Postgame 5: Early Barrage Lifts Flyers over Jets, 4-1

The Philadelphia Flyers rode a strong first period and excellent goaltending to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening. The Flyers swept their two-game season series with the Jets.

Samuel Ersson, who shut out the Jets on January 14, flirted with another shutout for nearly 55 minutes. He finished with 28 saves on 29 shots. The Flyers' skaters in front of him also blocked 23 Winnipeg shot attempts.

The Flyers roared out to a quick start and were rewarded with a big lead by the first intermission. Konecny led the way with a Gordie Howe Hat Trick in the opening 20 minutes. 

Philly worked a give-and-go off the rush to take a 1-0 lead at 3:37 of the first period. Attacking with pace through the neutral zone, Ryan Poehling fed back to Tyson Foerster (10th goal of the season) for a slam dunk from near the right post. The secondary assist went to Noah Cates.

Konecny (24th goal) made it 2-0 at 14:03 as the Flyers got some self-made puck luck. Farabee won a left-circle faceoff, replacing Morgan Frost after Frost was dumped from the circle by the linesman. The puck went over to Sean Walker at the right point. Walker put the puck at the net. Frost got a piece of the puck and it went to Konecny. The All-Star winger's shot from 25 feet went off Neal Pionk and re-directed into the net. The assists went to Frost and Walker.

Philly had another bounce go their way to open a 3-0 edge at 18:06. This time, the puck went to Frost in the low slot and he wristed the puck home from 10 feet. The assists went to Owen Tippett and Konency.

The Jets came out attacking in the second period but their deficit grew to 4-0 at 2:29 on a shorthanded goal by Poehling (6th). Winnipeg won an offensive zone faceoff but had a mixup at the offensive blueline. Poehling jumped on the puck and counterattacked. From the right circle, he used Josh Morrissey as a partial screen and fired the puck into the net for his second shorthanded tally of the season (11th for the Flyers as a team).

After the Poehling goal, the ice was heavily tilted in Winnipeg's favor ther rest of the second period. It took 15 saves by Ersson and a friendly bounce off the crossbar to get the game to the third period with the same four-goal lead.

Kyle Connor made a slick move and scored (19th) at 14:48 of the third period to end the Philadelphia shutout bid. The assists went to Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey.

In a losing cause,  Laurent Brossoit allowed four goals on 20 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. Winnipeg went 0-for-3 with a shorthanded goal allowed.

Rasmus Ristolainen was a late scratch due to illness. Marc Staal entered the lineup for the first time since January 13.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett - 14 Sean Couturier - 89 Cam Atkinson
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
74 Tyson Foerster - 25 Ryan Poehling - 27 Noah Cates
(rotation) - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker

18 Marc Staal - 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula

33 Samuel Ersson
[40 Cal Petersen]

TURNING POINT

The goals by Konecny and Frost were helped by a dose of favorable puck luck but were the product of good hustle, as the game went from 1-0 to 3-0. After Poehling's shorthanded goal early in the second period, the Flyers spent most of the remainder of the game in their own end zone. Fortunately, Ersson brought his A game and the lead was never in true jeopardy.

POSTGAME 5

1) Kyle Connor had a dangerous looking chance early in the first period. York erased it with a block at the 1:00 mark. On the next shift, Frost blocked a Cole Perfetti deflection attempt. Konecny generated the game's first shot on goal, looking for a potential tip by Drysdale. Foerster scored at 3:37.

Konecny took exception to Neal Pionk getting his hands up around the Flyers' face on a check. At 6:03, Konecny dropped the gloves with Pionk. Konencny eventually got the upper hand.

Tippett received a high stick from Vladislav Namestnikov at 6:27. The Flyers went to the game's first power play. PP2 started the advantage. Neither unit got much going. 

At 10:46 Nino Niederreiter slashed Hathaway's hand and the Flyers went back to the power play. PP1 started this power play and generated about 1:20 of attack zone time. They did not score.

Konecny scored a deflection goal at 14:03. Shots on goal were 10-3 Flyers. Frost made it 3-0 at 18:06. Shots were now 13-3 Flyers. Konecny already had a fight, a goal, and an assist -- a Gordie Howe Hat Trick -- to his credit.

The Jets very nearly scored in the waning seconds of the opening stanza. Ersson robbed Josh Morrissey from point blank range with 9.3 seconds left on the clock.

2) First period shots on goal were 13-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were 29-12  Flyers. Scoring chances were 14-3 Flyers, High-danger scoring chances were 6-2 Flyers. Faceoffs were 11-8 Flyers (led by Poehling's 4-for-5).

3)  Ersson made a pair of big saves -- one on Niederreiter before a delayed penalty on Konecny and then one to get the whistle -- early in the second period. Poehling's shorthanded goal made it 4-0. Late in the power play, Ersson made a tough save in a scramble near the net with help from Walker.

Foerster ripped a left circle shot off Brossoit's mask at 8:36 for the Flyers' first shot on net since the Poehling goal. At the exact midpoint of the game, shots on goal favored the Flyers by a 15-11 margin (7-2 Jets in the second period).

At 11:11, Dylan Demelo put a dangerous shot on net with traffic in front. Atkinson helped Ersson out with the rebound, and the goalie covered.  Ersson stopped a side-angle shot by Mason Appleton at 14:10. Second period shots on goal were now 10-2 Jets. 

Laughton took a defensive zone tripping penalty on Connor in the defensive zone at 16:11. On the ensuing power play, Nikolaj Ehlers had an open one-timer from the right circle but the shot hit the crossbar and went out of play. Sanheim intercepted a dump-in and cleared the puck down the ice. Winnipeg missed a stretch pass attempt with Scheifele open. Winnipeg flurried as the power play was about to expire but couldn't find the net.

With 37 seconds left in the middle frame, a Drysdale shot was deflected near the net by Tippett. The puck dribbled behind Brossoit but went just wide of the right post.

4) Second period shots on goal were 15-3 Jets (19-16 Winnipeg overall). Shot attempts were 34-9 Jets (45-37 Winnipeg overall). Scoring chances were 17-3 Jets (20-16 Winnipeg overall), High-danger scoring chances were 10-1 Jets (12-7 Winnipeg overall). Faceoffs were 10-9 Flyers (21-17 Flyers overall).

5)  At 2:07 of the third period, Hathaway backhanded the puck over the glass from deep in the Flyers' zone and received a delay of game penalty.  The Flyers staged a strong PK.

Through 5:33, shots on goal in the third period were 2-2. Connor passed up an open shot on what started out as a very dangerous rush but Zamula got back well and Winnipeg did not get a shot from it. 

At 7:30 Laughton flipped a long-range shot on net. With Frost nearby, Brossoit elected to hold on for a stoppage. After a TV timeout, the next faceoff was in the left circle of the Winnipeg zone. Frost lost the ensuing draw and Winnipeg got the puck down the ice. Ersson froze it at the other end. Frost won the defensive zone draw against Namestnikov. 

On the next shift, Seeler registered his third blocked shot of the game. Then Foerster blocked a shot.

The Flyers went back to the power play at 10:47 when the Jets were called for too many men on the ice. Philly went on a 58-second 5-on-3 as Demelo tripped Drysdale. Cates was robbed at the doorstep. At the other end, Adam Lowry bumped into Ersson.

With 5:12 left, Connor broke up the shutout bid with play at even strength. On the next shift, York turned over the puck and Ersson had to deny a 2-on-1 to protect the 4-1 edge. On the next shift, Hathaway blocked two shots.

Philly spent most of the remainder of the game in their defensive zone. Ersson and company closed the door to skate off with the win.

Third period shots on goal were 10-4 Jets (29-20 Winnipeg overall). Shot attempts were 25-10 Jets (70-48 Winnipeg overall). Scoring chances were 11-5 Winnipeg (31-22 Jets overall), High-danger scoring chances were 4-2 Winnipeg (16-9 Jets overall). Faceoffs were 8-6 Flyers (29-23 Flyersoverall).