Ersson and the Flyers get the shootout win to open the season

All eyes were on the rookies at the season opener Flyersbut it quickly turned into a goalkeeping show. The Flyers escaped a tied game in the first 20 minutes and trailed by just one goal through two periods, thanks in large part to their goaltender.

This kept the game within reach and allowed the Flyers to tie the game early in the third period, setting the stage for an eventual 3-2 shootout victory over the Flyers Vancouver Canucks on Friday evening.

The Flyers killed two early power plays for the Canucks, but couldn’t prevent Vancouver from getting on the court first. At 12:55 p.m., a turnover was possible at the Flyers’ blue line Nils Hoglander to get behind the defense and fire a shot past Sam Ersson to make it 1-0.

The Flyers tied the game with a late power play goal. From a rush, a quick passing game from Bobby Brink To Joel Farabee To Tyson Foerster led to a tip-in goal.

After 20 minutes the score was 12-10 Vancouver.

The Canucks controlled most of the second period, although they only outscored the Flyers 6-5. At 11:25, the Canucks capitalized again and regained the lead.

Teddy Blueger remained unnoticed at the back door and deflected a pass from Derek Forbort to make it 2-1.

Through two periods the score was 17-16 in Vancouver.

The Flyers had the game tied early in the third period. A beautiful production by Ryan Poehling allowed cam York to fire one from the left circle, ending the game at 2:48.

Both teams had several power play opportunities in the third period, but were unable to capitalize on them. This forced an extension at the start of the season.

The Flyers held on for the final 90 seconds of 3-on-3 play, setting up a shootout.

At the shooting Jake DeBrusk And Travis Konecny In the third round they exchanged goals to extend sudden death. In the fifth, Morgan Frost scored the game-winning goal, giving the Flyers the victory.

Ersson made 24 saves on 26 shots in the win. Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves on 31 shots in the loss.

In his NHL debut Matvei Mikkov played 18:32, had two penalty minutes, a blocked shot and secured the team lead with four shots on goal. Jett Luchanko played 14:36 in his NHL debut and was minus-1 with one shot on goal.

The Flyers will be right back on the ice Saturday night, taking on the Calgary Flames at 10 p.m

Box score

	1	2	3	OT	SO	T
Flyers	1	0	1	0	1	3
Canucks	1	1	0	0	0	2

Summary of points

1st period

VAN Nils Hoglander (1) (Conor Garland) 12:55
PHI Tyson Foerster (1) PP (Joel Farabee, Bobby Brink) 17:24

2nd period

VAN Teddy Blueger (1) (Derek Forbort, Pius Suter) 11:25

3rd period

PHI Cam York (1) (Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway) 2:48

Over time

shoot-out

VAN JT Miller – Save
PHI Sean Couturier – Miss
VAN Elias Pettersson – Save
PHI Matvei Michkov – Save
VAN Jake DeBrusk – Goal
PHI Travis Konecny – Goal
VAN Conor Garland – Miss
PHI Tyson Foerster – Save
VAN Brock Boeser – Save
PHI Morgan Frost – Goal

Game statistics

	Flyers	Canucks
Shots	31	26
Power play	1/4	0/5
Hit	21	25
faceoff %	42.2%	57.8%
Promotional gifts	16	11
Takeaways	7	8
Blocked shots	20	12
Penalty minutes	10	8

Kevin Durso is a Flyers Insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.