Flyers Weekly Recap: Flyers sweep the Penguins

In case you missed it, the Flyers opened up their 2021 season this week with two games against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Wednesday 1/13/21:

The Flyers took on the Penguins to open up their 56-game 2021 season.

The Penguins Mark Jankowski scored the first goal of the NHL season when he connected on a loose puck out in front of the net. It barely went in but a puck that crosses the line counts.

Later in the 1st period the Flyers would get their first power play goal of the year when Joel Farabee set up Erik Gustafssonfor a wicked slapshot that would tip off the stick of James van Riemsdyk, evening the score at one a piece.

Then with only 7 seconds left in the period and the Flyers on yet another power play, Farabee dropped the puck back to Gustafsson again. This time Nolan Patrick would tip the puck past the Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry and give the Flyers a 2-1 lead heading into the second period.

Welcome back Nolan, we missed ya!

In the second period the Penguins would even the score when Sidney Crosby knocked down a clearing attempt by Carter Hart, a rough goal to stomach for Flyers fans.

But the Flyers would take back the lead with only one minute remaining in the second period when Joel Farabee notched his first goal of the season, sneaking it by the right pad of Jarry. Number 86 was impressive in this one to say the least.

In the third the Pens would capitalize on a bad neutral zone turnover by Erik Gustafsson. Mark Jankowski picked up the puck and dished it over to Brandon Tanev who sniped it past Hart, making it a 3-3 game.

From there the game was all Philadelphia.

Scott Laughton showed off some great hustle when he set the table for Michael Raffl to give the Flyers the go ahead goal.

Then Travis Konecny would clean up some garbage out in front of the net, banging it off Oskar Lindblom’s head to give the Flyers a 5-3 lead.

Just 20 seconds later Joel Farabee would tally his fourth point of the night when he assisted Kevin Hayes, scoring the juiciest rebound goal ever!

Final score Flyers 6, Penguins 3.

The game was also the 100th time the Flyers have beaten their cross state rivals on home ice.

Richard Deitsch also reported a pretty cool stat!

Friday 1/15/21:

The Flyers wore their black jerseys for the first time this season! It feels like they always play really well in them, however the numbers on the back are almost impossible to read.

BUT IT REALLY DIDN’T MATTER IN THE 1st PERIOD!

The Flyers started the game with three consecutive goals.

The first one came from some nifty passing. Claude Giroux dished it to Jakub Voracek who then sauced it to Travis Konecny for an easy tap in goal.

The second goal also came from our good pal TK. This time he kicked (not distinctly) the puck in after Nolan Patrick tried to tuck it in. The Penguins had a shot to review the play, but said nah let’s not get Toronto involved in this.

Last but not least Ivan Provorov sniped one past Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, who was then replaced by Casey DeSmith.

The Penguins would get one back on the power play when, guess who, Sidney Crosby scored to pull Pittsburgh back to within two.

Not long after, Brandon Tanev put home Jared McCan’s rebound. Just like that it’s a one goal game.

The Flyers got themselves into a lot of penalty trouble in the first. However, the PK unit only allowed one of Pittsburgh’s three man advantages to find the back of the net.

No goals were scored in the second period, however the refs decided to call four penalties. Three on the Pens and just one on the Flyers. Heading into the third the Flyers lead 3-2.

Carter Hart started the third with a couple nice saves and a big penalty kill about halfway though the period.

Finally around the 7 minute mark the Flyers broke free. Travis Konecny scored his first NHL hat trick on National Hat Day! But with no fans in the stands it didn’t really feel like a hat trick.

THAT IS UNTIL GRITTY!

Last but not least Oskar Lindblom sent the Penguins home with an empty net goal.

Final score Flyers 5, Penguins 2.

After the game the Flyers did receive some bad news though. As of writing this head coach Alain Vigneault announced Sean Couturier will have an MRI on his shoulder. Hopefully it’s not anything serious.

Looking Ahead

Next week’s edition of Flyers recap will cover two games against the Buffalo Sabres on the 18th and 19th, as well as two games against the Boston Bruins on the 21st and 23rd.