The Edmonton Oilers (20-16-6) hosted the Philadelphia Flyers (21-12-7) in a Saturday matinée from Rogers Place. This was their final meeting of the season, as the Oilers came away with a narrow 2-1 overtime victory on Nov. 12 in Philadelphia. However, the Flyers enacted their revenge as their great defensive structure propelled them to a 5-2 victory over the Oilers. Here’s your game recap.
Game Recap
The Flyers opened the scoring 7:16 into the first period. Owen Tippett’s cross-seam pass found Denver Barkey, who redirected the puck past goaltender Calvin Pickard for his first NHL goal. Then, Philadelphia added another goal shortly after. Pickard faced numerous quality chances before Travis Sanheim finally ripped a shot past the netminder for his fourth goal of the season. The visitors continued their onslaught 14:38 into the opening frame. Off a turnover in the neutral zone, the Flyers entered the zone and funnelled the puck on the net. The puck bounced off Bobby Brink and past Pickard.
Related: Projected Lineups for Flyers vs Oilers – 01/03/26
After a fight between Garnet Hathaway and Darnell Nurse, the Oilers got on the board 16:08 into the period. Mattias Ekholm found Connor McDavid for a breakaway, and he went blocker-side, past goaltender Dan Vladar for his 25th of the season. Philadelphia led 3-1 after the first period, with Edmonton holding a 13-9 shot advantage.
Edmonton scored midway through the second period on the power play to make it 3-2. McDavid passed to Evan Bouchard, and he powered the one-timer under Vladar’s glove for his eighth goal of the campaign. That was the score headed into the final frame, with the Flyers holding a 10-5 shot advantage in the period, and 19-18 overall.
The Flyers made it 4-2 9:09 into the third period. Off a clean faceoff win, Nick Seeler’s shot through traffic beat Pickard clean for his first of the season. Then, Tippett added an empty-netter to seal the deal. Vladar stopped 22 of 24 shots for a .917 save percentage (SV%) in the win, while Pickard stopped 24 of 28 shots for an .857 SV% in defeat.
The Oilers conclude their three-game homestand on Tuesday (Jan. 6) against the Nashville Predators. Meanwhile, the Flyers return home to begin a four-game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks the same day. Keep following The Hockey Writers for all your NHL content throughout the season.
