during regulation. Keeping in line with the running theme of this game he was going to get a chance to redeem himself in the shootout.
Shootout
In the spirit of consistency Ersson pulled it together and was perfect in the shootout. The Flyers needed just one goal to win this game.
That goal came off the stick of Trevor Zegras. He pulled off a carbon copy of his penalty shot attempt. Same slow start, same point of acceleration with his hands moving a mile a minute. This time he got Binnington to open up and he pushed a backhander through the five hole to win this game for his team. Zegras has gone 16 for 24 on shootouts so far in his career.
2nd Chances
After the game Zegras had this to say about the penalty shot “I mishandled it and put my head down”. He remarked on how rare it is to get a second chance on something like that. The running theme on this entire season so far for Trevor Zegras has been redemption. This stint with the Flyers is kind of a restart for him and so far it sure has been something to watch.
Dads
Once a year the Flyers organization invites the players dads to accompany the team on a trip. This year the trip was to St. Louis. They could not have asked for a more memorable night. This is exactly the kind of game where you would love to talk to your dad afterwards.
Zegras was asked why he thought his line had such a productive game. (Tippett 1-G 3-A 4-SOG, Dvorak 2-G 1-A 3-SOG, Zegras 2-G 1-A 7-SOG as well as the game winning goal in the shootout). His answer “we had a nice skate at Voorhees the other day with the dads”.
This was one of those hockey games that had so many different life lessons woven all throughout. Hockey is great for that sort of thing and this particular game was just plain over the top. Never say die, we all make mistakes, if at first you don’t succeed…, the list goes on and on.
Persistence and hard work paid off for the Flyers in this one. It wasn’t the pretties hockey game but the Orange and Black showed a ton of heart tonight. They flat out refused to let this game get away from them.
Extra Credit: A very wise woman once said to me. “You gotta have a heart like an ice hockey player. They’re not special because they don’t get knocked down, they’re special because they get back up”.
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