Flyers Lineup

Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – Jake Voracek

Scott Laughton – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny

James van Riemsdyk – Derek Grant – Tyler Pitlick

Joel Farabee – Nate Thompson – Nicolas Aube-Kubel/Michael Raffl

Ivan Provorov – Matt Niskanen

Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers

Shayne Gostisbehere – Mark Friedman/Egor Zamula

Carter Hart – Brian Elliott

Andy Welinski, Robert Hagg, Andy Andreoff, Morgan Frost, Justin Braun, Connor Bunnaman, Alex Lyon, Kirill Ustimenko

Oskar Lindblom

Game Report

After a long four-month pause, the NHL ushered in the Return to Play with an exhibition game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fans and media members alike anxiously welcomed the opening puck drop between these two rivals.

It wasn’t surprising to see sluggish, sloppy play throughout the game; it’ll take a bit of time for players to regain full game conditioning. Despite that, there was a good pace and intensity in the opening period.

Conor Sheary opened the scoring after Jake Guentzel, in his first game played since going out with a shoulder injury on December 30th, completed a cross-ice pass to Sheary who rather easily put the puck past Carter Hart.

After some of the rust shook off, the Flyers came back in full force. New father and Selke Trophy nominee Sean Couturier evened the score when he banked the puck off of Marcus Pettersson‘s skate and found the back of Matt Murray‘s net.

Kevin Hayes then doubled the Flyers’ tally when he took advantage of an Evgeni Malkin turnover down low, brought the puck around to the front of the net and finished a quick forehand-backhand to give Philadelphia their first lead of the day.

The second period was probably the most tame of the game, with no scoring to be had, however special teams did get a bit of work.  Although the Flyers didn’t score on the power play today, the penalty kill did a pretty solid job shutting down Pittsburgh on the man advantage.

Brian Elliott took over crease duties from Hart to begin the third period, as was predetermined by Alain Vigneault. Elliott was tested a lot in the frame, as the Penguins ramped up pressure in the offensive zone. Sure enough, with just under four minutes left in regulation, Jason Zucker buried the equalizer on a rebound, which would force overtime.

In the extra minutes, Pittsburgh maintained decent puck possession and had the Flyers pinned in their zone a bit. Hayes broke free, but Tristan Jarry denied his breakaway attempt. But about a minute later, Travis Konecny fed a long stretch pass from down low up to Scott Laughton as he entered the zone. Laughton drove the net, did a little toe drag, then roofed the puck blocker side to win the game.

The Flyers now have to wait until Sunday to begin their Round Robin play. Today’s performance proved that they’ve got a good foundation to build on, and players like Mark Friedman and Egor Zamula showed some grit as they attempted to earn a place on the weekend’s starting roster.

Plus / Minus

▲  Kevin Hayes, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Egor Zamula

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