JVR’s Shootout Goal Secures Win for Flyers
By Scott Cole
The Flyers won back to back games for the first time since January and just their second shootout of the year on Thursday night as they downed the Minnesota Wild 5-4. Carter Hart stood tall in the shootout session as he stopped all three shots. Meanwhile, James van Riemsdyk was able to confuse Marc-Andre Fleury just enough to squirt the puck behind him and earn the win.
On this recent homestand, the Flyers are now 3-1-1 and have earned points in four straight games. Many are upset that the team should be losing and trying to tank to get a better draft pick. However, the recent success is helping John Tortorella see where the team will be come the summer and fall when it comes to personnel.
The scoring started in the first period. Scott Laughton got free on a breakaway and rifled a shot past Fleury for his 17th goal of the season. Shortly thereafter, Oskar Sundqvist, a recent acquisition for Minnesota, scored his third goal since joining the team and tied the game up.
In the second period, the two teams traded goals. First, Joel Farabee scored his 13th of the season. Farabee has been on a recent tear lately, scoring goals in four straight. This comes on the heels of accusations that he didn’t like playing under Tortorella only to have those rumors squashed.
But with just over four minutes to go in the second, Matt Boldy, who’s picked up the slack for the Wild after Kirill Kaprizov’s injury, scored to tie the game up. A little over two minutes later, Marcus Foligno would score to give Minnesota the lead. However, with just 23 seconds left in the second, Rasmus Ristolainen scored a rare Flyers power play goal to give Philly the tying goal.
Boldy would score again with 6:28 to score. However, the Flyers have been playing all-out lately and they weren’t done yet. Just 48 seconds later, Tyson Foerster scored his second career goal (after scoring his first against the Canes earlier this week). It’s easy to see why Tortorella is high on him. The teams went scoreless in the overtime period before heading out to the shootout.
Hart stood tall in the game, stopping 20 of 24 shots. More importantly, he held his ground in the shootout. The Flyers outshot the Wild 34-24 as their offense has perked up on this homestand.
Philly has two games last on this homestand. They will host Detroit on Saturday and Montreal on Tuesday. Their final game in March will be in Ottawa where they will face former Flyer great Claude Giroux.