All eyes were on the rookies in the season opener for the Flyers, but it quickly turned into a goaltending show. The Flyers escaped the first 20 minutes in a tie game and were down just a goal through two periods due in large part to their goaltender.
That kept the game within reach, and the Flyers were able to tie things up early in the third, setting the stage for an eventual 3-2 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night.
The Flyers killed off two early power plays for the Canucks, but were unable to prevent Vancouver from getting on the board first. At 12:55, a turnover at the Flyers blue line allowed Nils Hoglander to get behind the defense and fire a shot past Sam Ersson to make it 1-0.
The Flyers tied the game back up on a late power-play goal. Off a rush, a quick passing play from Bobby Brink to Joel Farabee to Tyson Foerster resulted in a tip-in goal.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 12-10 Vancouver.
The Canucks controlled the majority of the second period, despite only out-shooting the Flyers, 6-5. At 11:25, the Canucks were able to capitalize again to re-take the lead.
Teddy Blueger was left unmarked on the backdoor and tipped in a pass from Derek Forbort to make it 2-1.
Through two periods, shots were 17-16 Vancouver.
The Flyers got the game tied early in the third. A nice set-up by Ryan Poehling allowed Cam York to fire one from the left circle, tying the game at two at 2:48.
Both teams had multiple power-play opportunities in the third, but could not capitalize. That forced overtime in the season opener.
The Flyers held on through the final 90 seconds of 3-on-3, setting up a shootout.
In the shootout, Jake DeBrusk and Travis Konecny traded goals in the third round to extend things to sudden death. In the fifth round, Morgan Frost scored the game-winning goal to give the Flyers the victory.
Ersson made 24 saves on 26 shots in the win. Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves on 31 shots in the loss.
In his NHL debut, Matvei Michkov played 18:32, had two penalty minutes, one blocked shot, and tied for the team lead with four shots on goal. Jett Luchanko played 14:36 in his NHL debut and was a minus-1 with one shot on goal.
The Flyers are right back on the ice on Saturday night, taking on the Calgary Flames at 10 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | T | |
| Flyers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Canucks | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- VAN Nils Hoglander (1) (Conor Garland) 12:55
- PHI Tyson Foerster (1) PP (Joel Farabee, Bobby Brink) 17:24
2nd Period
- VAN Teddy Blueger (1) (Derek Forbort, Pius Suter) 11:25
3rd Period
- PHI Cam York (1) (Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway) 2:48
Overtime
- No Scoring
Shootout
- VAN J.T. Miller – Save
- PHI Sean Couturier – Miss
- VAN Elias Pettersson – Save
- PHI Matvei Michkov – Save
- VAN Jake DeBrusk – Goal
- PHI Travis Konecny – Goal
- VAN Conor Garland – Miss
- PHI Tyson Foerster – Save
- VAN Brock Boeser – Save
- PHI Morgan Frost – Goal
Game Statistics
| Flyers | Canucks | |
| Shots | 31 | 26 |
| Power Play | 1/4 | 0/5 |
| Hits | 21 | 25 |
| Faceoff % | 42.2% | 57.8% |
| Giveaways | 16 | 11 |
| Takeaways | 7 | 8 |
| Blocked Shots | 20 | 12 |
| Penalty Minutes | 10 | 8 |
