VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Philadelphia Flyers were less than two minutes away from beating the Vancouver Canucks when Ivan Provorov was sent to the penalty box for tripping.
With the penalty kill unit in front of him, Vancouver native Martin Jones held solid, helping the Flyers to a 2-1 win Thursday night at Rogers Arena.
The Flyers got off to a fast start Thursday night — it took 22 seconds for them to get on the board with a Sean Couturier goal. The Canucks took longer to warm up. It took them a full two minutes to score and tie the game on a goal by Quinn Hughes.
However, the Flyers went on their first of many power plays shortly after, and they started with the man advantage as quickly as they did the game. Ten seconds into the power play, Sean Couturier found the back of the net and gave them the lead. While neither team scored a goal for the rest of the first, the period leaned heavily in the Flyers’ favor, with them outshooting the Canucks 15-4.
The momentum shifted early in the second period following a series of Canucks power plays. Although they weren’t able to even the score, they controlled the pace of the game had 14 unanswered shots on goal.
With a more equal showing in the third period, Jones’ performance during the second period helped the Flyers hold on. Jones finished with 27 saves.
Almost immediately after joining the Flyers, Zack MacEwen turned around and went right back to Western Canada for the team’s three-game road trip. In the second game, the former Canuck suited up in Orange and Black and celebrated his return by dropping the gloves with former Flyer Luke Schenn.
The ensuing fighting and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were just two of many handed out Thursday night. Both teams’ special teams had a lot of practice. Between the two teams, there were 10 power plays and 30 penalty minutes served. While the Flyers were the only ones to score a goal with the man advantage, the power plays served to shift the momentum.
Following MacEwen’s fight, the game abruptly shifted in the Canucks’ favor. They evened the shot count. The Flyers survived thanks to another Flyer with a personal connection to Vancouver.
When Vigneault announced that Jones would be in goal, he said the goalie was going home. Jones is from North Vancouver, and like Carter Hart the night before in his hometown of Edmonton, Jones had a great showing in front of his native city.
Although Jones did not face many shots early in the game, he withstood an onslaught during the second period, single-handedly preserving the Flyers’ lead.
After James van Riemsdyk got the power play off to a quick start with a goal at 6 minutes, 58 seconds of the first period, he and his linemates helped hold the team’s lead.
While they had a total of five shots on goal in addition to van Riemsdyk’s goal, much of their work does not appear in a stat sheet. They took care of the puck, helping keep it in the Flyers’ offensive zone. Scott Laughton drew a penalty by making a strong effort to get to the puck. Oskar Lindblom helped set up good looks for his teammates.
With the second line quieter than normal, the third line’s effort helped make the difference in the close game.
