After a very wishy-washy first two games that saw the Philadelphia Flyers open the season in Columbus with a 4-2 win on Thursday only to be smacked 5-2 by the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, the Flyers returned to Philadelphia looking for a rebound effort in their first home game of the season.
Fortunately, that’s exactly what was in store as the Orange and Black blanked the visiting Vancouver Canucks 2-0 on Tuesday night. Carter Hart stopped 25 Vancouver shots for his first shutout of the season and sixth of his career, Egor Zamula ripped home his first NHL goal -which stood as the game-winner – and Sean Couturier scored a fantastic penalty shot goal for his first of the season and first since December 10th, 2021, a span of 676 days.
Thatcher Demko put on a masterclass in goal for Vancouver, stopping 40 of 42 Philadelphia shots, but he didn’t get any help at all from his team in front of him on offense or defense despite an elite performance, perhaps the best goaltending performance the NHL has seen in this young season.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers began the game with solid pressure and puck possession, and it didn’t take them long to convert. Egor Zamula snapped home his first career NHL goal to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead just 1:45 into the contest.
The Canucks responded with a strong shift of their own that wore out the Flyers, but Carter Hart stood tall and a Vancouver icing took the pressure away.
Vancouver earned the game’s first power play with 12:09 remaining as Garnet Hathaway was whistled for holding. The Canucks, who entered tonight with the best power play in the league (44.4% conversion rate), had no answers for the Philadelphia penalty kill and Hathaway’s minor was without a goal against.
For a team that let up three power play goals to Ottawa on Saturday, the Flyers’ penalty killers were much more poised and aggressive and looked like a completely different hockey team.
After a brief Canucks rally that saw them clank a shot off iron, Sean Couturier was slashed on a breakaway at the other end, resulting in a penalty shot.
Couturier made the most of the opportunity and finished off a dazzling play with a great snipe to make it 2-0 Flyers with 2:38 to go in the opening frame.
For Couturier, it was his first goal of the season and first goal since December 10th, 2021 – a span of 676 days in between tallies.
2-0 Philadelphia is how thing would wrap up after twenty minutes, with the Flyers also narrowly leading the shots on goal battle 10-8.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers racked up shot after shot but Thatcher Demko had every answer in the book for them. His best save came on a Bobby Brink stuff attempt on the doorstep, where he stretched out the left leg to take away a sure goal.
It was another period where the Flyers began with plenty of energy, but this time they didn’t waver and they kept their foot on the gas.
Their effort was rewarded with a power play as Tyler Myers was called for slashing just past the halfway mark of the period. Philadelphia had a couple solid opportunities, most notably a Travis Sanheim one-timer that was met by the blocker of Demko, but the Canucks and their netminder staved off the man advantage.
Philadelphia kept peppering the Vancouver cage but the story of the second period was Thatcher Demko. The Canucks goaltender stopped all 22 shots he faced in the middle frame.
“I can’t even pick one guy that played well except Demko, he was unreal,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet after the game.
Demko’s heroics gave the Canucks a chance to claw back entering the second intermission. Philadelphia held a dominant 32-14 shot advantage after forty minutes, including a 22-3 edge in the second period alone. The last time Philadelphia put up exactly 22 shots in a period was on November 23rd, 2016.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers found themselves on an early power play as Tyler Myers went to the box for tripping just 1:07 into the final frame. It was wash, rinse, repeat however, as Demko and the Canucks again stymied a Philadelphia power play opportunity.
The Canucks started pushing back after Myers’ penalty was killed and gave Carter Hart his busiest action of the evening. The Canucks began crashing the net harder and even thought they potted a goal courtesy of Conor Garland, but John Tortorella challenged the play for goaltender interference. After review, Tortorella’s challenge proved successful and wiped Vancouver’s goal off the board.
Not long after, Marc Staal nailed Phil Di Giuseppe from behind, leading Noah Juulsen to jump Staal. Both Staal and Juulsen received minor penalties, Staal for boarding and Juulsen for roughing.
Just 40 seconds later, Sam Lafferty put a puck in Carter Hart’s net well after the whistle blew for offsides. Travis Konecny took major exception to that and went after Lafferty. Both players received 2-minute and 10-minute penalties for their actions.
Philadelphia would have another power play opportunity to put away Vancouver for good after Ian Cole hooked Bobby Brink, but the Flyers’ power play woes continued.
Luckily for the Flyers, so did Vancouver’s, and even with late penalties from Joel Farabee and Scott Laughton, the Canucks could never find a way to beat Hart despite some solid scoring chances. Laughton almost put the game on ice with a remarkable move after he and Noah Cates had a 2-on-1. Laughton skated in to the backhand and somehow Demko sprawled across and robbed the Flyers alternate captain of a dynamite goal.
But despite Demko’s last-ditch efforts to give his team a fighting chance, the Philadelphia Flyers would hang on to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 in their home opener at Wells Fargo Center.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Carter Hart – PHI, 2) Sean Couturier – PHI, 3) Egor Zamula – PHI
UP NEXT
The Flyers will host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center (7:30pm ET, NBCSP) to close out their mini-homestand before heading to Dallas on Saturday.
2024 Stadium Series Trip
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