The Philadelphia Flyers and visiting Vancouver Canucks will meet for the second time in the season’s early stages Saturday for the Flyers’ home opener.
Philadelphia began its season in Vancouver on Oct. 11, notching a 3-2 shootout victory. However, that was the Flyers’ only win on their season-opening four-game road trip.
They went on to lose in Calgary, Edmonton and Seattle, allowing 16 goals in the process. Ivan Fedotov got the start in net Thursday against the Kraken but was pulled after surrendering five goals in the first two periods.
Flyers coach John Tortorella didn’t want to talk postgame about Fedotov, who has allowed 10 goals in his first two starts. He instead preferred to focus on the future.
“We’re just gonna go back home, get ready for our next game,” Tortorella said. “Really quick turnaround. And just continue to work on our game.”
Scott Laughton had two goals and an assist against Seattle, as Philadelphia built an early 2-1 lead before allowing four second-period goals.
“We’ll learn from it,” Laughton said. “We’re young, but we’ve got to learn from it.”
The Flyers are expected to turn back to Samuel Ersson in goal for Saturday’s affair. The Swedish netminder, who turns 25 on Sunday, made 24 saves against the Canucks in the Flyers’ season-opening win.
Ersson also stopped four of Vancouver’s five attempts in the shootout that night before Morgan Frost netted the decisive tally.
The Canucks opened their season with one-goal losses to the Flames and Flyers before suffering a 4-1 setback in Tampa Bay. However, the team enters this one with a bit of momentum after slipping past the defending champion Florida Panthers 3-2 in overtime on Thursday.
“We’ve got some work to do, but I thought there was some good stuff in there,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “There were times where we had good possession time and had some chances.”
J.T. Miller played the hero role with his nifty overtime winner — his second goal of the season after netting a career-high 37 last season.
“Hell of a goal by Millsy in overtime — it’s a big one for us,” Tocchet said.
Quinn Hughes contributed a goal and an assist for Vancouver, while Kevin Lankinen made 26 saves. The Canucks were excited to get a victory after three straight losses to begin the campaign.
“The longer you go without a win, I think you just add a little pressure to yourself and the team,” said Miller, whose squad will visit Chicago on Tuesday to wrap up its four-game road swing. “It’s nice that we can hopefully take a deep breath moving forward through the road trip.”
The Canucks have only scored six goals in their last three games, but the Flyers are seeking offensive consistency as well, despite scoring a season-high four goals against the Kraken.
“Five-on-five, we’re disjointed,” Tortorella said. “We’re not developing a whole bunch.”
The Flyers are 6-1-1 in their last eight home games against the Canucks. In last year’s visit to Philadelphia, Vancouver was blanked 2-0. Egor Zamula and Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers.
–Field Level Media
