Barkey scores 1st NHL goal, Flyers defeat Oilers

EDMONTON -- Denver Barkey scored his first NHL goal, and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Owen Tippett and Nick Seeler each had a goal and an assist, and Bobby Brink and Travis Sanheim scored for the Flyers (21-12-7), who ended their five-game road trip 3-2-0. Dan Vladar made 22 saves.

"It's tough to go into the game thinking you can play up and down hockey against this team," Vladar said. "I thought everybody played responsible hockey in here and we just outgrinded them.

"And we knew if we played good defense, we were going to have opportunities and we are skilled enough to take advantage of them. And we did. I'm grateful for the guys in front of me, I didn't have much of a workday."

Connor McDavid pushed his point streak to 15 games, finishing with a goal and an assist for the Oilers (20-16-6). He has 36 points (14 goals, 22 assists) during the span, the sixth time in his career he has had a point streak of at least that many games.

"Connor is impossible to check, he's going to get his chances, and you try to limit him as best we can," Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. "You need five guys, and the defense has to help out on that, and I thought [Sean Couturier] was really good for us."

Evan Bouchard also scored, and Calvin Pickard made 24 saves for Edmonton, which has lost three of four since the holiday break.

"I think there's been good stretches and bad stretches," Oilers forward Adam Henrique said. "We've got to find a way to just be consistent in our best game and being able to put that on the ice for 60 minutes. There are stretches where we're great, and there are stretches where it goes the other way. And it's kind of been that little bit of a roller coaster."

Barkey gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 7:16 of the first period, taking a centering pass into the slot from Tippett and lifting it over Pickard's right shoulder.

"'Coots' made a heck of a play in the neutral zone to draw in the 'D' and passed to 'Tipper,' and we had a 2-on-1," said Barkey, selected in the third round (No. 95) by the Flyers in the 2023 NHL Draft. "And he made a heck of a pass, and all I had to do was redirect it on net and I was on the fortunate end of a nice play by those two."

Sanheim made it 2-0 at 10:31 after Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse attempted to clear a rebound from the crease. Couturier kept the puck in the zone and took two shots on goal before Sanheim scored from the right face-off circle.

"Minus my turnover in the first, I thought we did a pretty good job against them, and the whole team buying in and understanding that you're playing against two of the best players in the world (McDavid and Leon Draisaitl) and you have to be smart out there," Sanheim said. "For the most part, I thought we were and that's why we ended up on the winning side."

Brink extended the lead to 3-0 at 14:38. Bouchard passed the puck out of his own zone looking for Zach Hyman, but Brink intercepted the pass, creating an odd-man rush that ended with Cam York banking a shot from the slot off of Brink.

McDavid made it 3-1 at 16:08. Mattias Ekholm cut off a cross-ice pass by York at Edmonton's blue line and sent the Oilers captain on a breakaway for a wrist shot that beat Vladar.

Bouchard got the Oilers to within 3-2 on the power play at 9:54 of the second period, taking a cross-ice pass by McDavid to the top of the right circle and one-timing a slap shot.

"Not playing with enough intensity to start the game," Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. "After we were down 3-0, we had a great response to finish that first period, but tough to come back in after you're down 3-0."

Seeler extended the lead to 4-2 at 9:09 of the third period with a wrist shot from above the left circle through traffic for his first goal of the season.

"It was nice to get that one and going back home too with the win is big for our confidence," said Seeler, who ended an 83-game goal drought.

Tippett scored an empty-net goal with 1:10 remaining for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: Only Wayne Gretzky (19 times) and Mario Lemieux (seven) have had more 15-game point streaks than McDavid. … Seeler's previous goal before Saturday was over a year ago (Dec. 31, 2024). … Sanheim moved into fourth place all-time in points by a Flyers defenseman (231). ... The team that has scored first has won the past 19 games the Oilers have played. ... Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had an assist and is one shy of 500 in the NHL. ... Hyman had his point streak end at six games (four goals, five assists).