Postgame RAV4: Flyers Conquer Canucks

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2 at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday evening. It was Philly's final home game of the 2025 calendar year. The Flyers' fourth line was instrumental in a pair of goals for Philadelphia.

The game was scoreless until 13:13 of the second period. Nikita Grebenkin (2nd goal of the season) tallied on a deflection goal. Overall, the Flyers had better structure and more pressure than the Canucks for the first 40 minutes.

In the third period, goals by Carl Grundstrom (4th) and Christian Dvorak (8th) opened a three-goal edge for Philadelphia. Max Sasson (8th) ended the shutout bid with less than seven minutes remaining. The Flyers got the insurance goal back on Owen Tippett marker (11th) off the rush. Finally, Drew O'Connor (8th) rounded out the scoring.

Dan Vladar stopped 22 of 24 shots to earn the win. In a losing cause, Thatcher Demko turned back 34 of 38 shots.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The trio with Noah Cates centering Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink skated the game's first shift. Two shifts later, Sean Couturier deflected the Flyers' first shot on net.

The Flyers took the game's first penalty at 10:52. Christian Dvorak went off holding Zeev Buium's stick. Philadelphia killed off the minor successfully.

Owen Tippett created a power play at 13:51 as he was held by Tyler Myers. The Flyers put on a lot of pressure. Barkey and Michkov both had scoring chances. Michkov attempted a Michigan lacrosse-style shot.

At 19:11, Barkey went off on a slashing penalty. The Canucks took the remainder of the 5-on-4 into the second period.

Throughout the period, the Flyers emphasized getting pucks and traffic to the net. Tippett led all players with five shots on goal.

Shots: Flyers 14 - Canucks 5
Faceoffs: Flyers 5 - Canucks 11

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers had a 2-on-1 shorthanded chance with Konecny joined by Rodrigo Abols. Philadelphia killed off the penalty. With play back at 5-on-5, Nick Seeler blocked a dangerous-looking shot attempt by Evander Kane.

By the 7:00 mark, shots were 4-2 Flyers. Vancouver rarely advanced the puck beyond the red line. However, for all of their offensive zone possession time, the Flyers were unable to solve Demko.

The Flyers broke the scoreless deadlock to cap off a fourth-line shift at 13:13. Grebenkin had a deflection off an initial Emi Andrae shot. The second assist went to Abols.

Michkov was denied by Demko from prime scoring range. Through 17 minutes, shots were 12-9 Flyers. Conor Garland had a look for Vancouver on the next shift.

Tippett had a breakaway chance late in the period. Demko made the save.

Shots: Flyers 14 (28 overall) - Canucks 12 (17 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 13 (18 overall) - Canucks 11 ( 22 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

A near goal for Michkov went off the skate of Filip Hronek and went wide. On the next, the Flyers had a 2-on-1 off a Buium turnover. Zegras nearly cashed it in but was unable to beat Demko.

The Flyers extended the lead to 2-0 at 5:58. It started with Grebenkin winning a battle as he beat Hronek and Grundstrom finishing it off between the pads. Abols earned his second assist of the game.

A would-be Flyers goal was disallowed for Christian Dvorak. The replay was reviewed in the War Room in Toronto. Upon review, the call was overturned and the goal was allowed at 7:49. The assists went to Zegras and Konecny.

Through 11:30, shots on goal were 5-4 Vancouver.

The Canucks got on the board on a fast-developing sequence. Garland fed Sasson, who beat Vladar between the pads. The assists went to Garland and Myers.

Tippett scored a nifty goal off the rush with an east-west-east move and finish upstairs to the top part of the net at 15:35 for a 4-1 lead. Cam York had the lone assist.

The Canucks pulled Demko for a 6-on-5 attack. Finally, Michkov got rewarded with an empty-netter at 18:49. The lone assist went to Cates. With 17.3 seconds left, O'Connor scored Vancouver's second goal. Elias Pettersson and Buium drew the assists.

Shots: Flyers 11 (39 overall) - Canucks 7 (24 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 6 (24 overall) - Canucks 11 (33 overall)

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Trevor Zegras - Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Carl Grundstrom – Rodrigo Abols – Nikita Grebenkin

Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler - Rasmus Ristolainen

Dan Vladar

[Samuel Ersson]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Trevor Zegras point streak.

Flyers leading scorer Zegras brought a career-best seven-game point streak into Monday's match. He had several scoring chances in this game but was unable to finish. However, his helper on the Dvorak goal extended his points streak to eight games.

2. Flyers power play.

The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

3. The Cates line.

The trio with Noah Cates centering Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink was in the middle of multiple scoring chances. Michkov in particular had very good jump in this game. Finally, the Russian winger bagged an empty-net goal.

4. Offense from the blueline.

The Flyers' defense corps played well -- as did the five-man units as a whole. None of the Flyers defenders recorded a point, however, until York assisted on Tippett's goal late in the third period.