PHILADELPHIA – It may not have been easy but the Flyers got the job done.
Faced with the prospect of a possible winner-take-all Game 7 in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the Flyers came up with a 1-0 overtime win over the Penguins on Wednesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena and took the best-of-seven series, four games to two.
The Flyers’ Came York scored at 17:32 of overtime for the game-winning goal. Now Philadelphia moves on to the Eastern Conference semifinals to play top-seeded Carolina. A starting date for the series is likely Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C.
York scored after Noah Cates won a faceoff. The puck went to Matvei Michkov, who got the puck back to York at the point. His long shot eluded goaltender Arturs Silovs.
As soon as the puck hit the net, a grinning York turned, skated away in joy and tossed his stick up into the crowd.
“I hope everyone is OK,” he said with a laugh. “I just wanted to get it (the shot) to the net and it found a hole. I didn’t know what the deal was, I was so excited.”
And well he should have been as his teammates mobbed him. If you don’t count the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, this was the Flyers’ first series win since the 2011-12 season.
“I’m just so happy for my teammates,” York said. “And obviously the fans.”
None of this would have been possible without the spectacular play of goaltender Dan Vladar, who recorded his second shutout of the series. He stopped all 42 Pittsburgh shots, many of them of the difficult variety in the third period and overtime,
Captain Sean Couturier said this was a crowning moment for a young team which seems to be growing by the day. This was a supreme test and they passed it.
“I think everyone has grown together as a team,” said Couturier, mindful that the Flyers had been written off as recently as the Winter Olympic break. “We’ve been resilient the last couple of years. I think we’re coming together pretty well this year.”
There were similar comments all around the Flyers’ jubilant locker room.
“They pressed the entire game,” Jamie Drysdale said. “Obviously a lot of emotion. You have to do your best to stay even-keeled. All it takes is one shot. They were pressing pretty hard. We just hung in there until that moment came.
“These last three games it felt like we were playing a different team on the other end. A completely different game. I think it shows a lot that we were able to come out on top.”
Coach Rick Tocchet had praise for just about all aspects of the Flyers’ effort.
“It’s been a long time,” Tocchet said of the franchise’s long drought in the playoffs. “A lot of frustration. I’m happy for the guys. The guys have done a hell of a job. We hung in there. Winning this is huge for the young guys’ development. To play at 19, 20, 21 and this kind of pace, playing against Sidney Crosby, this atmosphere, overtime. . .when things aren’t going our way, how they’re learning.
“This is huge for the development of the young guys. I’m really proud of the young guys for hanging in there for us.”
Travis Sanheim couldn’t say enough about the way this team refused to lose, even when the Penguins were all over them in the later stages of the game.
Sanheim, who has partnered with York a lot the past couple years, had words of praise for his former sidekick.
“I know what his skill set is and what he’s capable of,” Sanheim said. “That’s what we need from him. I thought he and Jamie (Drysdale) both played great. They do a good job of facilitating the puck, joining when they can and yet they’ve really been good defensively for us.”
With a scoreless tie in place at the start of the third period, the two teams began to play a little more cautiously and dared not take a penalty, although the Flyers began the frame with the man advantage due to a carryover penalty by Kris Letang at the end of the second.
A scoreless second period was a defensive battle, although each team had opportunities to score.
For the Flyers, one of the best sequences near the end of the session. Michkov was turned away on a breakaway attempt, then Silovs sealed off a post when Michkov tried to jam in a loose puck on the same sequence.
Although there was no scoring in the first period, there were plenty of close calls. Both teams has first-class chances but couldn’t get past anything Vladar or Silovs.
>Michkov returns
After sitting out a game, Michkov returned to action on the right side and played on a line with Cates at center and Denver Barkey at RW.
Also, defenseman Noah Juulsen got back in the lineup in place of Emil Andrae.
>Short shots
Sanheim has become the fourth Flyers defenseman over the past 20 years to score multiple goals in a single series. He joins Ivan Provorov (2020, round 2), Andrew MacDonald (2018, round 1) and Chris Pronger (2010, conference semifinals and conference finals).
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