Dan Vladar made 23 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers received two goals from their fourth line in a 5-2 home victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.
Fourth-liners Nikita Grebenkin and Carl Grundstrom scored for Philadelphia, while Rodrigo Abols assisted on both of those tallies. Christian Dvorak, Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov also scored for the Flyers, and Grebenkin added an assist.
Philadelphia earned just its second win in seven games (2-1-4).
Max Sasson and Drew O’Connor scored for Vancouver, which had won the first four games on its five-game road trip. Thatcher Demko turned aside 34 shots as the Canucks took their first loss since trading star defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild 10 days ago.
Philadelphia dominated the first period, but neither team found the back of the net. The Flyers finished with 14 shots in the session — including several quality chances on their lone power play — while the Canucks managed only five shots on Vladar.
The Flyers tacked on 14 more shots in the second period, although the Canucks had 12 of their own in a much more competitive session. Vladar stood firm when challenged, including two stops with his mask late in the period.
Philadelphia got on the scoreboard with 6:47 left in the second period. Abols sent a feed back to Emil Andrae, whose one-timer was deflected by Grebenkin into the net.
The Flyers doubled their advantage about six minutes into the third period. Grebenkin made a nice move along the boards and flipped a centering pass to Grundstrom, whose first shot was stopped by Demko. Grundstrom slammed home the rebound for his fourth goal in nine games with the team.
Less than two minutes later, Philadelphia’s Trevor Zegras took a shot that hit off the glass behind Demko and caromed back in front of the net. With the loose puck in mid-air, Dvorak swatted it over Demko’s shoulder.
The goal was initially overturned due to a high stick, but the ruling was changed following a review.
Sasson got Vancouver within 3-1 with just under seven minutes remaining. However, Tippett restored a three-goal advantage when he created his own breakaway with a nifty move at center ice and then chipped the puck over Demko with 4:25 left.
Michkov’s empty-netter made it 5-1 before O’Connor scored in the waning seconds for the Canucks.
–Field Level Media
