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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers earned a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Tuesday night. Philadelphia dominated the first period, racking up a 10-0 shot on goal advantage. However, a Collin Graf goal (6th) midway through the period put the Sharks in the lead on their first shot of the game.
The Flyers stuck with the program. A late first period tally by Christian Dvorak (7th) knotted score. The Flyers also controlled most of the second period. An early period goal by Carl Grundstrom (1st) and a late goal by Noah Cates with 12 seconds left in the period opened a 3-1 lead. The Flyers didn’t attack much in the third period but they also didn’t allow much. Travis Konecny (ENG, 8th) rounded out the scoring with an empty net tally.
Dan Vladar didn’t see many shots (18 overall) but he stopped a Will Smith breakaway and stopped Mackin Celebrini on a 2-on-1. Additionally, he got some help from his posts. San Jose drew iron three times during the game.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from Tuesday’s game.
The good
- Christian Dvorak should have been a shoo-in for first star of the game. He not only scored a breakaway goal that got Philly on the board, he went 14-for-17 on faceoffs. Additionally, Dvorak had four shots on goal. He finished a two-point night with the lone assist on Konecny’s empty netter.
- The Flyers established a strong forecheck right off the bat and stayed with it. They also got pucks and traffic to the net. It paid off in Grundstrom’s deflection goal that proved to be the game-winner.
- It would be easy for the Flyers to sag after the Sharks scored first. Instead, they mustered a strong response.
- Vladar stepped up big when he was called up.
- Travis Konecny recorded his 500th career NHL point.
- Rookie defenseman Ty Murchison chipped in a commendable NHL debut. He even logged 60 seconds of penalty kill time. Murchison made a couple good plays on the boards. He also doled out three hits.
- The Flyers held Celebrini off the scoresheet. The San Jose center also went just 4-for-16 on faceoffs.
The bad
- This is more of a nitpick than a bad point. There were several key moments where the Flyers got a bit scrambled defensively. It’s hard to take too much fault with the overall game.
- Michkov’s third period high-sticking penalty left the door open a crack for the Sharks. The PK took care of it.
The ugly
- It started ugly, ended pretty. On the Dvorak goal sequence, the puck initially went off Zegras’ head (or maybe his shoulder). It looked like a broken play. But Dvorak kept going. He went in and scored on a nice backhand finish.
- The Flyers got mesmerized by the puck on the sequence that ended with Graf’s goal.
Flyers – Sharks Game Highlights
