The Philadelphia Flyers, who have struggled mightily on the road this season, came into tonight’s game against the St. Louis Blues with a record of 0-11-2 since December 29th. That date was the last time the Flyers had won a road game, doing so in overtime against the Seattle Kraken. Tonight, the Flyers were finally able to exorcise their demons and finally won a game away from home, defeating the Blues 5-2 at Enterprise Center in a hard-fought effort.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers, in their first visit to St. Louis since January 15th, 2020, wanted to establish their presence early on and forced a penalty against the Blues just 1:40 into the game. David Perron was whistled for holding the stick against Cam York, but the Flyers would give their power play away just over a minute later as Owen Tippett was sent to the box for hooking against Niko Mikkola.
Despite being shorthanded, the Flyers managed to outshoot the Blues 2-0 while on the penalty kill and after a strong surge, Travis Konecny put the Flyers on the board shortly afterwards just 6:37 into the contest.
Konecny skated in with plenty of speed and on the off-wing he wristed a bullet past Jordan Binnington to give the Flyers an early 1-0 lead. Recent recall Hayden Hodgson earned his first NHL point on the play, and Kevin Connauton chalked up his first point as a Flyer as well as both were awarded assists on the goal.
The Blues would try to push back but the Flyers would have none of their efforts, and they effectively shut down St. Louis for the majority of the first twenty minutes. With 5:09 to play, Philadelphia’s lead would be extended thanks to Patrick Brown.
Owen Tippett skated into the Blues’ zone and spotted a streaking Cam York coming into the slot. York fired a shot that Binnington saw and stopped, but Brown was able to cash in on the rebound and that put the Flyers ahead 2-0. For Tippett, it was his first point in Orange and Black since he was dealt from Florida for Claude Giroux.
SECOND PERIOD
York took a slashing penalty just 1:12 into the middle frame against Jordan Kyrou, and the Blues would get their second power play of the night. Unfortunately for the Flyers, Vladimir Tarasenko would make them pay this time around. The Russian winger received a great feed from Ryan O’Reilly, and he made no mistake against Martin Jones, firing it blocker side and into the open cage to pull the Blues within a goal.
The Blues seemingly had life again after Tarasenko’s 21st tally of the year, but eventually the Flyers would regain their swagger and it was Konecny again who would pounce to give Philadelphia a 3-1 lead.
Cam York spring Kevin Hayes up ice and #13 skated in, but turned away near the net without much help near him. Shortly afterwards, he spotted Konecny rushing in and he set up the winger for a one-time rocket that squeaked through Binnington and barely trickled across the goal line for a 3-1 Philadelphia lead at 12:04.
Less than four minutes later, Alexei Toropchenko brought the Blues back to within one after an egregious turnover by Martin Jones. Jones elected to play the puck from behind his net, but turned it over to Logan Brown. Brown found Toropchenko in the right faceoff circle and he fired a shot by a fooled Jones to make it 3-2.
THIRD PERIOD
St. Louis was doing as good a job as they could to claw back and tie the game, and halfway though the period it seemed like we had reached a stalemate for the time being, but Hayden Hodgson had other ideas. The rookie busted through the middle of the ice as Kevin Hayes shielded the puck on a strong rush and forced a shot on goal, and he skated to the doorstep and rammed home the rebound on Jordan Binnington for his first NHL goal to make it a 4-2 game at 11:34 of the third period.
That would be the big boost the Flyers needed to seal the deal in this one. St. Louis fought hard and eventually pulled Binnington for an extra attacker with 56 seconds left, but Joel Farabee dangled through the Blues’ defensive efforts and stuffed home an empty net goal to make it a 5-2 game and keep this one out of reach for good.
That would be all she wrote as the Philadelphia Flyers finally ended their road woes and defeated the St. Louis Blues by a score of 5-2 behind strong performances from Travis Konecny, Hayden Hodgson, and Cam York.
3 STARS OF THE GAME – 1) Travis Konecny – PHI, 2) Hayden Hodgson – PHI, 3) Cam York – PHI
UP NEXT
The Flyers are back at it again on Friday when they travel to Ball Arena to face off against the top team in the NHL in the Colorado Avalanche. Carter Hart is expected to get the nod in goal in Denver.
