In a game that was tight and feisty throughout, the St. Louis Blues survived a first-period onslaught by the Philadelphia Flyers to hold onto a 2-0 shutout victory. The Flyers’ offense has been non-existent as of late, and their scoring woes continued on Monday night. The Blues successfully killed off four Flyers power plays and skated away with an impressive road victory. Michal Neuvirth played well again for the Flyers, as he has now only let up five goals in his three straight starts, but it all went for nothing as the players in front of him fell short.
First Period
The Flyers started the game exactly how a team struggling offensively would want to. With the offense sorely lacking lately, they came out buzzing and throwing everything at Blues goaltender Carter Hutton, including hitting a few posts, but ultimately could not solve him. The Blues would weather the storm and escape the period still tied at zero despite being outshot 11-1 in the first.
Second Period
The second period was where the Blues would begin to settle into the game. It was a tale of two tightly defensive teams that smothered each other’s offenses back and forth. Finally, 15 minutes into the period, veteran Paul Stastny scored the game’s first goal, which would eventually be challenged by the Flyers and upheld as a good goal due to insufficient evidence to overturn.
Stastny deflects the shot off his foot past Neuvirth. Play is being reviewed for offside. pic.twitter.com/xcewib2YKY
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) February 7, 2017
Also, with the Flyers’ offense struggling as much as they have been, things didn’t get better as rookie Travis Konecny would fall awkwardly into the boards and not return to the game. The Blues would head into the third period with a 1-0 lead.
Third Period
The Flyers had every chance in this game to come away with a victory but could not get a single bounce to go their way. As the game continued, the Flyers’ sticks got tighter and their feet got heavier as the Blues would overtake the flow of the game. The Blues wasted no time in the third in getting the insurance goal on the Flyers and making their comeback efforts that much harder. Playing his first game for the Blues, the AHL assist leader, Kenny Agostino, converted a breakaway to score his first goal of the season in the NHL.
Dominant in the AHL. Off to a good start in the NHL. Congrats @kennyagostino on your first goal as a Blue. pic.twitter.com/QELpC9JfhW
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 7, 2017
The Flyers would never really threaten the lead the Blues had built up in the third despite a few power plays that were handed to them throughout the period. The Blues would go on to win the game 2-0, leading to many questions for the home team about what they’re going to have to do to turn their offense around.
First time Flyers shut out in back to back home games (with no road game in between) since 1999.
— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) February 7, 2017
