The Philadelphia Flyers entered this contest hoping to extend their winning streak to four games.
Over a week after their last game against the Montreal Canadians, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to keep to their winning ways as they hosted a very good Winnipeg Jets squad.
Carter Hart received the start from Interim Head Coach Scott Gordon and opposed Laurent Brossoit in-net. Brossoit came into this matchup with a 10-1-1 record, 2.01 Goals-Against Average, and a .943 save percentage. The Flyers couldn’t let themselves start slow and had to shake off the dust as soon as possible in order to defeat the Jets.
The two teams traded scoring chances to begin the game, with Winnipeg applying more pressure than the Flyers in their offensive zone. It was clear players on both sides were trying to find their skating legs coming off a bye, but Philadelphia looked more out of sync than the opposition. They had just one shot-on-goal compared to the Jets’ three halfway through the first and hardly kept possession of the puck. Not even a late period power-play could ignite the offense early on, as the game was still tied at zero heading into the second.
Philadelphia killed off a penalty at the start of the second stanza, with Hart making some key saves during the shorthanded opportunity. The play from the 20 year-old net-minder ended up paying dividends for the Flyers, giving Phil Varone the opportunity to score his second goal of the season to give his team a 1-0 lead. Varone slammed home a loose puck right in front of net, providing Brossoit with nearly no chance to make the save.
That lead wouldn’t last long as Winnipeg capitalized on a power-play opportunity to tie things up at one a piece. Hart couldn’t do much with the shot given the weird direction it took and seemed surprised to see the puck go top-shelf. The Flyers ended up killing off the Jets second man advantage of the period which, once again, led to another goal in the form of Travis Konecny to give the team a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
The Flyers were rewarded a power-play late in the second, but couldn’t find the back of the net to give themselves a two goal advantage. Brossoit did a good job of keeping the Orange and Black within an arms reach, making some solid saves to keep the Jets deficit at one. James van Riemsdyk would put his performance to waste, though, scoring his seventh goal in six games to give Philadelphia a 3-1 lead and eventual win.
This is now the Flyers fourth straight victory, the longest winning streak of the season. Hart was stellar between the pipes yet again with a 31 save performance on 32 shots. It seems the short stint in Lehigh Valley was beneficial for the young goalie since he showed nearly no rust for Philadelphia in this contest.
The Flyers are now 20-23-6 on the year. Next game is Tuesday against the New York Rangers.