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Takeaways from Flyers 3-2 overtime win over Blues

Posted on by Jason MacNeil
Nov 30, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) defends the net against Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (74) during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

In Jim Montgomery’s home coaching debut with the St. Louis Blues, the Flyers got a great effort from Aleksei Kolosov and Matvei Michkov to earn a hard-fought 3-2 overtime win Saturday evening.

The basics

First period: 9:15- Owen Tippett (Matvei Michkov, Morgan Frost)

Second period: No scoring.

Third period: 11:11- Dylan Holloway (Brayden Schenn, Matthew Kessel), 12:02- Tyson Foerster (Bobby Brink, Noah Cates), 19:40- Jake Neighbours (Justin Faulk, Jordan Kyrou) (PPG)

Overtime: 0:28- Matvei Michkov (Travis Konecny)

SOG: 31 (PHI) – 27 (STL)

Some takeaways

Zamula returns

For the first time in 10 days, Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the last four games. And he looked like he never missed a step starting off. Not Andrae-esque or Sanheim-ish, but Zamula was up 8-1 in chances for after 20 minutes despite playing the least (not by much) of the six blueliners with 5:34 time on ice. He was quite fortunate late in the second when he skated out in front of the Flyers goal and managed to escape through the Blues who were nearby in the slot.

Couturier stoned

The Flyers should’ve been up 2-0 late in the second when Travis Konecny went in on Blues goalie Jordan Binnington. The rebound went to Couturier who shot the puck into Binnington’s sprawling glove that was almost on the goal line. It would’ve been a huge insurance goal late in the second but it was not to be much to Couturier’s disgust.

A wild shift in the third period saw Couturier foiled again, this time on a breakaway before the Flyers nearly put the puck in on a mad scramble in front.

Konecny dinged early, Bolduc bulldozes Sanheim

Konecny looked to take another hit that might have hurt him in the first period. The forward took a hit from Brayden Schenn and headed for the bench looking to be favoring his shoulder. Before the television timeout Konecny could be seen talking to the trainer and seemingly no worse for wear from it.

In the second period Zack Bolduc nailed the other Travis, putting his backside into Sanheim who had turned his back and looked slow to get up. The other Flyers surrounded Bolduc to offer their thoughts on the play, resulting in Ryan Poehling getting the first minor penalty since the Nashville tilt earlier in the week.

Power play keeps stalling

The Flyers had a power play in the second period as Joel Farabee hit the ice awkwardly (and spent some time in the locker room before returning) which resulted in a Blues interference penalty. They looked out of sorts as the ranking continues to go back down to what most Flyers fans were used to the last two seasons. Twenty-fifth heading into Saturday game is still an improvement over being the worst, but you’d like to see it come up smelling like roses every two or three games at least.

Solid structure

After a chopping opening few minutes, and a whistle going nearly every 30 seconds, the Flyers found their game early. Whether it was swallowing up everything in the neutral zone, creating chances with an effective forecheck or simply having the puck a lot more than the Blues, the Flyers looked to start exactly where they left off Friday afternoon against the Rangers. The Blues were still looking for their first shot halfway through the opening twenty minutes before Jake Neighbours forced Aleksei Kolosov to make his first save of the night. He was later tested on a breakaway by Jordan Kyrou but foiled him with a blocker side save.

Although not dominating on the shot clock, the Flyers took the lead on a two-on-one. Matvei Michkov welcomed Blues blueliner Philip Broberg (returning from missing a large chunk of time due to injury) by making him look foolish as he slipped the puck over to Owen Tippett for a gimme.

The Blues had some chances to close out the first but overall it was a pretty dominating first period by the Flyers, up 20-9 in the chances for category.

Kolosov best on breakaways

Say what you want about the Flyers goaltenders, they keep inching their way up the NHL stats for goaltenders. Kolosov was solid in the second period as the Flyers and Blues opened things up for a few breakaways each way. And when he wasn’t there to make the save, Garnet Hathaway (who missed a wide open net in the second to make it a 2-0 game) was there to save a goal as he did in the second period on Kyrou.

Perhaps his most important stop of the night was a calm, casual glove save after Sanheim was in no man’s land, leaving the Blues’ Brayden Schenn to shoot high on Kolosov. Unfortunattely for the goalie Dylan Holloway broke the shutout bid with just under nine minutes left to tie things up 1-1.

Breakaway bonanza

Tyson Foerster had an empty net much like Couturier did earlier and wasted no time getting it over Binnington less than a minute after the St. Louis tied the game. The goal came after another fantastic last-ditch save by Binnington on Bobby Brink who was stopped.

By the end of the evening, there were ample breakaways, with Farabee going in alone on Binnington late in the third but again coming up short.

Passing precision

Perhaps it’s fawning over Emil Andrae. But as the sample size continues growing, Andrae is making lovely little passes that either create a scoring chance or nix any forecheck in his own zone. A simple reverse pass behind the net in the first was one example, as was a cross seam pass to Ryan Poehling in the first that created a scoring chance. In the second, Andrae again made a nifty pass to Tyson Foerster in the neutral zone to turn things up ice quickly.

Andrae might have been deemed lucky with those passes the first game or two he was in the lineup. But with him becoming more and more of a top four staple moving forward this season, such passes are showing the talent and skill he has, not puck luck.

Menacing Michkov

After getting the primary assist, Matvei Michkov was a thorn in the Blues’ ass for most of the night. He seemed to have some words for Alexey Toropchenko in the second before giving him a decent two-handed slash on his lower leg as he skated away. Michkov also got a bloodied lip earlier in the game but it didn’t deter him from getting into the dirty areas.

Singing the Blues for a few minutes….

With Konecny taking a dumb but iffy penalty late, the Blues tied the game late 2-2 with the goalie pulled for a two-man advantage. Kolosov did everything he could to keep it out but it wasn’t enough.

The extra session led to Matvei doing this in overtime…..but of course.

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