The Philadelphia Flyers started the season with a victory over the New Jersey Devils by a score of 5-2 in John Tortorella’s debut behind the bench. Carter Hart was spectacular with 34 saves, Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost each scored twice, and a trio of veterans collected 2 assists apiece as the Flyers collected an all-around team win against their division rival.
FIRST PERIOD
As the puck dropped on a new season, and possibly a new era of Flyers hockey under John Tortorella, things looked a little tentative to start but only picked up as the period moved along.
The first play of the game was a slap-shot by Justin Braun that rang the post, which was then followed by a Scott Laughton net-front chance from a nice feed by Travis Konecny at the goal mouth that was stopped by Mackenzie Blackwood.
After the play, there was a scrum in and around Blackwood, which only erupted the crowd and brought about the rivalry with the New Jersey Devils. With things being a little hot, Owen Tippett was called for a boarding minor as he shoved Brendan Smith a little towards the boards, giving the Devils their first power play of the season and the Flyers their first penalty killing opportunity under Brad Shaw.
An aggressive penalty kill, a lot of quick changes, and congesting the Devils without giving up any chances was the recipe for success on the first penalty kill. Some duos we witnessed were Nicolas Deslauriers with Morgan Frost, Tanner Laczynski and Travis Konecny, Kevin Hayes and Scott Laughton, and Joel Farabee and Noah Cates.
A minute or so after the penalty kill, the Flyers were called for another minor penalty, this time on Frost for a hold. The penalty kill started the same way as the first one but eventually the Devils found a way to get one past Carter Hart. Dawson Mercer entered the zone with speed, passed it to Jesper Bratt on the entrance, who then skipped it over Braun’s stick to Alexander Holtz who fired a trickling shot past Hart for his first career NHL goal – one that Hart would definitely want back.
23 seconds later the Flyers tied the game courtesy of Wade Allison, who was on the doorstep after a simple shot from the point let out a juicy rebound.
Tony DeAngelo and Ivan Provorov played pitch and catch after the faceoff win, the former took the shot with traffic in front, and Allison made no mistake with a wide open cage in front of him for the first goal of the very young season.
Heading into the second commercial break of the period, the Flyers were awarded their first power play of the game after Dawson Mercer was called for an interference minor. In what looked like the first power play unit, Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, and Tony DeAngelo were whipping the puck around with Jonas Siegenthaler losing his stick, however Blackwood was able to make several great saves to keep the game tied at one.
With the Flyers dictating pace in the latter half of the period, they were called for yet another penalty, this time it was Scott Laughton for a cross-checking minor. The Devils started the first 1:13 in the offensive zone as they were zipping the puck around and firing at will towards Carter Hart. Fortunately, not many hit the net and even though the Flyers failed to clear the puck at the beginning, they were able to survive. Miles Wood had a few chances whacking away in front of Hart with the penalty about the expire but the score remained tied 1-1.
James van Riemsdyk then had a chance to take the lead with a minute to go but his shot hit the post, the second one of the period for the Flyers. DeAngelo, Laughton, and Deslauriers found themselves in a scrum in front of Hart as he swallowed a slap-shot from the point. DeAngelo and Nathan Bastian were called for coincidental roughing minors out of it all.
With 15 seconds left, the Flyers had an odd-man rush to possibly take a late lead, but Konecny opted to pass instead of shoot, which then led to a Devils odd-man rush but Jack Hughes’ shot went high and wide to end the period. After holding onto a 8-4 shot advantage for most of the period, the Devils took an 11-8 lead into the intermission, but the Flyers held the advantage in the hit department with a 13-5 edge.
SECOND PERIOD
On a collision between Ondrej Palat and Tippett to end the period, Palat looked like the more shaken up one but it was Tippett who didn’t come out of the locker room to start the second period.
4:41 into the second frame and the Flyers were awarded with their second power play of the game as Dougie Hamilton was called for an interference minor against Travis Konecny – who was making it known that he was going to be in the blue paint all night long.
Unfortunately, it was a very underwhelming two minutes as they weren’t able to create any chances while up a man.
As the game was reaching the halfway mark, things started opening up a little more as both teams started creating odd-man rushes but were either stopped by their respective goaltenders or missed the net high and wide. As the chances were piling up, one player was extremely noticeable and it was Konecny who gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Ivan Provorov pinched near the Flyers bench, got the puck to Kevin Hayes who found a streaking Konecny entering the offensive zone. As he came in with speed, he ripped a snap shot past Blackwood for his first goal of the season.
Only 23 seconds later and Morgan Frost joined the goal parade with his first of the season to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.
James van Riemsdyk sent the puck around the boards to Tanner Laczynski, who was surrounded by two Devils defenders, and yet he somehow found Frost in the slot with a behind the back pass and Frost made no mistake as the Flyers scored their 2nd goal in 23 seconds. On the very next shift, Noah Cates almost made it 3 goals in 30 or so seconds but he couldn’t get a lot of mustard on the shot right in front of Blackwood.
Things quieted down a little after the goal-scoring outburst but one Flyer who was tasked with a lot of work was Carter Hart, and he was up to the task all period long, including a net-front opportunity for Jack Hughes. With the period coming to a close and the Devils creating more scoring opportunities, the Devils surprisingly got called for a hooking minor on Miles Wood as he got his stick in Justin Braun’s midsection.
THIRD PERIOD
With the power play soon expiring, Travis Konecny scored his second of the game to make it 4-1 only 1:31 into the third frame. Konecny was stopped in the slot earlier, he also hit the post soon after, but on his third opportunity he was able to get it past Blackwood again for the Flyers’ first power play goal of the season.
Tony DeAngelo did a great job holding onto the puck before passing it to Hayes who tapped it to Konecny in the low slot.
The Flyers were controlling most of the period with an 8-2 shot advantage but the Devils were always close to sniffing one back. They got that goal back from the faceoff circle on a bad angle and with Hart on his knees too quick, Damon Severson was able to drill it top shelf and give the Devils some life with 10:25 remaining.
The Devils kept coming with wave after wave with Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes leading the charge but Hart – even though he gave up two weak goals – was up to the mark when the chances got tougher.
The Flyers quickly were found on their heels as they started collapsing in front of Hart but the young netminder was doing everything in his power to keep the lead at two.
The Devils then pulled their goaltender for the extra attack with just over four minutes to go and the tried to pressure the Flyers as much as possible but they kept the to the outside for most of it.
Ondrej Palat had a slap-shot that was shouldered away and then Mercer had a great chance in the slot that was blockered away only for Morgan Frost to take the rebound and ice the game with an empty netter and his second of the game.
Carter Hart stopped 34 shots, Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost each scored twice, Kevin Hayes, Ivan Provorov, and Tony DeAngelo each recorded 2 assists, Wade Allison scored the other goal, and Tanner Laczysnki and James van Riemsdyk each collected one assist apiece – the first point in Laczynski’s career.
UP NEXT
The Flyers host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday evening at 4:00pm ET before heading south for their first road trip of the year.
Music City Hockey Trip
Take a three day vacation to Nashville with Philly Sports Trips this October! The package includes direct flights, a three night stay at the Cambria Hotel Nashville Downtown, an all-inclusive tailgate, and tickets to the Flyers Predators game. $100 cash for anyone who shows proof they went to the Flyers game on the trip.
