BOX SCORE
It wasnt so much a victory as it was survival.
When you give a lethal power play unit like the Vancouver Canucks five chances in one period, youre begging for a spanking.
Somehow, the Flyers weathered the worst of it Wednesday night during a 5-4 nail-biter in their home opener.
Five power plays in the third is going to give them a lot of momentum, understated Flyer captain Chris Pronger. Theyve got the players who can work it around.
Bryz Ilya Bryzgalov made some great stopsYou look at their power play. It was scary good out there. Theyve been together, some of them, since birth. That gives them pretty good knowledge.
He was referring, of course, to the Sedin twinsDaniel and Henrikwho each had identical two-point games with a goal and an assist.
NHL
Vancouver struck twice on its vaunted power play but the critical stat was the Flyers killed off four straight Canuck power plays in the final 14-plus minutes to earn a win.
Thats impressive, though not something you want to make a habit of.
You go to the box consistently like that, youre rolling the dice, said coach Peter Laviolette. The penalty killers did a good job. Both units are talented for Vancouver, especially their first unit.
Its good we won the game because now we can go back and look at the power plays and penalty kills. Take a look at it, show things and teach. Thats a positivego back and make corrections. Certainly, we dont want to go to the box that much.
The Flyers twice led early by two goals, only to have the Canucks storm back on them.
Daniel Sedin made it 4-4 early in the third period with a power play goal with James van Riemsdyk was in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. He muffed a breakaway chance. He said something to the official. It was bad penalty at the worst time.
Still, it didnt prevent Andrej Meszaros from regaining the lead a minute later off the rush with his first goal of the season via a Danny Briere pass.
From that point on, it was just a matter of making the final buzzer.
We did a great job on those Sedins and theyre pretty good on the power play, said Claude Giroux, who had the games first goal.
The Flyers gave up a whopping 40 shots.
How many power plays did they get though? Giroux asked. On the power play, youll have more shots.
The Canucks had seven power plays.
Bryzgalov said he likes games where hes busy. Except he admitted this team kept him too busy. His head was on a swivel given the dazzling passing that only Vancouver possesses.
They have very skilled players and when you put them on the power play, especially a lot, they had some pretty good chances, Bryzgalov said. They had some chances to score goals. We were lucky to kill that many penalties in the third period.
Wells Fargo Center had a playoff-type atmosphere to it throughout.
Vancouver played terribly undisciplined hockey in the first period with stick infractions, giving the Flyers four power plays.
While the Flyers came into the game just 1 for 12 with the extra man, they had been generating numerous scoring chances. Hence, the Canucks paid dearly that period.
You could not have asked for a crazier first goal off the power play. Matt Read won a faceoff back to Pronger off a neutral zone draw. Pronger dumped the puck hard off the back boardshigh. The puck took a crazy carom and dropped 10 feet in front of goalie Robert Luongo, who wasnt expecting it.
Nor was Luongo expecting Giroux, in fourth gear, racing into the slot to pop it over the goaltender for his third goal of the season at 7:14.
Pronger scored his first goal five minutes later to make it 2-0. Again, on the power play, too. This time, Wayne Simmonds, who is looking more like Mike Knuble in front of the net, screened out Luongo as Pronger uncorked a slapper from the point.
The lasting impression of the Canucks from their Stanley Cup Final loss last seasonbesides the riotswas how awful Luongo looked in net.
He lost a simple rebound near the end of the period in the slot to JVR and the kid from North Jersey made it 3-1 at intermission.
Vancouvers lone goal that period also came on the power play at 16:35 when the Canucks blinding passing had the Flyers penalty killers running around on a Mikael Samuelsson rebound.
Things changed in the second period. Henrik Sedin made it a one-goal affair at 6:41 as the Flyers gave up their first even strength goal of the season on a rebound.
Rookie centerman Sean Couturier has been looking for his first NHL point and he found it minutes later, wheeling out behind the Canucks net and somehow seeing Jakub Voracek in the left circle.
The Czech winger buried a shot inside the post on Luongo to regain the two-goal lead for the Flyers.
It was a great pass by Couturier, Voracek said. I just tried to put the puck up high and was able to find the back of the net.
The period, unfortunately, did not end that way. With five minutes left, the Flyers got trapped in their own end, chasing the puck around as Vancouver played keep away. Twice Andreas Nodl failed to clear it.
The result was Alex Burrows briefly found Chris Higgins alone at the right post. A split-second is all these Canucks need to score and Higgins squeezed it inside on Bryzgalov, making it 4-3 going into the last period.
So, we know the Flyers can win the low-scoring affairs and now we know they can win the high-scoring ones, as well. Ten different players earned a point.
I still think theres a ways to go with that, Laviolette said. Its still tough to get a read on that. It was all power play for us in the first, all penalty kill in the third.
Its hard to get a read on a five-on-five game. I certainly think theres enough talent to produce offense.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net.