Sandstrom, N. Cates and Frost Shine as Flyers beat Bruins 2-1
The Philadelphia Flyers earned a win in their first preseason game of the John Tortorella era last night, beating the Boston Bruins 2-1.
Felix Sandstrom, Noah Cates and Morgan Frost were our three stars of the game after strong performances to provide Flyers fans a glimmer of hope as we inch closer to the regular season.
The Bruins outshot the Flyers 32-29, but thanks to the play of Sandstrom and Troy Grosenick, they were able to close the door and skate away with a 2-1 win.
Felix Sandstrom, easily handed the Flyers the best performance of the night, saving 17-of-17 before getting pulled in the middle of the 2nd period (something we knew beforehand from Lappy).
The Bruins had a handful of power plays early on due to the Flyers committing several penalties in the 1st period and even had a 5-on-3 for an almost a minute and a half. Sandstrom was fantastic through it all and really showcased himself to coaches and management.
Remember, these goalies are actively fighting to be Carter Hart’s backup this season.
Noah Cates and Morgan Frost both had very strong games and even hooked up on the 1st goal of the preseason for Flyers on the PP.
Tyson Foerster also picked up an assist on the play after he let one rip from the dot, Kinkaid made the initial save but gave up a big rebound that found Morgan Frost’s stick. Frost makes a silky behind the back pass to Cates and he makes no mistake about it.
The Bruins ended up tying the game on a goal from Jakub Lauko late in the 3rd period. Troy Grosenick was beat clean short-side on what was honestly a beautiful shot from the 22-year old Lauko.
The Flyers quickly responded not even 3 minutes later with the other Cates brother, Jackson, deflecting a point shot off of Egor Zamula’s stick.
Cates was the first player in on the forecheck and made a nice play forcing the defenseman to make a weak clear. Max Willman then came over and helped to force another weak clear attempt with pressure. The puck easily found Zamula’s stick and Cates finished it with a solid deflection.
Tyson Foerster finished the game with 1 point from the N. Cates goal but was also tied with Ronnie Attard for the team lead in shots on goal (5).
One play was really eye-popping to a lot of people.
Foerster picked up the puck at his own blue-line, sped through the neutral zone and into the Bruins zone. Made a quick little shimmy move (similar to the move G made in the stadium series against the Penguins to win it in OT) and let one rip.
Pretty sure in hit Keyser’s mask.
Morgan Frost was out there to close the game in the end and tried to fire the puck into the empty net on his side of the red-line and missed. It wasn’t the best place to shoot the puck but in a preseason game who cares that he tried to go for the dagger?
He quickly made up for it with a clutch blocked shot to close the game that got a ton of stick taps and love from his teammates.
All in all, it was a good game for the Flyers that had a mixture of good goaltending, solid defensive play and opportune goals. The Flyers have practices and scrimmages today with their first off-day of camp being tomorrow.
Up Next for the Philadelphia Flyers
They’ll play in a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday against Buffalo and Washington.
Listen to the new episode of The Liberty Yell
Mandatory Credit: Flyers.com
