Flyers Lineup

Oskar Lindblom – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny

Claude Giroux – Kevin Hayes – Joel Farabee

James van Riemsdyk – Scott Laughton – Jakub Voracek

Michael Raffl – Scott Laughton – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun

Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers

Robert Hagg – Erik Gustafsson

Carter Hart – Brian Elliott

Morgan Frost, Mark Friedman, Shayne Gostisbehere (COVID-related reasons)

None on roster

Game Report

More than 10 months had passed since the last time Flyers hockey was played at the Wells Fargo Center. More than a year had passed since the last time Oskar Lindblom or Nolan Patrick played a game on home ice. Seven seasons had passed since the last time the Flyers opened their season in Philadelphia. The 2020-21 NHL was three months overdue in starting. But good things come to those who wait, and good things awaited the home team on this very special night.

Sure, after the Flyers started the game with five solid minutes of offensive play, Pittsburgh got on the board first and then started to run away with the momentum. But the Flyers didn’t let that get them down. In fact, they tied the game on a power play – something last year’s Flyers struggled with game in and game out. 

It was Joel Farabee who started the sequence with a perfect back pass along the boards to Erik Gustafsson. The newcomer then wired a shot from the point and James van Riemsdyk, perfectly positioned in front of the net, tipped the puck in to tie the game.

Farabee would go on to tally four points in this game (1G/3A), and the guys in orange would add another power play goal to the score sheet.  Patrick would also get on the board with a goal of his own, a deflection from another Gustafsson shot.

The second period gave Philadelphia a bit of trouble as the Flyers found themselves shorthanded twice, and Carter Hart fumbled the puck behind the net, trying to clear the puck but instead allowing Sidney Crosby to bat it down mid-air in front of an empty net to tap it home.

As the Penguins tend to do, they kept pace with the Flyers for the first two periods, continuously finding the tying goal each time Philadelphia went ahead. But in the final frame the Flyers shifted into a different gear, and the wheels fell off for Tristan Jarry and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Michael Raffl, Travis Konecny, and Kevin Hayes scored three unanswered goals to put a definitive stamp of victory on the league’s opening game.

After the game, Alain Vigneault was proud of his team’s effort, but said there was definitely improvements they could make with their five-on-five play. He also added that his one true disappointment was that Lindblom returned to the Wells Fargo Center and didn’t have any fans in the building to give him the welcome home he deserved.

These two teams will renew their rivalry in the blink of an eye, as they match up again in Philadelphia on Friday night.

Plus / Minus

▲  Joel Farabee, Kevin Hayes, Oskar Lindblom, Erik Gustafsson

▼  Jakub Voracek