The Philadelphia Flyers, who were need of two points, faced the worst team in the NHL, the San Jose Sharks. Philadelphia is in third place in the Metropolitan Division, but was only two points ahead of the New York Islanders. Also, in the wild card playoff chase, they have multiple teams chasing them. As for the Sharks, well they are in year one of a long rebuild. Coming into the game, San Jose’s leading goal scorer had only 16 goals this season. Also, the difference in goals scored versus against is a league leading -111. After all this, the question going into this game, will the Flyers have a let down?
1st period-Philadelphia Flyers vs San Jose Sharks
The Flyers struck first at 3:29, when Morgan Frost made a perfect pass to Joel Farabee, who went in on a breakaway, and buried it through the five-hole of Sharks goaltender, Magnus Chrona, for his 19th goal of the year.
San Jose tied the score at 1-1, as on the power play, when Luke Kunin made a perfect pass to Filip Zadina, who deked Philadelphia’s goaltender, Sam Ersson, and backhanded it into the net for his 11th goal of the year.
2nd period-Philadelphia Flyers vs San Jose Sharks
Philadelphia regained the lead midway through the period, this time on the power play, as after Travis Konecny‘s shot was deflected, it went right to Frost, who deposited over Chrona’s glove side. The goal was Frost 10th goal of the year, and his first goal in 12 games. The goal ended an 0-for-13 skid and it was Philadelphia’s first power play goal in five games. A little over four minutes later, the Sharks tied the game at 2-2, as on the power play, it was Zadina again, who took a pass from Kunin, and tipped it into an open net.
3rd period-Philadelphia Flyers vs. San Jose Sharks
The Flyers took the lead, 3-2, at 5:09, as on a delayed penalty, Konecny made a diagonal pass to Owen Tippett, who buried it for his 1st goal in nine games. Tippett’s 23rd of the season was the difference, as Ersson held it down in net, as he made 27 saves in the victory.
This was the first game for the Flyers without head coach, John Tortorella, who was serving the first of his two-game suspension. The Flyers next game will be this Thursday night, as the Toronto Maple Leafs make their first visit to the Wells Fargo Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
About the author
David covers MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and college sports. Follow him on X at @weightmanstats and follow us at @TotalApexSports