Things looked pretty bleak for the Philadelphia Flyers against the St. Louis Blues on their last game before the Christmas break. The Flyers were getting out-hustled a bit, and suddenly found themselves down, 3-0. Moments later, Chris VandeVelde scored a shorthanded goal and changed things completely.
The Flyers seized all the momentum. They scored two more goals to tie the game up as the Blues only managed four shot attempts in the 15 minutes after opening up the three-goal lead. The Blues recovered to make push late in the third, but Evgeny Medvedev fired one home from the slot with 3:13 left to give the Flyers a 4-3 win.
Game Flow
Goals:
0 – 1. Fabbri (Jaskin). PHI on-ice: 10, 12, 28, 55, 82
0 – 2. PPG, Shattenkirk (Taraksenko, Stastny). PHI on-ice: 24, 78, 3, 55
0 – 3. Paajarvi (Stastny). PHI on-ice: 25, 76, 78, 3, 15
1 – 3. SHG, VandeVelde (Bellemare). PHI on-ice: 76, 78, 3, 82
2 – 3. Simmonds (Voracek, Gostisbehere). PHI on-ice: 14, 17, 93, 22, 53
3 – 3. PPG, Simmonds (Voracek, Gostisbehere). PHI on-ice: 10, 17, 28, 93, 53
4 – 3. Medvedev (White, VandeVelde). PHI on-ice: 25, 76, 78, 55, 82
Forwards
Quite a change of pace to see the fourth line way in front of the other lines in terms of Corsi. They only played limited minutes, however, and were not a major factor.
The Flyers' best line was the Couturier line, with Jake Voracek looking like the man who scored so many points last season. Wayne Simmonds scored two goals in the second period, both coming on assists from Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere.
The Giroux line continues to try and get back on track after their hot streak, and had their hands full tonight handling the Tarasenko line. The Bellemare line had a decent game, and created the game-winning goal finished by Medvedev.
Defense
The biggest stories on the night for the Flyers defense was Medvedev and Gostisbehere. Medvedev continues to grow in confidence, and played a few extra minutes than his partner Nick Schultz, as well playing a bit shorthanded ice time for a change. Oh, and he scored the game-winning goal too.
Luke Schenn and Gostisbehere had a solid night in most respects, but Gostisbehere's two assists again will garner most of the attention. He now has an incredible 14 points in 18 games this season.
Marc Naples is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @SuperScrub47.
