Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
Flyers vs Penguins, early Saturday evening cross state rivalry. Both teams would play this one without their points leaders. Travis Konecny, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin were all unavailable due to injury.
Philly vs Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh’s Tommy Novak got things going with a power-play goal three minutes into this match. Tic-tac-toe passing play ending with a wrist shot from the slot high glove side.
Less than a minute later the Flyers tied it up with their first shot on goal. That would become a running theme in this game. Cam York pinched at the point getting the puck to Trevor Zegras who fed Owen Tippett in the slot. Tippett scored his 20th goal of the season to tie the score at one.
There were some hectic moments in the Flyers zone during the final minutes of the opening period. Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar was called on to make some challenging saves as the puck was pinballing around dangerously.
Brotherly Love
Cam York absorbed a crushing check behind the net from Avery Hayes. Jamie Drysdale jumped in to stand up for his team mate and hit Avery right in the fist with his face.
The Penguins struck early again in the 2nd period. Rickard Rakel beat Vladar with a wrister from the slot high blocker side. It was Pittsburg’s first shot on goal of the period 3:38 into the second stanza. 2-1 Penguins.
Just over a minute later at 4:46 Alex Bump, playing in his very first NHL game, scored his first NHL goal. Grebenkin to Bump in the slot. Bump beat Stuart Skinner short side, glove side. That’s the stuff dreams are made of.
That once in a lifetime highpoint lasted exactly 59 seconds. Right off a faceoff in the Flyers end Erik Karlsson slapped a laser past Vladar 5:54 into the second. That’s three goals in just over two minutes. 3-2 Penguins.
Tug of War
Not to be outdone by the new new-guy Denver Barkey scored his 3rd goal of the season 10:03 into a very active 2nd period. Michkov passed to Barkey in the slot. Barkey went forehand to backhand up and over the sprawling Pittsburgh netminder to tie the game at three.
We got to see some really wide open hockey but no more scoring for the rest of the middle period.
Still tied at three going into the 3rd period the Flyers sticks went quiet as the Penguins were spending too much time in the Flyers zone.
The Flyers picked things up in the second half of the period. As regulation came to an end neither team had registered 20 shots on goals but both had scored 3 goals. The final shot totals including overtime were 15-22 in favor of the Pens.
OT
The overtime was so hetchy sketchy hairy scary that it was impossible to stay off the edge of your seat. Both teams were making such unpredictable turnovers.
Just 1:08 into the extra session it looked as if the Flyers had the Penguins dead to rights. A Penguin went down and stayed down in the Flyers zone. There was no whistle and the Flyers entered the Pittsburgh zone 3-on-2.
Zegras had the puck at a sharp angle on the right hand side. Michkov and Drysdale were storming towards the net. Skinner was over-committed to Zegras who threw the puck into the middle for either Michkov or Drysdale to put into the gaping net. They both went for it, it clogged up the works, and somehow the puck stayed out.
Down the other end of the ice with 2:09 remaining in OT Dan Vladar was called for making contact with Karlson. Based on Karlson’s reaction to the contact he was lucky to live through it.
The Flyers had two minutes of 4-on-3 penalty time to kill. It wasn’t super pretty but they did it.
Shootout
Dan Vladar and his friend the post were perfect in the shootout. None other than Trevor Zegras scored the lone goal to win the game.
Extra Credit: The Flyers are now 7-and-3 on the shootout for the season. The Penguins are 1-and-9. Trevor Zegras is an incredible 6 for 9 this season. His career numbers are above 62.5%. Again tonight he made it look so easy, what a set of hands.
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