Flyers Stun Penguins in Season’s Final Battle of Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia Flyers shocked all of Pennsylvania when they defeated their interstate rival Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 in what was a beautiful Sunday evening for some hockey in the “City of Brotherly Love.” The Flyers wore their alternate black and orange jerseys and interim head coach Mike Yeo decided to give the start between-the-pipes to veteran backup goaltender, Martin Jones, who has been getting a lot more playing time since starter Carter Hart was injured a few weeks ago.
The Flyers battled their rival from the moment of the opening puck-drop, doing a great job at sustaining pressure on offense for a majority of the sixty-minute matchup vs Pittsburgh. They also did a pretty good job at keeping Pittsburgh from remaining calm and strategic in the offensive zone, forcing the Penguins attack out toward the neutral zone to regroup more often than most would have thought possible heading into this game. However, Martin Jones was there to bail out the Flyers almost every time they slipped up their coverage.
This was an astonishing team effort from the Philadelphia Flyers and a well-deserved victory against their biggest rivals in the league. Noah Cates was certainly the hero of the day, something that fans might be seeing for years to come, but he was far from the only Flyers player who was on a roll Sunday afternoon.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI:Goal scored by Morgan Frost, assisted by Owen Tippett and Noah Cates
2nd Period
- PHI: Goal scored by Noah Cates, assisted by Keith Yandle and Morgan Frost
3rd Period
- PHI: Goal scored by Noah Cates, assisted by Keith Yandle and Ivan Provorov
- PIT: Goal scored by Sidney Crosby, assisted by Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin
- PHI: ENG scored by Travis Konecny, assisted by Kevin Hayes and Linus Högberg.
Key Takeaway
Flyers prospects have been flourishing under the opportunity to get some playing time in the NHL, thanks to Philadelphia’s unfortunately poor season. Morgan Frost, Bobby Brink and Noah Cates should all be considered crucial to Philadelphia’s turnaround as a hockey club, as well as rookie defensemen Cam York and Ronnie Attard, who have both been highly impressive and impactful since joining the team. Cates had his first ever three-point game of his career vs the Penguins, which proved to be crucial to their win, while Frost also recorded a multi-point game with his goal and assist
Despite Philadelphia’s shortcomings this season, the future seems incredibly bright on Broad Street so far and that is just with the prospects who have been called up to play this season. The Flyers have a good number of promising young prospects who haven’t even made their way to the NHL yet. Expect to see a few more of them next year now that the Flyers front office is seeing the benefits of allowing their youth to just come up and play on the main roster.