The Flyers rode the momentum of the NLCS-bound Phillies by beating the Canucks, 3-2, Saturday night.
At a packed Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies eliminated the Braves in the NLDS. The final out was shown on the Jumbotron at the Wells Fargo Center. Fans erupted and then saw a comeback from the Flyers, who improved to 2-0-0 under new head coach John Tortorella.
"You want to get our team, the hockey team out here, into those situations," Tortorella said of the Phillies' playoff party. "We were looking at them celebrating in between periods. I told the coaches, 'That's what we play for, just those few moments of you can do some of that s--- there that they're doing, that they win and they're acting like idiots and just having a blast.'
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"Regular-season win, you're happy for a couple of minutes because you're getting ready for your next game. But when you do something and you get to that pinnacle right now, and they've got a couple of more steps, I get it — that's what you play sports for.
"It makes me think, 'What would it be like if we can find a way to get ourselves there?' We've got some distance to travel to get there, but that's why we play. I'm thrilled for them, congratulations and I can't wait to see them keep on going."
The Flyers started 2-0-0 in two of Alain Vigneault's three seasons.
With his third goal through the first two games, Travis Konecny scored the game-winner Saturday in the third period. He had three goals through the Flyers' first three games last season.
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"Everyone's buying in, everyone's just playing hard, everyone's moving their feet," Konecny said. "It's really attractive, you kind of latch onto guys when they're playing that way, you just jump over the boards, you do what the last guy did and you just build off each other."
Tony DeAngelo and Scott Laughton scored the Flyers' other two goals to erase a 2-0 deficit in the second period.
"It's just two games," Laughton said. "We've got to continue to grow as a team and play better as we go along here."
The club's penalty kill went 5 for 5. It turned away a Vancouver power play in the third period to keep the game tied.
The Flyers face the Canucks (0-2-0) again when they visit Vancouver on Feb. 18.
• DeAngelo saved the club's power play with a blast for his first goal as a Flyer.
He unleashed a big pump of the fist from the blue line after burying a shot from deep. The man advantage was 0 for 4 at that point and the Flyers desperately needed some offensive life. DeAngelo and Ivan Provorov are off to a promising start.
A little under eight minutes later, just moments after the Phillies finished off the Braves across the street, Laughton tied the game with a shorthanded breakaway goal. Konecny sprung him with an excellent bank pass.
"Really heads-up play," Laughton said of Konecny's read and execution. "Saw that there were two guys in the middle of the ice and banked it hard enough where I still had some speed to go in. It was a really, really good play by T.K."
The Flyers are looking for Konecny to play in all situations, adding PK responsibilities to his plate. Cam Atkinson had a lot of success at shorthanded with Tortorella in Columbus. The head coach sees similarities in the two players.
"Very similar," Tortorella said. "Kind of quick players. Cam's more of a darter, but Travis has that, too. Same stature as far as height and all that, same willingness to play in the areas. Very similar. Cam was a guy for six years I leaned on in all situations like I'm doing with Travis. He may have to share it when Cam comes back, there's going to be some time for him, too. But very similar players."
• With Olle Lycksell's call-up and NHL debut, eight of the Flyers' 12 forwards Saturday were 25 years old or younger. Six of them had under 100 games of NHL experience
"That's where we are as a team," Tortorella said before the game. "If the organization — [Chuck Fletcher, Brent Flahr], everybody, the coaching staff — feels that we've got some guys that have a chance and need to be developed, it's right where the organization is right now."
Real solid start for Tortorella considering the circumstances of injuries and getting to know new players, many of them young ones.
• The Flyers were not sharp in the first period and it was costly.
Carter Hart surrendered a goal 1:34 minutes into the action. Kyle Burroughs' shot was impressive, but it got through Nick Seeler and was stoppable for Hart.
The Flyers then went 0 for 3 on the power play with three shots as Vancouver tried to gift them an early equalizer.
Their deficit cushioned to 2-0 at first intermission with a turnover in the neutral zone and ensuing poor coverage in the defensive zone.
Hart finished with 27 stops. He bailed out the Flyers early in the second period when there was a bad turnover behind his net. Hart stretched out to deny a shot at the doorstep with his leg pad, keeping the deficit at 2-0.
The Flyers responded with the DeAngelo and Laughton goals to draw even heading into the third period.
Thatcher Demko, who had to face Connor McDavid's Oilers in the Canucks' opener, stopped 27 of the Flyers' 30 shots. Fourteen of the saves came in the first period.
• Lycksell, a skilled 23-year-old Swedish forward, was inserted into the lineup on the fourth line.
Tortorella felt Lycksell had "a really good start" in training camp but then "faded."
"I'm hoping he plays like he played earlier in camp," Tortorella said before the game. "We're going to see."
The 2017 sixth-round pick finished with a penalty in 9:02 minutes.
Jackson Cates made his season debut centering the fourth line and played 6:59 minutes.
The Flyers expect a good bit of movement with their roster early on here.
• Nicolas Deslauriers had his first fight as a Flyer. Burroughs stepped up to the plate after Deslauriers put a clean hit on Curtis Lazar in the third period.
Deslauriers landed a number of punches to the back of Burroughs' head before both players went down to the ice.
• Owen Tippett was placed on injured reserve prior to the game after suffering an upper-body injury in the team's season-opening 5-2 win Thursday.
Atkinson (upper body) and Rasmus Ristolainen (undisclosed) missed their second straight game. Both the winger and defenseman are considered day to day.
• The Flyers have stiff tests ahead in Florida as they visit the Lightning on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET/ESPN) and Panthers on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET/TNT).
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