Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers beat the St Louis Blues last night by the score of 4-2. They did this with a ton of gritty hard work from many of their role players. The Flyers were still without both Sean Couturier and Jamie Drysdale. It was the final game of a three game road trip and everyone chipped in to take minutes and share the work load. This game saw the welcome return of Noah Cates who has been out since November 25th recovering a broken foot.
Whatever it takes
It was players like Cates, Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway, Sean Walker, and Nicolas Deslauriers who were winning the battles for the puck and controlling the play. It has been a long stretch ending with three on the road and the extra effort is what put the Flyers over the top. Every player was pulling their weight but the gritty grinders earned the extra hat tip for sure.
There was no scoring in the 1st period but it was not for the lack of trying. Owen Tippett stood out with five shots on goal in period and he was just getting started.
The Flyers got on the board just 1:03 into the 2nd period. Walker took the initial shot from the left circle. Blues goaltender Joel Hofer kicked out a huge rebound right to Scott Laughton who sent it home from the far right circle.
Hanging on
All too often this season the Flyers would score a much needed goal only to sag a bit and give it right back. That was not the case here. The Flyers stepped up the attack following the goal. And for a good stretch they were swarming in the offensive zone.
Carter Hart was making the big saves to keep his team up but seemed to have a bit of trouble with rebound control during the 2nd period. There were a few close calls but Hart with the support of his teammates kept the puck out of the net. The Flyers were doing a great job on the rush getting pucks into the St. Louis zone and keeping it there. Every player was doing what they needed to do.
With just 1:41 left in the period and Hathaway in the box former Flyer Braden Shen fired a shot from the circle. Hart made the initial save but the rebound went to Oskar Sundqvist who swept the puck into the net.
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Buzzer-beater
The Flyers regained the lead with just 6.2 seconds left in the period. Egor Zamula threw the puck at the net Hofer made the save but did not control the rebound Ryan Poehling batted the puck out of mid air into the net and the Flyers went into the second intermission with a 2-1 lead.
The Blues got a strange bounce which lead to their second goal of the night. Braden Shen sent a cross ice pass to Brandon Saad. The puck hit a Flyers stick that was just laying in the slot. The stick stopped the puck and teed it up perfectly for Saad who seemed to surprise Hart with a shot that tied the game at two.
The over-worked Flyers did not lose intensity during the course of this game. They kept doing whatever it was that needed to be done. Nick Seeler blocked a shot in the 3rd period that appeared to hit around the knee just to the side of the shin pad. It took him a while to shake it off. It was his 7th blocked shot of the game.
Owen Tippett
The Flyers battled through the 3rd period looking for the go-ahead goal. With just 4:33 left in regulation Travis Konecny banked a pass off the boards to Owen Tippett. Tippett split the defense in what was essentially a 1-on-3 situation. He made his way through, made his move, and put a backhand shot high blocker side giving the Flyers the 3-2 lead.
The Flyers outshot the Blues 42-30. It was their 8th straight game with at least 35 shots on goal. Last night Owen Tippett was responsible for 10 of them.
Joel Farabee who has been on an absolute tear scored on the empty net to make it 4-2. The Flyers faced one more push by the Blues. As time ran out a number of Flyers combined to brick up the front of their net and put this hard fought road trip into the books.
Extra Credit: The Flyers took 6 out of possible 6 points on the road swing landing them currently in sole possession of second place only two points behind the 1st place NY Rangers. After the game coach John Tortorella said “I don’t look at the standings”. “We just keep playing”.
