Shootouts in hockey are a bit of a mystery, and can make for an exciting game. So lucky for us, the Philadelphia Flyers delivered that excitement against the visiting Boston Bruins on Friday as it ended in a shootout, before forcing overtime against New Jersey on Saturday.
The first game against Boston was won in a the shootout via an unbelievable backhand roof job by Bobby Brink and an icy finisher from Morgan Frost. The ladder was unfortunately not a win, but you can argue that their 3-2 defeat against the Devils was leaps and bounds better than their preseason opener (6-0 loss to the Devils). The Philadelphia Flyers are back tonight and will prep to remain undefeated against the Boston Bruins in this years preseason.
Taking a look back
When I wrote the game preview for Boston, it was noted that a couple of things needed to happen for them to beat them. First, the younger players needed to score. Joel Farabee completed that first checkmark in the first period with a great wrist shot. Bobby Brink added a goal, assist, and a shootout goal. We knew that the power play had to do something. Scoring on any one of the three power plays they earned against the islanders could have changed the outcome of that game. They did that as well. It was an incredible passing play between Tyson Foerster, Brink, and Ryan Poehling, who scored one of the easier goals in his career off of a tic-tac-toe. Brink and Morgan Frost would later ice the game for the Flyers.
Brink made an unbelievable move to his backhand on last year’s Vezina Trophy winner in Linus Ullmark, and the clip has to be brought up again because it is just that good.
The Flyers will have to continue to build off of this performance, and with Travis Konecny drawing back in the lineup, I will be looking towards him to be a catalyst of offense and chaos around the net.
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Last Game PHI: 9/30/23, 3-2 OTL vs. New Jersey
Last Game BOS: 9/29/23, 4-3 SOL vs. Philadelphia
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (2022-23: 6-3-0, .899 SV%, 3.07 GAA, 1 SO w/Philadelphia, 24-17-1, .900 SV%, 2.84 GAA, 1 SO w/AHL Lehigh Valley)
BOS Goalie: Jeremy Swayman (2022-23: 24-6-4, .920 SV%, 2.27 GAA, 2 SO w/Boston)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #89 Cam Atkinson
#21 Scott Laughton – #27 Noah Cates – #71 Tyson Foerster
#17 Wade Allison – #25 Ryan Poehling – #46 Bobby Brink
#8 Cam York – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#5 Egor Zamula – #6 Travis Sanheim
#23 Ronnie Attard – #50 Adam Ginning
#33 Samuel Ersson
#40 Cal Petersen
BOS Projected Lineup
#74 Jake DeBrusk – #13 Charlie Coyle – #23 Fabian Lysell
#70 Jesper Boqvist – #51 Matthew Poitras – #26 Marc McLaughlin
#10 A.J. Greer – #39 Morgan Geekie – #62 Oksar Steen
#90 Anthony Richard – #38 Patrick Brown – #55 Justin Brazeau
#27 Hampus Lindholm– #14 Ian Mitchell
#79 Michael Callahan– #25 Brandon Carlo
#44 Dan Renouf – #92 Reilly Walsh
#1 Jeremy Swayman
#30 Brandon Bussi
News and Notes
– Bobby Brink is making things hard for the Flyers coaching staff. He scored an incredible shootout goal against Boston, and scored a goal and an assist. He then followed that up with a gorgeous assist on Wade Allison’s goal as well on Saturday against New Jersey.
– The third line of Scott Laughton, Noah Cates, and Tyson Foerster has serious potential. Laughton and Cates are extremely solid defensively. While they may never put up eye-popping point totals, those numbers could surely do a lot better with a high IQ goal scorer in Foerster. Keep an eye out for this line.
– Joel Farabee and Tyson Foerster have officially created some goals, with Farabee scoring 1 goal against Boston, and Foerster with an underrated secondary assist on Ryan Poehling’s goal against the Devils.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
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