In what was one of their most complete efforts of the season, the Philadelphia Flyers (18-10-7) took down the Vancouver Canucks (15-18-3), 5-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena to close out their home slate in 2025 before heading west ahead of the holiday break.
The Flyers made Thatcher Demko a busy man all night, shooting early and often in this one. Philadelphia owned a 14-5 shots on goal advantage after the first period and jumped out to a three-goal lead just about twelve minutes into the third period. They would tack on another pair late in the game to seal the deal.
The Flyers’ fourth line was the main catalyst for their success tonight. Nikita Grebenkin tipped home a goal and added an assist, Carl Grundström kept his hot streak going with a goal, and Rodrigo Ābols racked up two assists.
“It’s balance. It’s balanced lines, right?” said head coach Rick Tocchet postgame. “We got back-to-back [games]… some good ice time, it was distributed well, and I think that line was really good. I liked the fight in that line. Obviously getting offense really helps. Taking some d-zone draws, having confidence in some of those guys to go out there taking d-zone draws is a big thing, too. I think Abs won a couple draws tonight, so that helped.”
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers wasted no time peppering Demko with shots, but the Canucks eventually received a little relief with a power play opportunity just over halfway through the opening frame. Christian Dvorak held Zeev Buium’s stick in the corner in the offensive zone to set up a Canucks man advantage, but the Flyers killed the penalty off.
The Flyers were awarded a power play of their own 59 seconds after their successful kill and had some grade-A chances, but Demko and the Canucks somehow kept the puck out of the net. Rookie Denver Barkey especially had two glorious chances but was denied on both of them.
Barkey has a high motor and always seems to be ready to make a play. That much was evident in his two-assist debut on Saturday in New York, and he was at it again tonight with a few high-quality scoring looks mixed in.
Vancouver was given one final power play in the final minute of the period as Barkey was called for slashing Tyler Myers.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers killed off Barkey’s penalty and went back to work firing at the Canucks cage.
Philadelphia finally broke through with 6:47 to play as Grebenkin deflected an Emil Andrae one-timer through Demko to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers followed it up with more pressure-filled shifts, including Matvei Michkov seeing some high quality opportunities at the net, but Demko remained rock-solid.
THIRD PERIOD
The fourth line went to work and Grundström took a pass from Grebenkin and shot it, was stopped, and jammed home the rebound to double the lead for the home team.
This is what the fourth line did all night. They were relentless on pucks, they forechecked well, they were able to move the puck around, and they chipped in with some offense. Depth scoring like that is a blessing and the Flyers’ prayers were answered tonight.
Dvorak then joined the party when he batted home a rebound from a Trevor Zegras shot that hit the back glass.
However, the officials initially ruled no goal and said it was high-sticked into the net. Upon further review, Dvorak’s contact with the puck was at legal height relative to the crossbar, and the goal counted to make it 3-0 in favor of the Flyers.
At this point, the Canucks finally settled down and were able to respond as Conor Garland found Max Sasson as the Flyers were completing a line change, and Sasson snuck through everybody to beat Dan Vladař and make it a two-goal game.
Vladař still had a very solid night as usual though, going on to stop 23 of 25 Canucks shots in this contest.
The Flyers then quickly restored their three-goal cushion as Owen Tippett hit the afterburners for a dazzling goal. He turned rookie Tom Willander inside out before racing in on Demko and chipping the puck top shelf in one of the prettiest goals you’ll see this season.
The Canucks would pull Demko for the extra attacker with just over two minutes remaining, but Michkov put any hopes of a Vancouver comeback to rest with an empty net dagger with 71 seconds on the clock.
Drew O’Connor did pot a garbage time goal with 17.3 seconds remaining, so the Flyers would have to settle for only a three-goal victory in this one.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Nikita Grebenkin – PHI, 2) Rodrigo Ābols – PHI, 3) Carl Grundström – PHI
UP NEXT
The Flyers head to the Windy City and take on the Chicago Blackhawks in the second leg of a back-to-back slate on Tuesday (9:00pm ET; TNT/TruTV/HBO Max).
