The Philadelphia Flyers ended the month of October with a matchup against the Nashville Predators. Dan Vladar made his fifth start in net, and it was another one where he allowed two goals or fewer. Emil Andrae jumped into the lineup with Egor Zamula being a healthy scratch. Trevor Zegras had himself another three-point game as he registered two goals and an assist. The orange and black finished their first month of the season at 6-3-1.
The Predators got the game’s first power play at the 11:54 mark of the first period as Jamie Drysdale was called for hooking. They only managed to get one shot on net, but it rang off the post. The Flyers did a nice job getting into shooting lanes and blocking shots.
Bobby Brink got called for interference at the 19:57 mark of the first, which gave the Predators their second power play. The Predators rang another puck off the post but couldn’t get any past Vladar. Two shots were recorded on this one. Flyers, again, did a good job of blocking shots.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at the 12:45 mark of the first period courtesy of Zegras. Matvei Michkov won a puck battle along the boards and fed Zegras with a pass to the high slot. Zegras then put a wrist shot past the glove of Predators goaltender Juuse Saros. Michkov and Owen Tippett tallied assists.
Drysdale gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead at the 15:41 mark of the first. Michkov, from behind the net, passed the puck to Drysdale, who was on the side of the net, and he put a wrist shot shortside on Saros. Michkov and Zegras picked up assists.
The Predators got on the board at the 18:03 mark of the first period as Matthew Wood scored his first in the NHL. He received a backwards pass from Michael Bunting to the slot, and Wood’s snapshot went off the stick of Nick Seeler and under the left arm of Vladar. Bunting and Erik Haula were awarded assists.
The Flyers got their first power play at the 6:57 mark of the third period as Nicolas Hague got called for hooking. It only took three seconds for the Flyers to capitalize. Cam York fed Zegras with a pass to the left circle, and he put a one-timer past the blocker of Saros. The puck deflected off Predators Cole Smith on the way in. York and Noah Cates received assists. This gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead.
The game went to four-on-four at the 14:17 mark of the third as Haula was called for roughing and Cates for slashing. Vladar had to make a few big saves to keep the Flyers up by two. The Predators pulled Saros with 56 seconds remaining to try to get within one, and it backfired. Travis Konecny scored an empty-netter to make the score 4-1 Flyers. Christian Dvorak was given the only assist on the goal.
The Flyers went one for one on the power play and killed off both of the Predators’ man advantages.
Vladar saved 32 of 33 shots, giving him a .970 save percentage.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
No goals
2nd Period:
Zegras (3) Assists: Michkov (3), Tippett (1)
Drysdale (1) Assists: Michkov (4), Zegras (8)
Wood (1) Assists: Bunting (2), Haula (5)
3rd Period:
Zegras (4) (Power Play) Assists: York (5), Cates (4)
Konecny (3) (Empty Net) Assists: Dvorak (3)
Flyers Next Game
Flyers next game is Saturday, Nov 1, in Philadelphia against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
*Sean Couturier left with an injury in the first period after taking a shot to the elbow by Noah Juulsen
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I’m going crazy. Awesome start. York is stepping up with assists and we haven’t seen the great Michkov burning yet.
This could be the best Flyers season in the last 15 years.
Thank you Danny for making great moves in the offseason ( Zegras, Dvorak, Vladar ). We may need one more move still but I’m happy with our guys and ecstatic over our coaching staff.
Go Flyers !!