The Philadelphia Flyers’ surprising start to the season continued after their most recent victory at the hands of the Nashville Predators. The Predators threw the kitchen sink towards Carter Hart as they attempted over 80 shot attempts but Hart saw 32 of them and kept them off the scoreboard for nearly 58 minutes. The top line of Kevin Hayes, Travis Konecny, and Joel Farabee had a hand in all 3 goals and opportunistic shooting to start the game was the key behind Hart’s spectacular showing between the pipes – again.
FIRST PERIOD
It only took the Predators 30 seconds to get their first scoring chance of the game as Nino Niederreiter found himself on an abbreviated breakaway that was stopped by Hart as Travis Sanheim was bearing down on him. After controlling the offensive zone for the first 3 minutes, Nicolas Deslauriers decided to drop the gloves with Mark Borowiecki but the fight only lasted a few seconds as the latter dropped down the former in quick order.
It took 58 seconds after the fight for the Flyers to gain some traction and strike. The first shot of the game for the Flyers got past Juuse Saros after a good board battle by Joel Farabee set up Kevin Hayes in the slot for a quick one-timer.
A few minutes later, the Flyers were inches away from taking a 2-0 lead but Saros managed to somehow get the paddle of his stick on a Joel Farabee deflection.
The puck was stopped by an outstretched Saros and then somehow the puck remained on the line before he shoveled it out of his crease. The Flyers scored the first goal of the game for the first time this season and it was no surprise to see another Deslauriers fight spark the club.
A seemingly unnecessary cross-checking penalty was called on Ivan Provorov coming out of the first commercial break, allowing the Predators an opportunity to climb back into the game on the scoreboard. Fortunately for Provorov, his goaltender stopped the early onslaught before the Flyers kept the Predators to the outside and thwarted their first power play.
With the Predators not relenting their offensive pressure, Mattias Ekholm send a shot-pass towards the net for a streaking Tanner Jeannot, but Carter Hart was able to make the save and locate the loose puck as a swarm of bodies start hacking away in the blue paint.
This game had a heated feeling from the moment the puck dropped and as the period was going along, hits were being made, scrums were ensuing, and words after the whistle were being shared. Nick Seeler and Cole Smith dropped the gloves with 3:13 remaining in the period and it was a spirited bout for both, this being the first fight of Smith’s career.
As the Flyers have been doing this season, they somehow survive the offensive onslaught from their opposition and then turn it into scoring chances off the rush. The top line of Kevin Hayes, Travis Konecny, and Joel Farabee were being held up in their own zone before finding a way out on an odd man rush. Konecny took a pass from Hayes and took it to Saros but his shot was stopped. The Flyers corralled the rebound, passed it around, before Egor Zamula took a shot looking for a rebound as Zack MacEwen slammed it home for a 2-0 lead.
The Predators headed into the intermission with a 26-9 shot attempt advantage, a 12-6 shot on goal advantage, and a 17-7 hit advantage but the opportunistic Flyers who held a 2-0 lead.
SECOND PERIOD
Coming into the second period, the Flyers must’ve known that the Predators were going to come out guns-a-blazing after their dominating period. They started off the period with several scoring chances until the Flyers pinned the Predators for over 3 minutes in the offensive zone. They brought the shot clock back to almost even, trailing 15-12, Nicolas Deslauriers was robbed, the Flyers hit the post, and Tony DeAngelo really showed off his offensive mind with several shots from the point and creating several others as they roamed the zone as a Predator skater was without a stick.
With 13:36 remaining in the period, play stopped as Mark Borowiecki was on the ice, face-first, and not moving. Borowiecki was sending the puck around the boards, he stumbled a little and as he was falling down, Morgan Frost was behind him trying to finish the play, as Borowiecki’s chin hit the dasher along the boards. The Predators staff tended to the defenseman as he was carted off the ice to a rousing ovation and stick taps from both teams.
Ryan Johansen was then called for a slashing penalty shortly after, giving the suddenly-hot Flyers power play an opportunity to take a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately the power play lasted all of 45 seconds as Frost was called for a delay of game penalty as he carried the puck in his glove a little longer than necessary.
The Predators only had 45 seconds to play with on their man advantage but they already had the puck in the offensive zone as Johansen came out of the box. They had several chances all thwarted by Hart but none bigger than Matt Duchene’s back-handed opportunity in the goal-mouth that was gloved down by the young netminder.
Coming out of the commercial break it was the same song and dance as Carter Hart had to then rob Yakov Trenin with an outstretched pad save on a rebound opportunity.
After the lengthy offensive zone shift the Flyers had to start the period, where they almost evened out the shots, the Predators took back the momentum and continued to dominate the Orange and White. Carter Hart was the theme of the first 40 minutes as he was more than perfect, stopping 27 shots and some golden opportunities at that – several ten-bell stops. Nevertheless, the Flyers entered the second intermission up 2-0 with the Predators owning a 27-17 shot advantage.
THIRD PERIOD
Up by 2 with 20 minutes remaining, the Flyers started the period defensive-minded, trying to clog the neutral zone in an attempt to thwart the tenacious Predators. With not much happening to start the period – helpful for Philadelphia – the Flyers came out of the commercial break with the top line at it again. Joel Farabee roofed a snap-shot off the rush past Saros from a beautiful feed from none other than Kevin Hayes.
Nashville’s first real tester of the third period came off the stick of Filip Forsberg off the rush but his snap-shot was gloved down by Carter Hart. With 6:24 remaining in regulation, Roman Josi was called for a cross-checking minor, much to his chagrin as he believed Farabee went down a little too easily. The Flyers weren’t able to convert but they were able to kill 2 minutes off the clock.
With 3:47 left, James van Riemsdyk was called for a tripping minor and down by three goals, the Predators pulled Saros for a 6-on-4 advantage. Off the draw, Konecny broke his stick and as he went to the bench to get a new one, the Predators took a nonchalant shot on goal that was easily swallowed by Hart.
Scott Laughton had a chance at the empty net but his long-range chance just missed the open net. As it happens so often, the shutout was broken with 31 seconds left on the man advantage and 2:18 in regulation as Duchene’s snap-shot snuck under Hart’s glove.
The Predators had a few chances with the goalie pulled again but the Flyers placed themselves in front of Carter Hart like a wall, keeping the score at 3-1, and taking the game on the road in Nashville.
Hart was spectacular again in picking up his fourth win of the season and the Flyers got timely goals from their top two lines to end the road trip on a good note. Kevin Hayes scored a goal and added an assist, Joel Farabee scored a goal and added 2 assists, Carter Hart made 31 stops to continue his perfect season, while Juuse Saros allowed 3 goals on 25 shots as his record falls to 1-3-1 on the season.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will come back home tomorrow night on the second half of this back-to-back to host the San Jose Sharks in Oskar Lindblom’s return to Philadelphia.
