Flyers keep their momentum rolling with 2-1 win vs. Blues

PHILADELPHIA — The last time the Flyers played at the Wells Fargo Center, it was a house of horrors in a loss to the Montreal Canadiens. But after a solid 2-0 win at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, the Flyers hoped the ghosts of the last game in Philly wouldn’t haunt them on Thursday night.

And it didn’t as the Flyers skated away with a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues.

Momentum is important to coach John Tortorella, and maybe the momentum of a big win against in Boston helped carry this team as they learned they could win games.

In the third period, with the game tied up, Bobby Brink, who had been in and out of the lineup, crashed the net and scored his second goal of the season. The play started with Scott Laughton stealing the puck in the neutral zone before Joel Farabee and Brink finished off a give-and-go.

Sam Ersson then sealed the win with a big-time save on a redirect by Blues forward Brayden Schenn in the slot with 20.2 seconds left.

Things started off a little spooky. On his first shift, Matvei Michkov made a few mistakes, notably his puck support in the offensive zone and turnovers in the defensive end, leading to his first benching from Tortorella. He played that one shift, then another on a power play but did not rotate in with his line the next two at five-on-five, with Owen Tippett and Farabee getting ice time after.

Assistant coach Rocky Thompson spoke to him during a television timeout and he played the rest of the way. Tortorella did pat him on the shoulders to start the second period.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to the fourth line and a fantastic play by its centerman. Ryan Poehling got the puck in the defensive zone, skated through the neutral zone, and slashed his way through the Blues defense like Michael Meyers in Haddonfield — Illinois — before feeding Garnet Hathaway on the tape for a tap-in goal.

In case you weren‘t sure how pretty that was by Poehling, all you needed to see was the reaction from his linemates Noah Cates and Hathaway — who told The Philadelphia Inquirer at the team‘s morning skate “Poehls is so fast … and if he gets the puck next I know he’s thinking about where I’ll be for open space and trying to read off him.”

Hathaway was definitely in the open space.

“Yeah, I think I just trusted my legs and trusted what I saw,” Poehling said on 97.5 The Fanatic during the first intermission. “So, yeah, I mean, Coach always tells me to use my feet to make plays, and I think I did a good job of that there.”

There is no disguising who this Flyers team is. A hard, gritty team that lays their body on the line for each other. Maybe they were gearing up for Halloween in the first few games because, like Clark Kent, they revealed who they were underneath, once again blocking 24 shots.

But the defensive issues that have plagued this team all year have not been exorcised. Blues centerman Nathan Walker was left all alone halfway through the third and he buried the puck easily into the open net to tie things up.

Breakaways

Egor Zamula, Nick Deslauriers and Ivan Fedotov were healthy scratches. … The Flyers’ moms finished their trip a perfect 2-0-0.

Up next

The Flyers host the Boston Bruins on Saturday at 1 p.m.