The Philadelphia Flyers finished off a two game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins last night at the Wells Fargo Center. Travis Konecny led the way with his first career NHL hat trick in a 5-2 win. The Flyers, having lost Sean Couturier at the end of the first period, struggled to generate shot attempts. Carter Hart bailed them out with 31 saves. Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk, and Jake Voracek all had a pair of assists.
First Period
The Flyers initially started out pretty slow on Friday night. They didn’t register any shots on goal or offensive zone time before the Penguins took a too many men penalty five minutes in. Philly wouldn’t convert on that PP, but Claude Giroux drew a trip to give them another powerplay. Travis Konecy opened up a big night with a PP goal seven minutes in.
Jake Voracek one timed a pass from Giroux on the wall right to Konecny who was standing back door. TK followed that goal up with another one three minutes later.
A thriving Nolan Patrick powered his way to the net and Konecny cleaned up the trash in front. The Flyers chased Tristan Jarry out of the Pens net with a third goal two minutes later.
Jake Voracek made another beautiful pass as he found Ivan Provorov skating towards the slot. The Flyers’ #1 defenseman would not miss as he rifiled it past Jarry.
Tristan Jarry finished the two game series with Philadelphia with two losses, a .727 SV%, and a 7.57 GAA in 72 minutes of action.
The goalie switch to Casey DeSmith provided a lifeline to Pittsburgh as they quickly got back in the game.
Sidney Crosby scored his obligatory PHI goal to put the Penguins on the board a minute later.
Not even a minute after that, Pittsburgh was a goal behind as Brandon Tanev scored his second goal in as many games.
Only the Flyers could cough up a 3-0 lead that quickly. To make matters worse, Sean Couturier injured his shoulder and wouldn’t return for the rest of the game.
The Flyers were outshot 20-11 in the first period, but still had the 3-2 lead after 20 minutes.
Second Period
The Flyers would continue to turtle during the second. Carter Hart came up big on a few occasions as the Flyers seemingly gave up a dozen odd man rushes.
Despite a pond hockey feel to the second, only six shots (4-2 PIT) were registered on goal.
One notable event that occurred was Pens forward Jared McCann targeting Travis Sanheim in the head with his elbow.
It was announced today that McCann only received a $10,000 fine for the incident after a hearing with NHL Player Safety. The play was a two minute minor during the game.
Third Period
Carter Hart continued to save the Flyers’ bacon in the third before insurance was provided. Hart made nine saves total during the third period.
Travis Konecny put the game out of reach by notching first career NHL hat trick almost 13 minutes into the third.
TK’s goal scorer instincts were on full display in the victory as two of his tallies came off his skate. Kevin Hayes had the primary assist on the 4th Flyers goal. There was ONE hat thrown onto the ice at the Wells Fargo Center tonight despite no fans allowed…one oversized hat.
The Flyers would tack on an empty net goal from none other than goal per game forward Oskar Lindblom.
News and Notes
Jakub Voracek (201) passed Rod Brind’Amour (200) for ninth all time in Flyers history with powerplay points.
Voracek (397) also passed Mark Recchi (395) for 5th all time in Flyes history with assists.
Sean Couturier will be out at least two weeks with Costochondral separation. Costochondral separation occurs when your rib tears away from the cartilage that connects it to your breastbone.
