NASHVILLE — Country songs usually tell a story.
And in the home of country music, this game had all the makings of a sad ballad. But the Flyers stuck with it and turned it into a rocking country song with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators.
After a pair of disastrous games over the weekend, the Flyers have now won two straight and five of their last seven games. Philly is 8-5-1 on the season.
In the first period, Matvei Michkov had two giveaways on the same shift that led to Nashville’s Luke Evangelista getting a chance on the doorstep. In the second period, the Russian winger cashed in, tying the game at 1 with his second goal of the season.
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Michkov started the play by carrying the puck into the Predators’ zone. He was pressured along the left boards by Nashville defenseman Justin Barron and sent the puck down toward Bobby Brink. He picked up the puck and tried to turn, but was sent flying by Barron.
While sitting on the ice, Brink played the loose puck to Sean Couturier, who sent it into the open space in front of Cam York. The Flyers defenseman carried the puck down to the bottom of the left faceoff circle and fed Michkov as he came off the right post and away from Predators defenseman Spencer Stastney.
Michkov appeared to let out a big yell as he ended a nine-game scoring drought.
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Noah Cates with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in the middle frame.
Off an offensive-zone faceoff that the Flyers lost, with Cates, Brink, and Travis Konecny on the ice, Brink pressured Predators defenseman Nick Perbix. Konecny swooped in to get the puck, and the Flyers got to work in the offensive zone.
Konecny and Brink controlled the boards, with the former knocking down a clearing attempt by Nashville defenseman Brady Skjei and then blocking forward Michael McCarron’s attempt to get the puck out with his shoulder. Konecny found Jamie Drysdale at the right point, and he put a shot on goal with Brink crashing the net from the slot.
Predators goalie Juuse Saros gave up a juicy rebound to Cates, who buried the puck for his fourth goal of the season. With the secondary assist, Konecny extended his point streak to six games. He added an empty-netter in the third and now has four goals and four assists in the past half-dozen games.
Ryan O’Reilly gave the Predators a 1-0 lead just 1:44 into the game when his shot deflected off the body of Drysdale and past an unsuspecting Dan Vladař.
It counted as the Predators’ first shot on goal. After that, Vladař stopped the next 23 shots, with several coming as the Predators controlled play for stretches of time.
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In the first period, Vladař used his blocker to stop Nashville’s Steven Stamkos from seven feet out, and in the second period, he stopped Filip Forsberg’s chance on a two-on-one. Minutes later, he stopped Matthew Wood as he walked across the crease before kicking out with the right leg spin-o-rama chance by O’Reilly from the slot on the rebound.
Two minutes after that — across a stretch that saw York on the ice for 1:10, Travis Sanheim for 1:16, Christian Dvorak for 1:32, Trevor Zegras for 1:30, and Owen Tippett for 1:42 — Vladař made five saves. His two best stops were on Nashville’s Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula on the doorstep, while York and Sanehim also blocked shots.
Breakaways
Goalie Sam Ersson was activated off injured reserve before the game and served as the backup to Vladař. Jacob Gaucher was sent back to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League in a corresponding move. … The Flyers didn’t get their first shot on goal until 4:32 into the game. Shot No. 2 didn’t come until there was 6:58 left in the first period. … The teams were throwing checks in a chippy game, which wrapped up the season series. The Flyers had 25 hits, with Garnet Hathaway’s seven leading the way, and the Predators had 20. Hathaway and his wife, Lindsay, are once again donating for every hit recorded by the Flyers this season through Hits for Hath’s Heroes, with all funds going to first responders.
Up next
The Flyers return home for a matchup with the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (1 p.m., NBCSP).
