Highlights Beyond Highlights- Feb. 27 vs. Lightning

On a night at Wells Fargo Center that was memorable for more than one reason, the Flyers did their part by shocking Tampa Bay with three goals in the first seven minutes of the third period en route to a 6-2 win that was enhanced by a pair of empty-net goals.  The Flyers were energized coming out for the third period and took charge of a vital contest while Tampa Bay dimmed in the final 20 minutes.

Before we get to the goals, here’s a Garnet Hathaway appreciation moment.  Recall that the game was still very much up for grabs at this point; in fact, Tampa had just tied the contest and was looking for more.  Not only does Hathaway give up his foot for one of the six Nikita Kucherov shots the Flyers blocked on the night, but he stays out and gets a stick on another zone entry before heading to the bench.

Bobby Brink wasted no time in plugging himself back into the Flyers offense.  Recalled earlier in the day, Brink scored just over two minutes into the game. Notable here is the feed from Marc Staal, a puck floated out to center through midair that comes to Morgan Frost, who springs Brink. This is a trend not only in the Flyers’ game, but around the NHL, and Staal has been around long enough to have played in an era where this wasn’t done at all.  But the veteran executed the outlet well, and it was a crucial goal in establishing control early on.

Tyson Foerster has provided an offensive spark at just the right time, returning to the lineup at the same point that Travis Konecny exited with an upper body issue.  On his goal, it seems apparent that Andrei Vasilevsky was expecting this shot to come from Foerster’s forehand through the Tampa players, as you’ll hear Brian Boucher describe on the replay.  Note that Vasilevskiy’s giant glove is poised to grab any shot that comes that way. Instead, Foerster deftly pulls the puck between his feet and then gets off a backhander that Vasilevskiy cannot recover in time to stop.  It was the very jolt the Flyers needed to start the third period.

Our last look of the evening goes to Noah Cates, who set up Travis Sanheim’s goal. Cates was seemingly everywhere tonight, and on this one he’s persistent to get up the near wall despite being zapped by Kucherov, and then he’s able to pull away and wait for Sanheim to arrive for the scoring chance. Cates later scored the first empty-netter to cap off a great evening.