First-period goals by Egor Zamula and Sean Couturier was all the Flyers needed to pick up a 2-0 win Tuesday night over the Canucks in their home opener.
After an uneven loss last Saturday in Ottawa, Ontario, the Flyers responded with a much better performance.
They were pretty disciplined and absolutely dictated play against Vancouver at the Wells Fargo Center.
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Carter Hart recorded his sixth career shutout for the Flyers (2-1-0).
John Tortorella's club killed off a penalty late to seal the win and hand the Canucks (2-1-0) their first loss of the season.
After the game, Comcast Spectacor chairman and CEO Dan Hilferty and president of hockey operations Keith Jones made their way to the locker room to congratulate players on the win.
"They've been around quite a bit the last week or so," Hart said. "Great guys and it's nice to have them around and get a big two points."
NHL
• It was a feel-good first period for the Flyers.
Zamula buried his first career NHL goal to open the scoring just 1:45 minutes into the game.
The 23-year-old defensemen exhibited great patience at the blue line to create a lane for his shot.
"He's got some good offensive instincts," Tortorella said. "He still [plays the puck] a little bit too much around the boards for me, I think he has the ability to make plays. He has just got to get enough confidence to look through the play and find an open guy instead of winging it around the boards."
The Flyers are hoping Zamula challenges their vets on the back end for more games.
"I worked my ass off in the summer," Zamula said. "This year, for sure, I have more confidence and I feel better."
Later in the period, Couturier was awarded a penalty shot and delivered on the theatrics. He made a beautiful move in scoring his first goal since December 2021.
"In the last two years, I had too much time to think about it and work on it," Couturier said with a laugh. "Just glad it worked."
The 30-year-old center pumped his fist in celebration.
"We do a lot of breakaways in practice and it was a hell of a move," Hart said. "It was from the Marty St. Louis playbook I think. ... He has been working on it."
Tuesday night marked Couturier's first home opener in two years. He had missed almost 22 months because of two back surgeries before playing in last Thursday's season opener.
There was some concern for his status Tuesday night after he missed practice Monday with an undisclosed injury. But Couturier declared himself fine to play about two and a half hours before puck drop.
He was very good all night and his goal had to feel awfully rewarding.
"He's just so positioned," Tortorella said of Couturier's presence late in games. "Sometimes I look at him and I'm not sure if he's moving or not. But he knows exactly what he's doing as far as his positioning and putting himself in a spot where he's not going to chase the play, the play's going to have to come through him.
"He doesn't say much on the bench. I'm not sure if he has before. I've asked him to be selfish and just worry about his game. I'm not sure if he opens up on the bench, but everybody trusts him. I think he just brings that calming presence to our team."
• Hart converted 26 saves.
The Flyers helped him greatly in the second period, outshooting the Canucks 22-3.
"The second period was probably the best period we've played this year," Tortorella said. "Really, quite honestly, the best period we've played in quite a while."
Vancouver netminder Thatcher Demko was impressive after settling in and stopping 40 shots.
• Some tempers flared early in the third period when Marc Staal boarded Phillip Di Giuseppe.
Noah Juulsen went after Staal in defense of his teammate. Both Staal and Juulsen went to the box for minor penalties.
Forty seconds later, Travis Konecny and Sam Lafferty got into it after the Canucks' forward was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct.
• Morgan Frost had a tough pill to swallow as Tortorella made an interesting decision to healthy scratch the 24-year-old center. Frost led the Flyers in even strength scoring last season and signed a new two-year, $4.2 million contract in the offseason.
But he had to watch the home opener Tuesday night.
"Other guys are playing better," Tortorella said. "There's not too much science to my thinking as far as lineups."
Tortorella said he's going to talk to Frost in person Wednesday. During training camp, he mentioned that he felt Frost still had to solidify himself with the Flyers.
"I think he improved as the year went on," the head coach said, "but if you want to be in the top-six forwards and I think that's a place, if Frosty's going to play, he kind of needs to be in that type of situation, then you need to keep progressing."
• Rasmus Ristolainen, on injured reserve with an undisclosed issue, missed his third straight game. The defenseman rehab skated Monday and was practicing with the club leading up to the season opener last Thursday.
• The Flyers practice Wednesday at noon ET in Voorhees, New Jersey before hosting Connor McDavid and the Oilers on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET/ESPN+, Hulu).
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