Flyers Survive Canucks Scare as Moveable Object Meets Stoppable Force

While they are still wading through the on-ice and mental obstacles that have bedeviled them all season long, the Philadelphia Flyers finally managed to record their fifth win of the season, besting the lowly Vancouver Canucks 3-1 on Monday night in a contest that had the potential to be scary.

Before this game even started, though, Flyers head coach made a pair of intriguing lineup changes that weren't exactly expected. Scrappy winger Michael Bunting replaced Cole Knuble, and after three weeks on the bench, prospect defenseman David Jiricek drew in for Simon Benoit.

The Bunting move, in particular, paid off, as he opened the scoring with a strong effort chasing down a bouncing puck in a mad scramble, eventually popping one past Canucks goalie Leevi Merilainen to open the scoring just over two minutes in.

Overall, the first period was predictably boring, as the Flyers out-shot the Canucks 9-4, and neither team did anything of consequence at either end of the ice. Bunting's goal was fortunate, but he's on the team to be on the right side of those plays at this point in his career.

In the second period, the Canucks didn't bother showing up, recording just two shots on goal to the Flyers' six.

On the somewhat controversial topic of shift lengths and ice time, Matvei Michkov overstayed his shift on the power play and made it count, delivering a nifty short-side pass to the second unit's Travis Konecny for a power play goal, doubling the Flyers' lead to 2-0.

But, that's not the second period Michkov moment that's going to be talked about the most.

With the Flyers already up 2-0, Michkov again possessed the puck, wheeling through traffic and doing his signature floater shot from the center of the ice, which was saved comfortably by Merilainen.

Defenseman Nick Seeler, who activated from the left point, was calling for the puck from Michkov and tapping his stick on the ice before skating away to defend in transition and apparently turning to say something to Michkov on his way back.

At the other end, Michkov backchecked to stick lift Canucks defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who was primed for a one-timer on a 3-on-2 opportunity, making an amazing defensive play.

During the subsequent TV timeout, cameras spotting Michkov and Seeler having a heated exchange on the bench, where Michkov slammed a water bottle against the bench and had to be restrained by teammates Noel Acciari, Porter Martone, and Noah Cates at different points in the bust-up.

We'll discuss this more in the future, to be sure, but it certainly didn't fire the Flyers up...

In the third period, the Flyers were out-shot by the Canucks 13-2, with the Flyers' first shot of the period being Travis Sanheim's empty-net goal with 59 seconds left.

A Bunting high-stick penalty gave the Canucks a power play, which allowed Jonathan Lekkerimaki to bang in his seventh of the season.

The Canucks certainly gave the Flyers a scare and had their chances to tie it, but they were dreary with the extra attacker, and that allowed Sanheim to ice the game at 3-1.

This third period is just one piece of the bigger picture for the Flyers, who continue their habit of coming up completely limp in the third periods of games.

Needless penalties from Bunting and Konecny, on top of a penalty on Joseph Woll for knocking his own mask off, put the Flyers in disadvantageous positions with the Canucks pressing for goals.

And, much like the Calgary game one night ago, these are mistakes made by players who should know better, especially against an awful team like Vancouver.

This shows that the Flyers, for better or worse, are very much in the same category as the dreadful Canucks.

Fortunately, Woll played a very solid game, stopping 18 of 19 shots, while Michkov and Porter Martone looked like their usual selves. With a two-assist game, Christian Dvorak deserves a lot of credit, too, on the second leg of this back-to-back.

And, despite rotting away for three weeks, Jiricek didn't look out of place and fired two shots on goal, with a few others getting blocked. He, Michkov, Bunting, and Martone were the only Flyers with multiple shots on goal against the bottom-feeding Canucks.

So, the Flyers got their much-needed win to again lower the temperature building around the organization, though another Michkov incident and an epically bad third period loom large.

Then, on Wednesday, they'll have to figure out how to handle the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid, who is currently on pace for 49 goals and 213 points this season. Gulp.