Morgan Frost scored the decisive goal in the fifth round of a shootout as the visiting Philadelphia Flyers won their season opener, beating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Friday.
Tyson Foerster and Cam York scored in regulation for the Flyers, who are beginning the season with a four-game western road trip. Goaltender Samuel Ersson made 24 saves in regulation and stopped three Canucks attempts in the shootout. Another Vancouver shooter missed the target in the tiebreaker.
Nils Hoglander and Teddy Blueger scored and Kevin Lankinen made 30 stops in regulation for the Canucks, who were playing the second contest of a two-game homestand to begin the season. They fell 6-5 in overtime to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.
Until Frost’s winner, the only players who scored in the shootout were Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk and Philadelphia’s Travis Konecny, each in the third round.
The Canucks lost one of their top defenseman, Tyler Myers, who was injured on his first shift of the game when he collided along the boards with the Flyers’ Joel Farabee. The Canucks announced in the second period that Myers would not return, but no details of his condition were given.
Hoglander opened the scoring at 12:55 of the first period after taking a pass from Conor Garland, who intercepted an errant Flyers breakout pass before feeding Hoglander.
Foerster scored the Flyers’ first goal of the season on a power play to tie it 1-1 late in the first period. He redirected the puck in close off a short pass from Farabee.
Blueger gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead at 11:25 of the second period. He outraced Flyers rookie center Jeff Luchanko to the front of the net, where he tipped in a shot from teammate Derek Forbort.
York scored 2:48 into the third period to tie it 2-2 on a shot that ricocheted in and out of the net so quickly that the officials initially missed it. The puck hit the far post, then deflected off the inside middle bar and quickly popped out. Play continued for 15 seconds before the horn sounded and the officials were notified by video review that it was a good goal.
Vancouver paid homage prior to the game to former defenseman Alexander Edler, who signed a one-day contract so he could retire as a Canuck on Friday.
The Canucks faithful cheered as a video tribute was played for Edler, who played 15 years with Vancouver and is their all-time leader for defensemen in goals (99) and points (409). Edler waved and thanked the crowd before being joined on the ice by his family for the ceremonial dropping of the puck.
–Field Level Media