Flyers Takeaways: Youth Takeover Leads to 6-2 Win Over Lightning

This was not your ordinary Philadelphia Flyers game, nor was it your normal NHL game. Despite the dubious circumstances, the Flyers put together a strong late effort to go home with a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.

After being called up earlier on Tuesday morning, Bobby Brink got the Flyers started, scoring on his first shift to give the hosts an early 1-0 lead. Brink was on a four-game point streak with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before being called up, and his move to turn Calvin de Haan inside out, and then the wherewithal and skill to fire a low shot by Andrei Vasilevskiy, is exactly what the Flyers needed.

Let’s call it a youth movement of sorts in Philadelphia.

Flyers’ youth leads the way

Brink’s goal was primarily assisted by Morgan Frost, who would also record the primary assist on Tyson Foerster’s spectacular goal that gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead under a minute into the third period.

“I was telling him I loved his celly! It was pretty electric,” Frost said of Brink’s goal. “He’s awesome. He brings a lot of life and a lot of laughs in the group, so it’s good to have him back.”

Foerster, meanwhile, scored his fourth goal in three games and is now on a three-game goal streak. The 22-year-old’s ambitious between-the-legs deke to backhand goal shows a confident player being rewarded for his efforts at both ends of the ice.

Oh my goodness, Tyson Foerster (@tfoerster8)!

That was just filthy. 🥶 pic.twitter.com/jO0PkkUnYw

— NHL (@NHL) February 28, 2024

Even if it was a weak goal on Vasilevskiy’s part (it was), it was most certainly a bounce that was earned by Foerster. Good goal-scorers know how to earn their luck; that’s what Foerster did on Tuesday night.

Joel Farabee got back on the scoresheet with an assist, giving him three assists in his last six games. The goal-scoring hasn’t been there for Farabee, but fortunately, his teammates have been picking up the slack there.

Noah Cates finished with a two-point night as well, scoring the first of two Flyers empty-net goals after stealing the puck in the neutral zone and depositing into the yawning cage.

Lights not too bright (dark?) for Flyers

The story that isn’t really a story, at least in terms of the game on the ice, was the Wells Fargo Center lights being mostly out through the early goings of the third period. Neither John Tortorella nor the Flyers were too concerned about the lighting in the arena.

The lights went out shortly after Brink scored the opening goal, but both teams preferred to play the game.

“We’re up 1-0 at the time I think, aren’t we? I don’t think Erss was too crazy [about playing]. I don’t really give a s–t about what Erss thought at that time,” Tortorella admitted assertively. “We’re up 1-0, we’re going to play.”

The Flyers went on to out-shoot the Lightning 21-17 over the final two frames, out-scoring them 5-2 in those periods.

Offense by committee

With Travis Konecny (upper-body) out day-to-day, the task of replacing him in the Flyers’ offense is an unenviable one. So what?

Brink, Foerster, Cates, Sean Walker, Travis Sanheim, and Cam York all scored goals in the 6-2 win over Tampa Bay. That’s goals from a third-liner, a call-up, a rookie, and three of your top-four defensemen. Is this a sustainable way to win? Maybe not, but this is the National Hockey League. Nobody gets free passes, and especially not on Tortorella’s Flyers.

“We miss TK. He’s a huge part of our energy. It’s going to be hard if he doesn’t get back in,” Tortorella said. “Tyson’s beginning to come. I thought [Ryan] Poehling’s line was really good tonight. Everybody’s got to chip in.

Until he does, we’re going to do it by committee and everybody’s got to just raise their level.”

Fortunately, Konecny will have a little more time to heal up; the Flyers will be off on Wednesday and don’t play again until Friday.

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