The 56-game season came to an end tonight as the Flyers faced off against the Devils one last time on home ice. A whirlwind of a season, that seemed to have more downs than ups, is finally over. The final game of the season was military appreciation night, where they gave a special video shout out to honor the men and women who serve our country.
The Flyers also upped the ante with the ’take your shot initiative’ and allowed fans to get vaccinated onsite at section 104. The shot even came with a perk- all who got a vaccine received a voucher for two free tickets to a Flyers game next season.
Now let’s dive in and unpack this final game for the 2020-21 season.
Period 1:
On the last game of the season, it was Brian Elliott who got the final start in net. He also celebrated his 500th career game and was saluted with his wife and two sons on the ice. Scott Wedgewood started across the ice, having his 15th start this season.
Three line changes to start in less than a minute in. Shayne Ghostisbere was back on the ice after serving his two game suspension. With the teams even at shots on goal, it was Pavel Zacha with his 17th goal of the season that gave the Devils a one nothing lead early on. The Flyers had scored the first goal in the last three of four games.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel turned over the puck which led to a second goal less than two minutes later by Janne Kuokkanen.
It took the Flyers half of the opening period to get some jump in their step and actually spend some time in the opposing zone, but it was short lived. With 8 minutes left in the opening period, the Devils are leading in shots 9-4.
It was the most improved player of the season, Joel Farabee, who put the Flyers on the board with his 19th goal of the season.
A lot of attack time and turnovers for the orange an black in the first. With 3 seconds to go, the Flyers go on the powerplay.
Period 2:
Starting out with the man advantage, the Flyers lacked on power-play shots and it ended with them scoreless.
A deflected pass off the skate by Claude Giroux to Sean Couturier leads to a tied game. What looked like it could have been an accidental tap was definitely a calculated set up from the captain.
A penalty period for the Devils, giving the Flyers their third power play opportunity, but they came up 0-3. The Flyers have just two power-play goals in the last nine games.
Not a lot of opportunity either side this period, a lot of missed passes. A highlight of the period was definitely the heck of a save pulled by Brian Elliott on Pavel Zacha. He went into a full split and was able to stop the puck with his right pad. The period ends tied at 2-2.
Period 3:
The Flyers started out the final period a man short, as Justin Braun did not come back to the bench after intermission because of a broken foot.
Of course the Flyers couldn’t go a game without any penalties, but at least they made it two periods. The first penalty for the Flyers goes to, you guessed it, Nicolas Aube Kubel, as he leads the team with 44 penalty minutes.
JVR just couldn’t end the season without one more power-play goal. He potted his 10th power play goal of the year, and his 17th overall of the season. This was the first man advantage goal of the game making it 0-2 for the Devils and 1-3 for the Flyers.
Coming just minutes after, Farabee earned his 20th goal of the season and second of the night, to put the Flyers up by two and close out the game.
The final Final:
Wow. What an end to a crazy season. They were good, then they weren’t, and then they were somewhat okay? Whatever they were, at least they ended on a high note of a 4-2 win. The fly guys definitely have some work to do in the off eason but I’m excited to see how they come back next season.
