Flyers get production from fourth line in strong win over Sharks originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers once again bounced back from a regulation loss, this time beating the Sharks, 4-1, Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Christian Dvorak, Carl Grundstrom, Noah Cates and Travis Konecny scored goals for the Flyers (16-9-3), who improved to 2-2-0 on their season-long six-game homestand.
For Grundstrom, it was his first goal as a Flyer and it came against his old club. The Flyers acquired the 28-year-old winger from San Jose before the season in the Ryan Ellis trade.
“You always want to beat your old team, that’s for sure,” Grundstrom said. “It feels really good.”
Konecny’s goal was an empty-netter. He also finished with an assist to record his 500th career NHL point.
“For me, where I’m at in my career, those are good, but I just want to be in the playoffs,” Konecny said. “It’s more about winning the game and keep building as a team.”
The Flyers rebounded from a 3-2 loss Sunday afternoon to the NHL-leading Avalanche. Rick Tocchet’s club has dropped consecutive games in regulation only once this season (Nov. 1-2).
“We talked about squashing plays and not duplicating mistakes, and I thought for the most part, we were pretty good in that aspect of the game,” Tocchet said. “They do take the information and they’re applying it, so I’ve got to give them credit. That’s why, hopefully, we keep avoiding any kind of long losing streaks.”
The Flyers see the Sharks (14-14-3) again March 21 when they visit SAP Center.
• Dan Vladar was back in net for the first time in a little over a week.
The 28-year-old made 17 saves on 18 shots to pick up his 11th win with the Flyers through 17 starts.
“He was dialed in tonight,” Tocchet said. “He looked really big.”
The Flyers killed off a Matvei Michkov high-sticking penalty in the third period to help nail down the win.
San Jose scored on its first shot of the game after the Flyers had pretty much carried the play for the opening 11-plus minutes. Dvorak responded a little over seven minutes later as the Flyers outshot the Sharks 16-3 in the first period.
The Flyers really controlled the game from there.
“I thought it was a good step tonight,” Dvorak said. “I thought we had a great first period even though we were down for a decent part of it. I thought we tilted the ice and had a bunch of looks.”
Sharks netminder Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 29 shots.
• The fourth line produced the Flyers’ go-ahead 2-1 goal early in the second period. It came a day after the fourth line became a hot-button topic, and not to the joy of Tocchet.
The head coach shouldn’t hear any criticism for using his fourth line, at least in this game. Grundstrom, Rodrigo Abols and Garnet Hathaway had an effective night. Grundstrom just joined the group Tuesday and gave it a much-needed lift by redirecting a Nick Seeler shot for his goal.
“I thought playing that fourth line, getting them minutes, it really helps for an 82-game schedule,” Tocchet said.
Cates scored a huge goal with just 12 seconds left in the middle stanza to cushion the Flyers’ lead.
• The Flyers held Macklin Celebrini scoreless. The 2024 first overall pick came in with the NHL’s second-most points at 43 (15 goals, 28 assists), behind only the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, who entered Tuesday with 49.
Tocchet might be coaching the 19-year-old Celebrini in February as an assistant for Team Canada at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
“He’s a hockey nerd, the guy comes in great shape, plays a 200-foot game,” Tocchet said at morning skate. “He’s just a hell of a player. It’s not just an offensive guy.”
• Ty Murchison made his NHL debut on the Flyers’ third defensive pair.
“He played well, he didn’t look out of place at all,” Konecny said. “He did his job tonight.”
The 22-year-old prospect was solid alongside Noah Juulsen, helping protect the Flyers’ lead in the third period.
“It was a surreal experience,” Murchison said. “The guys made it extremely easy, talking to me a ton, giving me a bunch of feedback. It was a great team win and I’m very happy to be here.”
He worked his way to the Flyers as a 2021 fifth-round pick.
“Extremely emotional,” Murchison said Monday after practice. “There have been a lot of periods throughout the last 48 hours where I’ve been getting a bit choked up just thinking about it because I’ve been thinking about this every day of my life.”
• Cam York was out for a second straight game because of an upper-body injury.
But after missing the last three practices, the 24-year-old defenseman took part in the Flyers’ optional morning skate. York has been considered day to day.
“I think they’re giving him a little bit more, see where he’s at, a little more pace in his practice,” Tocchet said at morning skate. “As of now, it’s still day to day, so we’ll see how it goes.”
At practice Monday, Rasmus Ristolainen was no longer in a non-contact jersey, a good sign that he could be inching closer to making his season debut at some point this month.
The 31-year-old defenseman has been recovering from surgery in March on a second triceps tendon rupture.
• The Flyers are back in action Thursday when they host the Golden Knights (7 p.m. ET/ESPN).
We’ll see if Carter Hart will face his old team. The former Flyers goaltender is three games into his new opportunity with Vegas after being found not guilty in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial.
