PHILADELPHIA — As the Flyers faced down three NHL All Stars in the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Stuart Skinner, they looked like evenly matched opponents through regulation and overtime. But in the shootout, the Flyers edged the Oilers, 2-1.
The teams traded long offensive-zone possessions as well as rushes. It was a far cry from the “men against boys” start against the New York Islanders’ All-Star-studded team that John Tortorella described.
The Flyers (22-22-9) struck first, with a goal from their own All-Star, Kevin Hayes, who pointed to the sky in honor of his late brother, Jimmy, and his nephew Beau. Solid defense, especially against McDavid, helped maintain the lead through the first.
But McDavid, whom Travis Konecny called “the best player in the world” early Thursday, used the Flyers’ focus on him to set up the tying goal, scored by Evander Kane. Neither team built momentum from there, though.
Zach Hyman gave the Oilers (29-18-5) the lead in the third, but Tortorella challenged the goal for goalie interference and won, sending the game back to a 1-1 tie.
McDavid amped up the pressure in overtime. He burst through the neutral zone on a rush, but Tony DeAngelo managed to keep him from getting a shot off. He took another big shot, but Carter Hart made the save. Meanwhile, various Flyers took their own creative shots. Both goalies had over 30 saves by the shootout.
Morgan Frost beat Skinner in the shootout, but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins responded. James van Riemsdyk, the third shooter, finished the game, giving the Flyers their first shootout win of the season.
Drop it back
As the Flyers chased the Oilers into their own zone, Scott Laughton got a stick on one of their passes. Travis Sanheim scooped it up, and, suddenly, the Oilers were chasing the Flyers. As the Oilers defense focused on Sanheim, he quietly dropped it back to Hayes, who struck with a one-timer.
It worked so well for the Flyers that the Oilers copied the play the next period. A pass from Mattias Janmark set McDavid up for the rush. The Flyers defense followed McDavid, and, with the attention on him, McDavid dropped it to Kane, who was following him up the ice. Kane shot low, and it bounced in over Hart’s glove.
Almost, almost, there
The Flyers got on the board in the first eight minutes of the game, but after that they once again had a lot of the “almost” offense Tortorella bemoaned after Monday’s game.
A perfect pass up through the neutral zone set up Joel Farabee on the rush. He pulled a fancy maneuver but lost it at the last second in front of the net. Wade Allison put in hard work to win a puck battle in front of the net, but, when he passed it out, Frost’s shot went straight into Skinner. The next period, he tried to score on a wraparound, but Skinner just barely blocked it with his stick. In overtime, Frost almost beat Skinner but was shut down.
Owen Tippett created chances, Laughton had chances, van Riemsdyk had chances. The Flyers made the plays. They just couldn’t finish them until the shootout.
Facing down McDavid
After two periods, Noah Cates was 0-for-8 in the faceoff circle. But Cates, a rookie winger who is learning to play center, was facing down McDavid. Every other part of Cates’ game was strong. As usual, he played strong, reliable defense. He also took the Flyers’ only shot on their first power play and helped create opportunities for his linemates. But he just couldn’t win a faceoff.
At the end of the second, Tortorella shifted the lines and had Laughton replace van Riemsdyk on Cates’ line. Laughton took faceoffs while Hayes moved to center on the second line.
The lines shifted back for the third period, and Cates went back to the faceoff circle. He finished 2-for-12. But that was his worst stat of the night. His play earned him over 19 minutes.
What’s next
The Flyers host the Nashville Predators on Saturday (noon, NBCSP).
