post-4.5

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins in overtime, 2-1, in a must-win at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday afternoon. Rookie Porter Martone accounted for both Philadelphia tallies, creating the first and scoring the second. 

Martone's 5-on-3 goal in overtime was his first goal in the National Hockey League. With the win, the Flyers (39-26-12, 90 points) moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division. They leapfrogged the Columbus Blue Jackets (88 points) and the New York Islanders (89 points).

In the first period, Christian Dvorak (17th goal of the season) converted a slick Porter Martone exit pass into a 2-on-1 goal in transition. The second period was scoreless. Philadelphia generally played well but was unable to convert on three separate power plays.

The third period saw Pavel Zacha (PPG, 29th) tie the game in the opening minute. The game remained knotted until overtime.

Dan Vladar made 18 saves on 19 shots to earn the win. At the other end of the ice, Joonas Korpisalo stopped 29 of 31 shots.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Before the game got underway, Lauren Hart performed a surprise rendition of God Bless America.

Ar 1:49, Vladar stopped a partially deflected puck for the game's first save. Through 4:00, Boston still had the only shot on goal.

Philly scored on their first shot of the game at 4:19. Porter Martone sprung a 2-on-1  rush. Puck carrier Dvorak elected to shoot from the right circle and hit the mark. The second assist went to Rasmus Ristolainen, who made a good initial play deep in the defensive zone.

Travis Sanheim took a pass from Travis Konency, moved across in front and very nearly scored on the backhand, Shots were 3-2 Flyers through 11:04.

The Flyers dialed up their forecheck. Konecny had a side-angle chance. They were unable to get another shot on net but had Boston scrambling.  On exits, Boston remained bottled up in the neutral zone.

A scrum broke out at the buzzer. Tippett grappled with Charlie McAvoy. The lone penalty went to McAvoy. The Flyers took a two-minute power play into the second period.

Shots: Flyers 6- Bruins 3
Faceoffs: Flyers 5 - Bruins 11

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

As the power play expired, Matvei Michkov rang a shot off the crossbar from the middle slot.

Boston had the first three shots of the period. Vladar made a point blank save on David Pastrnak. At the other end, Grundstrom was stopped on a breakaway.

Vladar denied a Fraser Minton deflection on net at 5:26. Shots for the period were now 7-1 Boston.

Morgan Geekie tripped Zegras in the neutral zone at 6:23. The Flyers went to their second power play opportunity. A Drysdale center point shot with traffic was the lone notable look.

At 9:01, Vladar gloved a Mason Lorei shot from distance.

The Flyers went to the power play again at 11:20. Geekie threw his stick at the puck. Philly had a chance off the hop. With 11 seconds left, Foerster received a Martone pass-out and fired a tough shot from the hash marks.

Offsetting penalties ensued at 13:27: Pastrnak (roughing) and Michkov (unsportsmanlike conduct). Pastrnak nearly had a chance exiting the penalty box.

At 19:25, Grundstrom was called for interference along the defensive side boards. Boston went to its first power play. Vladar stopped a Pastrnak one-timer just before the buzzer. The Bruins took 1:25 of carry over power play time into the third period.

Shots: Flyers 11 (17 overall) - Bruins 11 (14 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 16 (21 overall) - Bruins 6 (17 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Vladar couldn't quite control the loose rebound of a Pastrnak one-timer. Casey Mittelstadt got the puck to Zacha, who poked it home at 0:35.

Cates made a great backchecking play at 6:30. Shots were 3-1 Boston through 7:39. Bump created a near chance for Cates around 8:10.

The Flyers got hemmed in for more than a minute. Finally, a blocked shot by Emil Andrae relieved the pressure temporarily. Vladar took a shot off the mask for a stoppage at 11:27.

Martone and Drysdale created fine chances. Martone ripped a shot on net.

In the final two minutes, Lindholm blatantly tripped Tippett. There was no call.

Cates iced the puck with no pressure on him with 50.2 seconds left.

Shots: Flyers 10 (27 overall) - Bruins 5 (19 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 12 (33 overall) - Bruins 4 (21 overall)

OVERTIME SUMMARY

At 1:22, Drysdale came up with a clutch blocked shot.

The Flyers had a 2-on-0 breakaway. Pastrnak took a hooking penalty. Dvorak was unable to finish at 2:09. Right off the ensuing faceoff, Zegras got high sticked by McAvoy. Philly went to a 5-on-3.

The Flyers controlled the draw and went to work. The initial chance was stopped but Martone won the game at 2:31. Dvorak and Zegras assisted.

All four shots on goal in overtime belonged to Philadelphia.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Alex Bump– Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov 

Carl Grundstrom – Sean Couturier --  Luke Glendening

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

Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. First period

The Flyers entered the game with a 17-1-3 record when leading at the end of the first period. When trailing after the opening 20 minutes, Philly was 8-17-5.

Mission accomplished in Sunday's first period. Philly was excellent on both sides of the puck -- tight coverages, good forecheck, well-executed exits and entries, and traffic going to the net. More importantly, the Flyers took a lead to the locker room with a power play entering the second period.

2. Tippett goes for career goal high

Owen Tippett entered Sunday's game tied for his career-best season with 28 goals. Through two periods, he had six credited hits but only one shot on goal. After regulation, he had one shot in 16:04 of ice time. Tippett later had the first shot of overtime.

3. Between the pipes

Vladar and Korpisalo gave their respective teams every opportunity to win. Vladar in particular was razor sharp when tested.

4. Special teams 

The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play in regulation. They went 0-for-1 on the PK. The three unsuccessful power plays in the second period almost predictably were followed by Zacha's tying goal.

In overtime, however, Philly's Martone delivered the vital victory.