St. Louis took a 2-1 shootout victory over Philadelphia.
It went from an incredibly boring game to an incredibly stressful one, as the St. Louis Blues (32-26-3) managed to take the two points against the Philadelphia Flyers (32-23-8) in a game that went from zero to 100 very, very quickly. The Flyers were still able to collect a point—no small feat considering how tight the Metropolitan Division is at the moment—and played an excellent game that wasn't told by the score.
Goalies Coming Up Big
Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was a huge reason the Flyers were held to only one regulation goal. He had a superstar tonight, but Flyers goalie Sam Ersson had an equally impressive performance.
"In the middle of the game, I leaned over to [Blues assistant coacb Darryl Williams] and said, 'I don't think [Binnington] is going to let another one in,'" head coach John Tortorella said. "Then I looked down the other end and said, 'I don't think [Ersson's] going to let another one in.' And there we have the game. Both goalies were outstanding."
That's not to say that the Flyers were lacking offense. It came in a series of relentless wave that probably would've beaten many other NHL goalies, but they happened to be going up against an exceptional Binnington performance.
Cam York Is Really Good At Hockey
The Flyers defense has been a huge talking point lately. With bringing in Jamie Drysdale in January, the incessant speculation surrounding the futures of Nick Seeler and Sean Walker, and wondering how Marc Staal is still seeing ice time, there's a buffet of things to talk about on the Flyers' blue line. The thing that should be talked about against the Blues is how unbelievable Cam York looked.
It was arguably his best game so far this season, showing skills on both offense and defense, and proving how much he's grown as a defenseman this season. He lead the team in blocked shots on the night (7), beating out even Nick Seeler (5), stirring up the conversation that York could be a suitable heir to Seeler's role should the 30-year-old get traded away. York is only 23, has made immense strides in his game on both sides of the ice, and if he can be taught to fight, could very realistically fill every gap in the team Seeler would leave if he were to part ways with the team. Something to think about.
Don't Look Back In Anger
A loss is never the way a team wants to end a game, especially at this point in the season, but both the players and Tortorella were optimistic about the team's performance.
"This is where we want to be," Travis Sanheim said. "This is the stretch that we want to be in where we've got a chance to make the playoffs. We're going to take it day by day, game by game, and continue to get better...We'll take the point and move on."
The first two periods of the game were slow for the Flyers (although Tortorella believes it to be "incorrect" that the Flyers have consistently struggled in the second period lately, as he told Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer), but their head coach was more focused on the way the team played in the final period of the game.
"I'm really happy with how we responded in the third period," Tortorella said. "We talked about how you've got to find a way to get energy. We're going to be in this situation for the next few weeks."
The Flyers' next game will be an away match against, according to Tortorella, "probably the best team in the league right now," the Florida Panthers, on Mar. 7 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
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