The Flyers took on the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night for their first road game of the season. Heading into this game the Oilers were 5-0-0 and the Flyers were 2-1-1. This was the second game in a row the Flyers would face an undefeated team. Philadelphia would prevail this time around and beat the Oilers 5-3.
1st Period
Rasmus Ristolainen decided he wanted to test the Oilers’ power play one minute into the game, taking a penalty on a high stick to Zach Hyman. The Flyers’ penalty kill smothered Connor McDavid any time he touched the puck. The Flyers would get a power play after a brief 4-on-4 period after Hyman took a penalty for boarding Sanheim. The power play looked decent with one good chance from James van Riemsdyk, but ultimately no goals were scored.
Claude Giroux opened the scoring at 7:22 after picking up the puck behind the net off of a wide shot from Travis Konecny. Giroux seemed to be in the right place at the right time and executed a perfect wrap-around goal.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel would follow it up only a few minutes later on the forecheck, stealing the puck from Koskinen behind the net and doing his best Giroux impression with his own wrap-around shot. Nate Thompson was credited with the goal after poking it through Mikko Koskinen to make it 2-0 Flyers.
Only 35 seconds later, Tyson Barrie cut the lead to one with a nifty backhand over the shoulder of Carter Hart off of a no-look pass by Leon Draisaitl. Hart looked a little deep in his net on this one after being so sharp early on.
The Oilers then got their second power play of the game off of a tripping penalty by Cam Atkinson. This penalty kill looked a bit all over the place with the incredible puck movement by the Oilers. Ultimately, the Flyers were able to kill this one off.
Zack MacEwen would give the Oilers their third power play of the first period after a dangerous boarding hit on Cody Ceci. The Oilers would make sure to capitalize on this opportunity after McDavid’s pass attempt deflected off Justin Braun’s stick and under Hart’s arm. Unlucky.
The Flyers didn’t let the tie last long, as Cam Atkinson made it 3-2 with 0.7 seconds left off of a chip and out clear from Sanheim that bounced into the Oilers zone. Atkinson smacked home a bouncing puck from the slot to beat the buzzer and give the Flyers the lead going into the second period.
Hart made some huge saves in the first period stoning McDavid off a one timer, standing his ground on some net front opportunities and even scaring the puck off of Puljujärvi’s stick on a point blank chance.
Stats after the first period: SOG: Flyers – 12, Oilers – 13, Hits: Both teams – 8, PIM: Flyers – 6, Oilers – 2.
2nd Period
The Oilers made the Flyers forget all about that buzzer beater when Hyman shot a loose puck from the slot that trickled through Hart and would tie the game at 3-3 just a minute into the 2nd period.
After this goal the Flyers struggled to clear their own zone during the most of the 2nd period, with several turnovers in stead of clearing the puck. The Flyers looked messy, giving up a breakaway to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins after a brutal change for the defense.
There were only a few offensive chances for the Flyers, as they netted only 6 shots during the period. Overall the 2nd period looked very back and forth with the Flyers on their heels, pinned in their own zone. Hart bailed them out on more than one occasion, keeping the game tied at 3-3 heading into the 3rd period.
Stats after the second period: SOG: Flyers- 18, Oilers- 25, Hits: Flyers- 23, Oilers- 16, PIM: Flyers – 8, Oilers – 4.
3rd Period
Cam “BLAM” Atkinson sent a clapper through Koskinen’s five-hole from just inside the blue line off of a 3-on-2 rush and a pass from Derick Brassard to give the Flyers the 4-3 lead just over 4 minutes into the third period.
The Flyers were given a powerplay right after the goal after Laughton was nearly cut in half on a cross-check in front of the net. There were a few solid chances on this powerplay including a blast one timer from Giroux and another one from Atkinson. Scott Laughton was stopped all alone by Koskinen right after the power play.
The Flyers came out with a lot more pressure like the first period and plenty of scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the 3rd period with a goal, a shot off the post, a mini-breakaway and more.
Konecny ended up taking an untimely interfernece penalty with about 6 minutes left after bumping McDavid into the Flyers’ goal. Hart made a huge save off a one timer by Draisaitl, a point blank chance, and a long shot from the point. The Flyers successfuly killed off a huge penalty late in the game to keep the lead.
The Oilers pulled Koskinen with just under 2 minutes to play and had 3 attempts at the empty net before the they called a timeout with 1:21 left to play. The Flyers sealed the game with the empty net goal from Sean Couturier, but not without some controversy after Konecny was very close to being offsides.
FINAL: Flyers 5 Oilers 3. SOG: Flyers – 34 , Oilers – 37. Hits: Flyers – 27, Oilers – 20, PIM – Flyers – 8, Oilers – 4.
The Flyers came out with aggressiveness, great forechecking, and sustained pressure in the first period. In the second period the Flyers looked to be on their heels when the Oilers tied it up early and held them in their zone for most of the period. Finally the third period was capped off with goals by Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier to win the game and steal the undefeated tag from the Oilers. The Flyers were able to hold the Oilers’ power play to one goal on four opportunities, a big key to their success tonight.
