Postgame 5: Flyers Close 2024 with 4-0 Win in San Jose

In the final game of the 2024 calendar year, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-0, at SAP Center on New Year's Eve. The Flyers kept their foot on the gas pedal throughout the shutout win.

The Flyers came out with a strong first period, outshooting San Jose by a 10-7 margin and taking a 1-0 lead to intermission. They had a would-be second goal overturned on a coach's challenge by the Shars.

Philadelphia had four of the game's first five shots and seven of the first nine. Nick Seeler (3rd goal of the season) gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 5:59 with an east-west move and a banked-in goal to the short side. The assist went to Jamie Drydale.

At 12:29, Seeler was clipped by Ty Dellandrea's stick. The Flyers went on the game's first power play on the high sticking minor. Samuel Ersson stepped up to deny a shorthande scoring chance for Luke Kunin.

Morgan Frost appeared to notch his first power play goal of the season on a back door tip-in off a Tippett shot pass at 13:16. However, the Sharks challenged the goal for an offside entry well before the goal sequence and the tally was overturned. San Jose killed off the rest of the penalty.

San Jose went to their first power play on a tripping minor on Sean Couturier at 14:38. The Flyers killed it off in good shape. Noah Cates turned in strong PK work.

In the second period, the Flyers generated four of the first six shots before San Jose generated their first momentum. Ersson made a clutch save of Tyler Toffoli on a transition play to protect the one-goal lead. Later, Ersson made a nice stop on Barclay Goodrow. At the other end, Frost set up a pinching Drysdale for a quality chance.

At 12:09, Ryan Poehling (3rd) extended the lead to 2-0. After a good initial play by Bobby Brink, the puck went high-to-low. Poehling showed good patience and finished it off on the backhand. The assists went to Egor Zamula and Brink.

The Flyers went on their second power play at 13:35 as Mikael Granlund went off for tripping Couturier. Frost won the draw and the second unit went to work immediately with crisp puck movement that Travis Konecny (PPG, 17th) ripped into the net for a three-goal lead at 13:44. The assists went to Tippett and Drysdale but four of the five Flyers on ice touched the puck in the sequence in rapid succession.

At the start of the third period, Aleksei Kolosov entered the net in relief of Ersson (15 saves on 15 shots). Ersson was involved in a second period collision but it was unclear if that caused an issue that forced the goalie to depart.

Fifteen seconds into the third period, Cody Ceci accidentally high sticked Tyson Foerster. The Flyers had some good puck movement including a tip-in opportunity for Joel Farabee. However, they were unable to score.

With play back at 5-on-5, the Flyers opened a 4-0 lead at 2:30. Zamula backed a shot from the corner into the net (3rd goal of the season). The assists went to Brink and Cates.

Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Konecny and Kunin created two minutes of 4-on-4 play at 11:53. Kolosov made a pair of excellent saves. With play back at 5-on-5, Ersson made a 10-bell save on Kunin at the right post.

In 20 minutes of action, Kolosov stopped seven of seven shots. In a losing cause, Georgiev made 29 saves on 33 shots.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
74 Owen Tippett - 25 Ryan Poehling - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 48 Morgan Frost - 39 Matvei Michkov
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
5 Egor Zamula - 9 Jamie Drysdale

33 Samuel Ersson

{35 Aleksei Kolosov]

PP1: Drysdale, Brink, Couturier, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Ristolainen, Tippett, Frost, Cates, Foerster

Scratches:15 Olle Lycksell (healthy), 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 82 Ivan Fedotov (healthy).

TURNING POINT

The Flyers lead started to feel tenuous for several minutes in the second period. After a couple of clutch saves by Ersson, Poehling's goal gave the Flyers some breathing room.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Michkov vs. Celebrini: Mackin Celebrini narrowly missed scoring a goal twice in the first period. Michkov had a look from the right circle early in the second period. At 4:22, after a give-and-go with Frost, Michkov had an open scoring chance from the slot. In the third period, a very patient Michkov had a self-generated scoring opportunity. Celebrini had another near goal in the third period.

2. The Couturier line: Head coach John Tortorella decided to break up the team captain's line with Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny. Couturier centered the fourth line. In 14:30 of ice time, Couturier was credited with one hit and won five of 12 faceoffs.

3. Flyers special teams: The Flyers ended an 0-for-17 drought (including the disallowed first period goal) on the power play with Konecny's second period 5-on-4 goal. Overall, the Flyers officially went 1-for-3 on this night. On the penalty kill, the Flyers went 1-for-1.

4. Winning the important faceoffs: The Flyers dodged a bullet in the first period after San Jose nearly scored off a faceoff in the Philly zone. In the second period, Frost's clean faceoff win on the power play started the sequence that ended in Konecny's goal.

5. The F-Troop -- Farabee, Foerster, Frost: Frost came into the game with five points (3g, 2a) in his previous five games. The offside entry by Tippett that caused Frost's goal to be overturned happened well before the goal was scored but the ruling was accurate. In the second period, Frost set up good scoring chances for Michkov and Drysdale. Likewise, while neither Foerster nor Farabee got on the scoresheet in San Jose, they were in the thick of several good opportunities.