One day after the Minnesota Wild finally lost with Quinn Hughes, the Canucks finally lost without him.
The Flyers kept Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko busy, out-shooting the Canucks 39-25 en route to a 5-2 victory on Monday night in Philadelphia. It was the first match for current Flyers head coach and ex-Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet against his former club.
“Tock” left Vancouver and took over the head coaching duties for the Flyers back on May 14th.
The game remained scoreless until more than 33-minutes had elapsed. A few minutes past the midway point of the second period, Nikita Grebenkin tipped in his 2nd career NHL goal to put Philly on the board.
It would be almost six minutes into the third period before Carl Grundstrom extended the lead by banging in his own rebound. Christian Dvorak made it three-nothing Flyers less than two minutes later by batting in a puck that came bouncing high off the end boards.
Max Sasson made it a game again for the Canucks when he sped to the net for his second goal in as many games at 13:05 of the third, but Owen Tippett put it away for Philly when he faked Vancouver D-man Tom Willander out of his jock in the neutral zone and then beat Demko with a backhand on the breakaway.
The teams exchanged late goals, including an empty netter for the Flyers. Dan Vladar made 23 saves for the win.
Vancouver finished 4-and-1 on its five-game eastern road trip without Hughes. The club returns home to face the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night following the NHL’s Christmas break.
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks Jim Rutherford; NHL’s Greatest Ventriloquist
