Recap: Flyers 5, Penguins 2

The Flyers looked to take two out of two early on in interstate rival Pittsburgh on Saturday night. After an excellent victory to start the season, Alain Vigneault has formed an unchanged formation for this competition.

First period

The Penguins had the best streak of play in the opening minutes of the first period, putting some shots on Carter Hart and setting the time zone. Regardless, it took a while for both teams to actually get started, which should be so early in a weird season with limited training camp.

When they did, however, Pittsburgh became the first player, leaving the Flyers without a single shot on goal for six minutes into the game. They also struck, Brandon Tanev leaving Ivan Provorov favoring his hip, and Sam Lafferty hitting Scott. Laughton, provoking retaliation from Oskar Lindblom.

Shortly thereafter, in the chaos that emerged from the physical aspect, the Flyers took to the power play as Pittsburgh was called up for too many men on the ice. That would become a brief 5-on-3 advantage for a few seconds as Claude Giroux stumbled, and in the ensuing power play, Travis Konecny ​​would find the back of the net on a cross-feed from Jake Voracek. Konecny ​​was almost unchallenged at the far post from Tristan Jarry, and he scored easily from an open net. It was the Flyers’ first shot on goal, and they made it count!

Soon after, Carter Hart made a fantastic save on Evan Rodrigues as the Penguins had a two-on-one, and in transition, the Flyers doubled their lead. There was a lot of traffic around Tristan Jarry’s area as the Flyers launched a counterattack, and in the end, Travis Konecny ​​blocked the puck at home in the middle of the race to score his second goal. Match. Four shots in total, and two goals … not bad!

He would quickly become 3-0 with just twelve minutes of play. Ivan Provorov flicked a laser in front of Jarry over a stream of Voracek going from low to high after another scrum in front of the net. It would also mean the end of Jarry’s night, as Casey DeSmith would enter the game for Pittsburgh.

Carter Hart would make another great save on a chance in Pittsburgh after the game swings the other way, but Ivan Provorov would take a penalty to give Pittsburgh their first power play of the night. It turned out to be costly, as Sidney Crosby scored an odd corner backhand on interrupted play as the puck barely crossed the line behind Carter Hart. There wasn’t much that could have been done to defend against goal, but Crosby has one of the best backhands in the league and he should always be respected as a threat.

A minute later, Brandon Tanev led the net, getting on the end of a rebound from Jared McCann to put the Penguins to one. The momentum shifted fairly quickly to the Penguins after the two goals, the only disruptive being a Kevin Hayes breakaway in which he was denied by Casey DeSmith.

The Penguins would see another power play with five minutes left in the period, but the Flyers were able to kill it effectively. The period would end with another power play for the Penguins after Nic Dawn-Kubel called for a crosscheck.

Second period

Pittsburgh started on the power play but was quickly ruled out as Kris Letang was called up for a crash to send the game 4v4 for about a half a minute. On the Flyer power play that followed, however, they were unable to convert.

The two clubs traded quick break chances after the special teams play ended, but both goalkeepers stood the tests with good saves. Maybe either team should have scored in the first half of the second period, but Carter Hart continued to look sharp and Casey DeSmith fared better for Pittsburgh than his counterpart Jarry. .

Eventually, after a period of consistent strength play, the Flyers went on the power play after Mike Matheson was called in to stumble, but they were unable to score. Subsequently, the two teams continued to exchange chances, the line Nolan Patrick having notably a good performance.

With 6:35 left in the period, the Penguins would go on the power play as Scott Laughton was called up for slashing. Partly because of Joel Farabee’s heavy kill, the Flyers were able to fend off the Penguins. Either way, the power play ended early due to a rogue elbow (which was almost certainly targeted) from Jared McCann to Travis Sanheim.

In the end, there was nothing to be done on the Flyer power play, and the play would calm down as the second period ended without a scoring.

Carter Hart managed to bail out the Flyers while they were lagging behind defensively because overall they didn’t look as sharp as they did in the first period.

Third period

The Flyers were one of the best third period teams in the NHL in 2019-20, and they looked like they were up to it again tonight.

Carter Hart made some big saves early on, battling through traffic to hold onto the Flyers’ goal lead, and then the minutes to halfway through the period went off without a hitch.

Pittsburgh would go on the power play after Nic Dawn-Kubel was called in to interfere on a big hit over Mike Matheson, but they would be turned down when Carter Hart succeeded again, making crucial saves. Dawn-Kubel would end up taking a penalty himself coming out of the area, much to the anger of the Pittsburgh bench.

While the Flyers wouldn’t score on the power play, they would find themselves on a quick break right after the man advantage expired. Claude Giroux threw a cross pass to Kevin Hayes, who shot the puck towards the goal, and in the end it deflected Travis Konecny ​​and ended up in the net for Konecny’s first hat trick In a career in the NHL.

The period would end with some pressure on the Flyers’ net, but ultimately the Penguins were unable to beat Carter Hart. They would retire their goalie about two minutes from time, but that would prove to be immediately upset, as Oskar Lindblom would score his second goal of the season, calmly placing the puck into the empty net.

Two big answers

1. Will the depth continue to pass?

Today it was all about the best talent. While the last six played well, the Flyers’ score came from the guys you’d expect tonight.

Either way, the Flyers’ ability to line up from top to bottom of a lineup is an obvious strength that manifests itself mostly in the fact that they can bend and not break. Especially in the second half (exacerbated by the absence of Sean Couturier), the team played poorly but they are still able to find ways to persevere.

2. Will the Farabee line still dominate?

While it didn’t show up as much on the scoresheet, the line looked solid tonight. The line does not have dominate for example, but Giroux had a hard-working blue collar game as he collected a few assists, Farabee was noticeable and fought well, and despite the defensive mistakes early on, Kevin Hayes managed to recover and participate on the penalty kick as he always has, also an assist.

Three stars

3. Jake Voracek – 2 A, Hartnell print down

2. Carter Hart – 30 stops, typical flight

1. Travis Konecny ​​- 3G, 1A, crazy twittering