Flyers Hold Off Oilers for 2nd Straight Win

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Just over four minutes into the third period, the Flyers found themselves with a two-goal lead again. For a team that just snapped a 10-game losing streak, this was gut-check time.

Last week, this would probably have been another example of a game the Flyers found a way to lose. This time, the Flyers came out on the right end, claiming their second straight win, 4-2, over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

The Flyers had the opportunities to capitalize in the first, as the Oilers took two penalties to put Philadelphia on the man-advantage. The Flyers were not able to do so, despite taking 13 shots in the opening period.

Laurent Brossoit and Brian Elliott did their jobs in goal, stopping all shots faced in the opening period. Shots were 13-7 Flyers after the first.

Early in the second, the Flyers got another opportunity to go ahead on the man advantage. Instead, it was a costly turnover to the most dangerous player on the Oilers that turned the tables.

Connor McDavid managed to steal the puck from Sean Couturier, starting him on a two-on-one with Leon Draisaitl. McDavid connected with Draisaitl on a pass and Draisaitl finished to make it 1-0 Oilers with a shorthanded goal, his eighth goal of the season.

The Flyers failed to score on the remainder of their power play, and had to kill off a penalty of their own before going back to the power play for the fourth time in the game. This time, they didn't let it go to waste on the NHL's worst penalty kill entering Wednesday.

A quick passing play from Claude Giroux to Couturier was finished off with a tip in by Jordan Weal. The goal for Weal was his third of the season and snapped a 13-game goalless drought.

Both teams generated close chances from there, but a bounce that went the Flyers way sent them back into the Oilers zone with speed. A pass attempt tipped by Wayne Simmonds hopped over the stick of Eric Gryba and down the ice. Giroux was the first to get to it and waited as Dale Weise came off the bench. Giroux got the puck to Weise and his shot along the ice squeezed through the five-hole of Brossoit to give the Flyers the lead.

Through two periods, the Flyers had the advantage in shots, 27-16.

The Flyers dodged an early bullet in the third as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit the crossbar just seconds after the opening face-off.

They didn't stop trying to apply pressure, and turned that into a big insurance goal. Jake Voracek got the puck ahead to an open Michael Raffl behind the defense and Raffl finished with a high shot on the breakaway for his fourth goal of the season to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead at 4:06.

The Oilers didn't go quietly. As they started to turn up the pressure in the last 10 minutes of regulation, it eventually led to a goal.

A centering attempt hit the skate of Mark Alt and allowed the Oilers to get two chances in close. The second was a rebound put home by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for his 11th goal of the season to cut the lead to one.

The Flyers had to kill off a late power play and then fend off the Oilers with an empty net, but a couple big saves by Brian Elliott down the stretch helped set up an empty-net goal for Wayne Simmonds to seal the win.

Elliott made 23 saves on 25 shots. Brossoit made 29 saves in the loss.

The Flyers second straight win was also their second of the season against the Oilers, sweeping the season series.

It's a quick turnaround for the Flyers, who get right back at it on Thursday night against the Vancouver Canucks. Game time is set for 10 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• EDM Leon Draisaitl (8) SH (Connor McDavid) 3:41
• PHI Jordan Weal (3) PP (Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux) 8:53
• PHI Dale Weise (3) (Giroux, Wayne Simmonds) 14:45

3rd Period

• PHI Michael Raffl (4) (Jake Voracek) 4:06
• EDM Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (11) (Michael Cammalleri, Patrick Maroon) 13:20
• PHI Simmonds (9) EN (Valtteri Filppula, Ivan Provorov) 19:21

Game Statistics