The Philadelphia Flyers didn’t score a lot of them this year, ending up as the sixth-worst offensively gifted team in the league with 231 goals. While that was still 53 more than the bottom-feeding Chicago, it’s still not many. But the team easily had more prettier goals this season then in the last handful, including five penalty shot goals which set an NHL record.
Here then are five of the prettiest, niftiest goals the Philadelphia Flyers had during the past season that made us feel good.
5. Sean Couturier’s penalty shot goal against Vancouver (October 17, 2023)
On Dec. 21, 2021, Sean Couturier scored a goal. The next 676 days that didn’t happen due to two back surgeries and the rehab needed to return. On Oct. 17, with the Flyers up 1-0 over the Canucks, Couturier was interfered with while having a prime scoring chance. A penalty shot was given. Looking back at Couturier’s goals a lot of them didn’t come with some fancy dekes or stickhandling and many anticipated the penalty shot attempt would be a straightforward dash with hopes of at least hitting the net.
Couturier came down his right hand side but then confused Thatcher Demko, the fans and even probably some of his teammates. Turning to skate backwards when he hit the faceoff dot to Demko’s left and looking like he was going to try and roof a backhander, Couturier turned forward again and rifled a low wrist shot that clanged off the inside of the post and in, beating Demko on his stick side. It was a huge weight off Couturier’s shoulders to score, putting that gap of nearly two calendar years with no goals behind him. It was also the first time Demko was beaten on a penalty shot after stopping the previous four.
4. Tyson Foerster’s lethal wrister versus Colorado (Jan. 20, 2024)
Tyson Foerster was a bright spot for the Flyers, with some of his goals coming off deflections, others by being in front of the net and a handful courtesy of an awesome wrist shot. In a home afternoon game against Colorado with the Avs up 5-2 early in the third, Cam Atkinson started a rush up ice, making a nice pass to Morgan Frost entering the offensive zone. Frost’s backhand went to a trailing Foerster who, with pinpoint accuracy, rifled a shot over the right shoulder of Alexander Georgiev, hitting the inside of the right post and in to make it a 5-3 game.
Although the Flyers lost the game, it was a goal that displayed some of the raw, unearthed talent that Foerster has with his shot. And while some fans might argue his dipsy-doodle backhand against Tampa Bay might have been better, for sheer power and precision this goal distanced itself from the others.
3. Travis Konecny’s laser versus Minnesota (October 26, 2023)
Two phrases that were often heard after watching Travis Konecny’s 30-plus goals this season were “dirty but good” and “short handed goal.” On October 26 against the Wild, defenseman Nick Seeler looked like he was possessed by Morgan Frost briefly, making his way up ice and carrying the puck in deep. Seeler fed a deft backhander to Konecny who had just come on for a shift. Konecny, much like Foerster’s aforementioned tally, was a criminally fine rocket that looked like it was behind Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson before he managed to react. Shooting just to the left of Wild defenseman Brock Faber for the opening goal roughly 14 minutes into the contest.
“Holy snipe!” the Wild television play-by-play commentator Joe O’Donnell said while Konecny was met by Seeler and Foerster in celebration. It was the sixth of the season for Konecny as the Flyers beat up on Minnesota 6-2. Most of Konecny’s goals were low glove-side wristers that beat darn near any goalie he faced this season, but this goal in particular seemed to show his talent. A runner-up might have been his near rink-length do-it-yourself dash against Chicago. But, c’mon, it was Chicago after all.
2. Morgan Frost’s penalty shot versus Arizona (February 12, 2024)
In an important second-half contest with the Flyers still in the playoff hunt and coping with the loss of a starting goalie, Morgan Frost had a chance to tie things up in the second on a penalty shot. Frost decided that patience would be a virtue on this attempt. Ragging the puck with a speed that could’ve rivaled former Leafs player Jason Allison but still made him look like Speedy Gonzales compared to Evgeny Kuznetsov, Frost skated to his left as he took the puck over the blueline. He then glided in the rest of the way as he came across the ice, looking like he was outwaiting Arizona netminder Karel Vejmelka. The Flyers center finally shot the puck, beating Vejmelka low on the stick side. Two or three strides over roughly 100 feet of ice is cruise control, but regardless Frost tied the game up just over four minutes into the second period.
The Flyers beat Arizona that evening 5-3 and it showed how Frost was gaining confidence in his game since his meeting with Tortorella about five weeks prior.
1. Owen Tippett’s spinaramic magic versus Dallas (January 18, 2024)
Owen Tippett’s mad dash to almost close out a game against Montreal this past season was one of the craziest sprints of the year. But even the speed shown on that night where he out-McDavided the Oilers star was no match for the ridiculousness shown late in a laugher against the imposing Dallas Stars
After a solid chance for Dallas in front of the Flyers’ goal, another Dallas shot went wide of the net, caroming around the boards before Tippett took the puck around one of the defensive faceoff circles. Speeding and looking like a bull in a china shop, Tippett tore across the blueline and looked to be trying to beat Stars defenseman Joel Hanley on the inside. But then Tippett spun around and beat goalie Jake Oettinger with a heavy backhand that soared just under the crossbar and in. The goal made both Hanley and Oettinger look foolish while most who watched were amazed by what just happened. “Oh my goodness! What a goal!” Flyers television color analyst Brian Boucher said, adding it could be the goal of the year before being somewhat lost for the proper adjectives. Brilliant is one that comes to mind.
Here’s hoping there’s a few more of these from Tippett, Couturier, Frost, Foerster, Konecny and the Mad Russian too.
