The Philadelphia Flyers finished off 2024 with one of their better showings as they defeated the San Jose Sharks by a score of 4-0.
Nick Seeler opened the scoring early in the first period before Morgan Frost almost doubled the lead before it waved off. However the Flyers would then add goals from Ryan Poehling and Travis Konecny in the second period and Egor Zamula in the third to cruise towards the win.
Samuel Ersson made 15 saves through the first 40 minutes before he was forced to exit the contest with an undisclosed injury. Aleksei Kolosov made 7 saves in relief.
Looking to finish off the year in style – and bounce back from an disappointing loss in Los Angeles – Matvei Michkov and the Flyers visited the Shark Tank to face off against fellow Calder Trophy candidate Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks.
The lines were put in a blender with Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink being the only trio that remained intact. Scott Laughton was flanked with Morgan Frost and Michkov, Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee were on the fourth line with Garnet Hathaway, and Travis Konecny was on the top line with Owen Tippett and Ryan Poehling.
Samuel Ersson earned the call between the pipes as well as he looked to vastly improve on his 8-6-2 record, 3.14 GAA, and .880 SV%.
The Sharks entered the contest on a 7-game losing streak, 1-8-1 over their last 10 games, and firmly sitting in last place in the Pacific Division. The only team they were doing better than were the Chicago Blackhawks and they were only 2 points in front of them for the last spot in the league’s standings.
Offensively they were paced by Mikael Granlund’s 23 assists and 34 points in 37 games, Celebrini’s 27 points (in just 27 games), William Eklund rounded out the top-3 with 27 points of his own, and Tyler Toffoli led the team with 14 goals.
Alexandar Georgiev earned the start in between the pipes as he looked for his 10th win on the season – and 2nd with his new club.
FIRST PERIOD
On their 6th shot in the first 5:59 of the game, the Philadelphia Flyers took an early lead after Nick Seeler danced around Barclay Goodrow before banking a shot off of Georgiev and in from just below the goal-line.
The goal represented Seeler’s third of the season and his 12 points are just 2 removed from his career-high that he set in 77 games back in 2022-23.
Heading into the first commercial break, Celebrini came within inches of tying the game as his hard shot was stopped by Ersson but squeaked through his arm and into the blue paint. Fortunately the Swede was able to ensnare the puck in time but that was Celebrini’s second dangerous scoring chance in the first 8.5 minutes – with his first shot ringing iron.
With 7:31 remaining, Seeler was high-sticked by Ty Dellandrea as the Flyers received the first power play of the game. With 37 seconds left on the man advantage, Morgan Frost looked to have doubled the lead but just before the play materialized, Owen Tippett beat his own pass into zone as it landed into Joel Farabee’s skates rather than his stick blade.
The goal was waved off after the Sharks successfully won their challenge.
Shortly after their power play expired, Sean Couturier was called for a tripping minor with 5;22 left in the period but the Flyers made easy work of the kill courtesy of two big shot blocks from Garnet Hathaway.
The period came to a close with the Flyers up 1-0 on the scoreboard and up 10-7 on the shot-clock.
SECOND PERIOD
With 7:51 remaining in the period – and with the Sharks gaining steam – the Flyers were able to double their lead after Ryan Poehling scooped up the loose rebound and patiently waited Georgiev out before roofing a backhander past the goaltender.
Rasmus Ristolainen was able to keep the puck in the zone, Bobby Brink made a great play behind the net to set up the goal, and Poehling’s patience paid off as he earned his 3rd on the season.
Nearly a minute and a half later, Couturier was tripped up by Mikael Granlund, giving the Flyers their 2nd power play of the night at the 13:35 mark. It took the first unit only 8 seconds to click as some of the usual suspects from the disallowed goal connected after Tippett lasered a pass to Konecny for a one-timer as he collected his 17th goal of the season and 7th on the power play.
After winning the draw, Jamie Drysdale passed it to Konecny in the corner, and he then one-touched it to Tippett on the opposite side before he corralled the hard pass and brought the defense towards him. Konecny was left all alone on the opposite faceoff dot for the opportunity as a result.
The period came to a close with the Flyers up 3-0 with goals from Poehling and Konecny 1:36 apart. They also had an 11-7 edge in shots in the period and were up 20-14 after 40 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
Aleksei Kolosov started the third period in relief of Ersson, who was ruled out with an undisclosed injury.
Tyson Foerster was clipped by Cody Ceci just 15 seconds into the final frame, sending the Flyers back onto the power play for the third time tonight. It was a decent showing from the top unit again but despite all the offensive zone time they were unable to collect a shot on goal.
Nevertheless, shortly after the expiration of the power play, Egor Zamula scored his 3rd goal of the season after sending a shot from below the goal-line that banked in off Shakir Mukhamadullin and past Georgiev with 17:31 remaining. His initial shot was stopped but he followed his own rebound in the corner before firing away for a second time.
With 8:07 remaining Luke Kunin and Konecny were both sent to the box for roughing minors. For the rest of the game the temperature quickly rose but no gloves were dropped and no fights ensued.
Kolosov shut the door in the third period to complete the joint shutout as the Flyers cruised into the New Year with a 4-0 win.
UP NEXT
The Flyers head to Vegas to take on the league-leading Golden Knights on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena (10:00pm; NBCSP).
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