Postgame 5: The Brothers were 'on the Cates'

The Philadelphia Flyers opened their six-game preseason slate with a 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins at the Wells Fargo Center. Brothers Noah and Jackson Cates provided Philadelphia's two goals in the victory.

The first period was scoreless, but the Bruins took a 16-7 shot on goal edge (32-10 attempt edge to the locker room. Early in the second period, Noah Cates (1st goal of the preseason) stashed home a Morgan Frost pass during a 5-on-3 power play for the game's only goal through the opening 40 minutes. In the third period, Jakub Lauko knotted the score at 12:50 before a Jackson Cates deflection goal at 15:20 restored the lead for the Flyers.
Felix Sandström and Troy Grosenick split the goaltending duties for the Flyers while Keith Kinkaid and Kyle Kyser shared the game for Boston. Sandström stopped all 17 shots he faced in 30:10 of action. Grosenick turned back 14 of 15 shots to earn the win. For Boston, Kincaid stopped 15 of 16 shots in 30:30. Kyser (13 saves on 14 shots) took the loss.
The Bruins went 0-for-6 on the power play. The Flyers were 1-for-5.
Turning Point
With the score tied at 1-1 in the latter stages of the third period, strong forechecking work by Philadelphia, especially by Hayden Hodgson, started the sequence that resulted in the deciding goal. The puck went to Egor Zamula at the point and Jackson Cates deflected it home from the slot to restore the lead to his team.

Meltzer's Take
1) The first period was pretty sloppy especially on the Flyers side. They took four penalties in the period and the Bruins had a 44-second two-man advantage before the stanza was halfway done. There was a 12-1 shot attempt disparity on the Boston power players. At 5-on-5, Boston's shot attempt edge was a much more reasonable 6-4. The Flyers blocked 10 shots in the frame. On the downside, the Flyers were charged with five giveaways.
2) At 13:40 of the first period, Connor Carrick caught Antoine Roussel with his head down and blasted the Flyers' tryout forward with a big open-ice hit. Wade Allison rushed in to defend Roussel, receiving an instigator penalty and automatic 10-minute misconduct for the ensuing fight. Earlier in the period, tryout center Artem Anisimov briefly went up the tunnel after blocking a shot off his right leg. He soon returned.
3) The Flyers were unable to score during an early second period delayed penalty on Boston's Jakub Lauko but cashed in during the ensuing 5-on3 power play. An initial shot attempt by Tyson Foerster was blocked. However, Frost made an excellent backhanded pass to Noah Cates that found the rookie hopeful with an open right half of the net. Cates made no mistake.

4) At 14:37 of the second period,Hayden Hodgson was called for a boarding minor behind the Boston net. Carrick went after him and they had a spirited fight. Carrick got an instigator penalty and misconducting, evening out the manpower thereafter.
Second period shots were 11-5 Flyers (21-18 Boston through two periods), largely due to Flyers having three power plays to one for the Bruins. Shots were 7-0 nine minutes into the frame, but Sandström had to come up big on Vinni Lettieri from close range before both teams switched goalies at the next stoppage.
Foerster had four shots in goal in the middle period, but it was his one attempted that got blocked that put him on the scoresheet, He also had two hits. Frost, apart from his assist, won 5-of-7 faceoffs in the frame.
5) Lauko's goal developed quickly. After receiving the puck from Josiah Didier. he didn't miss on an open shot from mid-slot over the middle. After the Flyers retook the lead, they nursed the one-goal edge. With about 15 seconds remaining in regulation, Frost shot for an empty Bruins net a half-stride from the red line. The play went for an icing. In the waning seconds, Frost redeemed himself with a vital (and painful) blocked shot. The young center logged 20:13 of ice time overall (including 4:57 on the penalty kill and 3:58 on the power play). Apart from his nifty assist on the Noah Cates power play goal, Frost had two blocked shots, two credited takeaways and won 60 percent of his faceoffs (12-for-20).
What's Next?
The Flyers will practice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees on Sunday. After an off-day on Monday, they will travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in preseason action on Tuesday. The Flyers will then return home to host the Washington Capitals the next night.