The Philadelphia Flyers took on the Edmonton Oilers Saturday afternoon in their first game of the new year and the last game of their five-game road trip. Dan Vladar got the start in net. Garnet Hathaway and Emil Andrae entered the lineup with Nikita Grebenkin and Noah Juulsen becoming healthy scratches. The Flyers scored three goals in the first and never lost the lead. Vladar kept them in the game all afternoon and helped seal the victory. The orange and black finished the road trip at 3-2 and improved to 21-12-7 on the season.
Denver Barkey gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at the 7:16 mark of the first period. Owen Tippett found him driving the net, and Barkey put a snapshot over the blocker of Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard. This is his first in the NHL. Tippett and Sean Couturier tallied assists.
The Flyers took a 2-0 lead at the 10:31 mark of the first courtesy of Travis Sanheim. After Pickard made a save on Couturier, an Oiler played the puck straight to Sanheim. Sanheim then put a snapshot past the glove of Pickard. The goal was unassisted.
The offense continued to come as Bobby Brink gave the Flyers a 3-0 lead at the 14:38 mark of the first period. A shot from Cam York in the slot hit the heel of Brink’s skate and past Pickard. York and Matvei Michkov picked up assists.
Garnet Hathaway and Darnell Nurse dropped the gloves at the 15:40 mark of the first. A few punches were thrown, but they just swung each other round and round. Hathaway ultimately took Nurse down.
Connor McDavid got the Oilers on the board at the 16:08 mark of the first period. Travis Sanheim turned the puck over to Mattias Ekholm. Ekholm then made a pass to McDavid to send him on a breakaway. McDavid finished with a snapshot over the blocker of Vladar. Ekholm received the lone assist.
The Oilers got the game’s first power play at the 8:47 mark of the second period as Michkov got called for high-sticking. They capitalized on the opportunity thanks to Evan Bouchard. He took a pass from McDavid and put a slapshot past the glove of Vladar from the top of the left circle. This made the score 3-2 in favor of the Flyers. McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were given assists.
Rodrigo Abols was called for holding at the 11:42 mark of the second period, which gave the Oilers their second power play. The Flyers managed to block a few shots, and Pickard had to make a few saves on Couturier and Christian Dvorak while shorthanded.
The Flyers got their first power play at the 17:25 mark of the second as Alec Regula got called for high-sticking. Pickard came up with saves on Tippett and Rasmus Ristolainen, and McDavid had a chance while shorthanded down at the other side of the ice.
Nick Seeler gave the Flyers a 4-2 lead at the 9:09 mark of the third period. His wrist shot from the blue line made it past the glove of Pickard and in. A nice pass by Abols helped set the play up. Abols received the lone assist.
Ekholm was called for holding at the 10:20 mark of the third. This gave the Flyers their second power play. They didn’t record any shots on net, and the Oilers did their job of clearing the puck down the ice. McDavid, again, had a chance while shorthanded but couldn’t handle the puck.
The Oilers pulled Pickard with 3:59 left in the third period in favor of the extra attacker, with them down two. It backfired, however, as Tippett scored an empty-netter at the 18:50 mark. He won a puck battle against Bouchard and put a wrist shot into the empty net from just inside the blue line. This gave the Flyers a 5-2 lead. Assists went to Couturier and Seeler.
Flyers went zero for two on the power play and killed off one of the two Oilers man advantages.
Vladar saved 22 of 24 shots, giving him a .917 save percentage.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
Barkey (1) Assists: Tippett (12), Couturier (17)
Sanheim (4) Assists: none
Brink (11) Assists: York (14), Michkov (14)
McDavid (25) Assists: Ekholm (15)
2nd Period:
Bouchard (8) (Power Play) Assists: McDavid (47), Nugent-Hopkins (22)
3rd Period:
Seeler (1) Assists: Abols (6)
Tippett (13) (Empty Net) Assists: Couturier (18), Seeler (5)
Flyers Next Game
Flyers next game is Tuesday, Jan. 6, in Philadelphia against the Anaheim Ducks.
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