Hockey Flyers 5, Vegas 2 – Opening Night Recap by Evan Watson October 5, 2018 What a way to open the Gritty Era. Las Vegas finished last year 29-10-2 at home, one of the best marks in the league. Through two matches in Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, the Philadelphia Flyers are 2-0-0 with a 9-3 goal differential. This marks the third straight opening day win, and the third straight on the west coast. Vegas struck first after a stretch pass caught Philadelphia in a half-change. Andrew MacDonald realized he had left his half of the ice open, and Jonathan Marchessault took full advantage and ripped one short side for the first Knight goal of 2018. Things didn’t look good for Philadelphia until about ten minutes in, and something switched. Brian Elliott became a very real brick wall, and the Flyers potted five goals in the next 22 minutes of play. Former Flyer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare managed a shorthanded goal on a shifty move on Elliott, but the defense held strong as Vegas pushed hard. Michael Raffl played a great game in the offensive zone, protecting the puck and cycling passes up and down the boards at will. He was finally rewarded with a secondary assist on the fifth goal. Oskar Lindblom (wearing his new number 23 sweater) scored the first goal of Philadelphia’s season from a nice 2-on-1 feed from Travis Sanheim. He banks the puck off a Vegas defenseman’s skate and in. Here is the pass by Sanheim that led to Lindblom's goal pic.twitter.com/TNgPcjKY1v — Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) October 5, 2018 Marc-Andre Fleury was actually pulled after the fifth goal, replaced by Malcom Subban. He stopped everything he saw, though the Flyers had taken their foot off the gas to defend the four goal lead. Numbers: Brian Elliott made 23 saves, allowing one even strength goal. Philadelphia was 51.8% on faceoffs, led by Claude Giroux (7 for 11). Vegas rang pucks off the iron all night, at least three times, including one shot that hit both posts and stayed out. On special teams, the Flyers converted 1/4 attempts on the powerplay and killed all three shorthanded situations— including a huge 5-on-3 situation to keep Vegas from rallying early in the third. Wayne Simmonds has five goals in the last two season opening games. Mikhail Vorobyev tallied his first NHL point with a secondary assist on a Hägg goal. Hägg enjoyed his first multi-point game, with a goal and an assist. He added six hits, second behind Simmonds (7) for the team lead. For the final statline: The stat sheet is pretty, pretty, full. #PHIvsVGK Raffl (1a)Simmonds (2g)Laughton (1g)Lindblom (1g)Vorobyev (1a)JVR (1a)Giroux (1a)Voracek (2a)Gudas (1a)Sanheim (1a)Hagg (1g-1a) — Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 5, 2018 James van Riemsdyk notched his 100th point as a Flyer, finding Robert Hägg on an odd man rush with a ton of space. Giroux and Jakub Voracek also reached milestones tonight: Giroux took third place all time for assists by a Flyer, and Voracek’s 400th assist in his career came within minutes of one another. 1-0-0. Next puck drop is Saturday night in Denver. Post Views: 760 The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest Posts Evan Watson Latest posts by Evan Watson (see all) Flyers Add Depth at the Deadline - February 25, 2020 Travis Konecny Represents Philadelphia in the 2020 NHL All-Star Game - January 23, 2020 Takeaways From the Flyers’ First Quarter Season - November 16, 2019 The Flyers’ Fun New Second Line Leads the Way - October 27, 2019 Related TopicsBrian ElloittFlyersJames van RiemsdykLas Vegas Golden KnightsPhiladelphia Flyers Click to comment You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. Newsletter Subscription Can't Miss Posts! Women in Sports: NHL Network Host, Jackie Redmond by Nicholas Durst | posted on March 4, 2019 Passion For Sports Led Kelly Burke To Career As Broadcaster by Sunil Sunder Raj | posted on November 16, 2020 Women in Sports: Podcast Host, New York Riptide Sideline Reporter, Dani Wexelman by Luke Porco | posted on March 3, 2020 Women in Sports: Ariel Epstein, On-Air Host at SportsGrid (VIDEO) by Anthony Paradiso | posted on March 12, 2021 CBI to Utilize Experimental Men’s Basketball Rules Including Use of Quarters by Media Release | posted on March 9, 2017 More in Hockey Tim Peel is Discharged After Caught on Hot Mic Tim Peel was Discharged from the NHL After He was Caught on the Hot... NHL, Amazon Web Services Partner to Develop New Stats, Data, and Insights The National Hockey League (NHL) is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in an... You Know I’m Right, Episode 81: ESPN’s Arda Ocal (Audio/Video) On the 81st episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... You Know I’m Right, Episode 80: MSG Network’s Bill Pidto (Audio/Video) On the 80th episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... A successful night of firsts for Islanders Flyers at Avalanche Preview – Game 2 of 82