A nail-biter of a game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Edmonton Oilers had no shortage of goals, penalties, and heartstopping close chances, but despite a strong outing by many of the Flyers players, they would ultimately fall in overtime.
It was a disappointing end to an otherwise thrilling show put on by both teams, where there was clearly plenty of tension—for the Flyers, wanting to get back into winning ways, and the Oilers, who just wanted to win their first game of the season.
The Mad Russian Arrives
The question on every Flyers fan’s mind since Opening Night has been, “When will Matvei Michkov get his first NHL goal?”
Well, in true Michkov fashion, he got his first and second goals against the Oilers (both on the powerplay).
It seemed only fitting that the 19-year-old flex his offensive brilliance with two goals, and it certainly fueled the Flyers to continue attacking Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner with wave after wave of scoring chances. Although they still struggled to capitalize on some prime opportunities, the ambition and refusal to give up on a play is still strong within this team.
You Wanna Go?
Fans were treated to two fights during this game, and not from players you might have expected.
Sean Couturier dropped the gloves first, followed by a brawl between Joel Farabee and Corey Perry after the two had been exhanging words for some time beforehand.
This Flyers group has never been afraid of getting physical, but the throwing of fists is usually left to Nic Deslauriers or Garnet Hathaway. To see guys who don’t usually fight step up when challenged is a heartening thing, and a surefire way to get the bench motivated when faced with a situation like they had against the Oilers, who had an answer for every goal the Flyers scored.
Indefensible
Sam Ersson (and the goalposts) came up big to stop the Oilers’ stars from scoring, but it highlighted how much the defense struggled throughout the game.
It’s glaringly obvious that Jamie Drysdale needs a consistent partner (which was slated to be Nick Seeler until a puck to the knee knocked him out of playing contention for the time being), while the partnership between Egor Zamula and Rasmus Ristolainen continues to not be all that impressive.
Even the usually reliable pairing of Cam York and Travis Sanheim weren’t at their best against Edmonton, which left Ersson vulnerable against the likes of Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl, and Connor McDavid. The Flyers defense is still recovering from how war-torn they became last season, and this is a night they’ll want to forget quickly.
The Flyers will close out their four-game road trip against the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 17.
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