Flyers Bounce Back from Sluggish Start, Beat Canucks 6-3

The Philadelphia Flyers (20-11-7) picked up a big bounce-back win on Tuesday night, overcoming a slow start to beat the Vancouver Canucks (16-20-3) 6-3 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

Noah Cates, Carl Grundstrom, Travis Konecny, Bobby Brink, Owen Tippett, and Christian Dvorak scored for the Flyers in Rick Tocchet’s return to Vancouver. David Kampf, Drew O’Connor, and Tom Willander scored for the Canucks.

It started with a tilt between Nick Seeler and Evander Kane just 1:44 into the game. Kane hit Seeler a bit late into the boards, and the Flyers defenseman was not too fond of it. The two dropped the gloves and got things started early on in Vancouver.

While Seeler was the winner of the bout, it was the Canucks who gained the momentum on their home ice. Vancouver began to dominate play and eventually broke through.

David Kampf (2) scored from just in front of Dan Vladar 3:45 into the game after a great pass from Drew O’Connor (6) from behind the net. Marcus Pettersson (7) picked up the secondary assist.

Vancouver continued to apply pressure, keeping up its attack and tiring the Flyers out. The Canucks held Philadelphia shotless for the first 11:21 of the game.

Then, on the Flyers’ second shot of the game, Noah Cates (10) scores off the rush 12:02 into the first period. Philadelphia got a much-needed breather during the TV timeout, and Cates took advantage. Matvei Michkov (12) and Bobby Brink earned the assists on the goal.

The Flyers gave up the first 10 shots of the game in the first 6:52 of the first period. But, Philadelphia then had the next five shots, starting at 11:21 into the period.

Vancouver outshot the Flyers 10-5, but the Flyers held the Canucks shotless for the final 13:08 of the 1st.

In the second period, who else but Carl Grundstrom (7), was there to give the Flyers the 2-1 lead 3:40 into the second period. The Flyers’ forward extended his scoring streak to four straight games with his goal on Tuesday, assisted by Nikita Grebenkin (6) and Travis Sanheim (14).

Just under four minutes later, the Canucks had the opportunity to gain some momentum back on the power play after a Sanheim tripping penalty. But, Philadelphia killed off the penalty and killed off any Canucks’ momentum.

The Flyers continued to dominate throughout the period and eventually extended their lead. Grundstrom scored 3:40 into the second period, and Travis Konecny (12) scored with 3:40 remaining in the period.

Konecny scored off his own rebound, with the goal assisted by Jamie Drysdale (15) and Trevor Zegras (23).

The Flyers tallied an impressive 19 shots on goal in the second period, taking hold of the overall shot battle 24-19 at the end of the second period.

Flyers close it out

Vancouver made things interesting just over a minute into the third period. The Flyers may have thought the puck was iced. They eased up on their pursuit of the puck in their defensive zone. Kiefer Sherwood did not. Sherwood chased down the puck, getting it to David Kampf (1), who set up Drew O’Connor (1), making it a 3-2 game.

It took all but 26 seconds for Philadelphia to answer, as Noah Cates (12) found Michkov (13) in the neutral zone, who set up Bobby Brink (10) with a perfect cross-crease pass to extend the Philadelphia lead to 4-2.

Kane was sprung on a breakaway with under eight minutes to play, but Vladar slammed the door on the attempt. The big stop came at the right time for the Flyers, maintaining the two-score lead.

The Canucks got a chance with 4:28 remaining in the game after Carl Grundstrom was called for holding. Thatcher Demko would empty his net to give the Canucks the 6-on-4 advantage late in the power-play.

Owen Tippett (12) took the puck down the ice and scored the short-handed empty-netter, assisted by Rodrigo Abols (5). That gave Philadelphia the 5-2 lead, but the score would soon change.

Tom Willander (2) answered the Tippett score after collecting the bouncing puck with Vladar sprawled out of position. That was the end of the Canucks’ scoring.

With just over 36 seconds left, Christian Dvorak (9) put the game on ice with his empty-net goal assisted by Zegras (24) and Konecny (23). The Flyers held on for the 6-3 win.

What’s next

Tuesday’s game in Vancouver was just the first of two late-night games back-to-back. The Flyers get right back at it in Calgary on Wednesday, when they take on the Flames at 9:30 p.m. EST at the Scotiabank Saddledome.