The Philadelphia Flyers took on the Pittsburgh Penguins in their last game before the Four Nations tournament break. Andrei Kuzmenko made his Flyers debut after getting all the paperwork settled. Samuel Ersson made his last start in net before heading off to play for Team Sweden in the tournament. They’d snap their five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win. Ersson stood on his head once again and Kuzmenko picked up a point in his Flyers debut. The Flyers improve to 24-26-7 on the season.
Scott Laughton gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at the 1:44 mark of the first period. Andrei Kuzmenko made a touch pass to him in the defensive zone. Laughton then passed to Travis Konecny and then back to Laughton. Laughton went forehand backhand and put the puck through the legs of Penguins goaltender Joel Blomqvist. Konecny and Kuzmenko collected assists.
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The Penguins got the games first power play at the 15:44 mark of the first period as Sean Couturier got called for tripping. Ersson had to make a few big saves and the Flyers did a nice job stealing and clearing the puck.
Erik Karlsson tied the game up at one for the Penguins at the 4:19 mark of the second period. Matt Grzelyck set him up with a pass and Karlsson put a snapshot past Ersson from a tough angle over his left shoulder. Grzelyck and Rickard Rakell tallied assists.
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead at the 12:26 mark of the second period courtesy of Garnet Hathaway. He went on a breakaway with two Penguins players on him. Blomqvist came out to play the puck, hit Hathaway, and it went into the net. The goal was unassisted.
Konecny gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead at the 4:27 mark of the third period. His slap shot from the blue line deflected off the stick of Noel Acciari and past Blomqvist. Cam York and Travis Sanheim were given assists.
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The Penguins pulled within one at the 5:42 mark of the third period. Ersson made the initial pad save on Kevin Hayes but he kept whacking away and the puck sat in-between Ersson’s legs in the blue paint. Hayes then put the puck in the net. This made the score 3-2 Flyers. Danton Heinen and Anthony Beauvillier picked up assists.
The Flyers got their first power play at the 12:19 mark of the third period as Blake Lizotte was called for high-sticking. It was stopped 33 seconds short, however, as Jamie Drysdale got called for holding. This made it got to four-on-four. The Penguins then got a power play and Ersson had to come up big. They moved the puck around very well and had a few great chances in tight.
The Penguins pulled Blomqvist a little over a minute left in the third period. However, they couldn’t get any more pucks past Ersson.
The Flyers went 0 for 1 on the power play but killed off both Penguins man advantages.
Ersson stood on his head and kept the Flyers in the game all night long. He saved 32 of 34 shots, giving him a .941 save percentage.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
Laughton (11) Assists: Konecny (39), Kuzmenko (12)
2nd Period:
Karlsson (6) Assists: Grzelcyk (27), Rakell (23)
Hathaway (8) Assists: none
3rd Period:
Konecny (22) Assists: York (9), Sanheim (21)
Hayes (10) Assists: Heinen (13), Beauvillier (7)
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Flyers next game is Saturday, Feb 22. in Philadelphia against the Edmonton Oilers.
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