The game was played in Pittsburgh, but the script could have been written in Hollywood.<\/p>\n
How else to explain how Flyers rookie Alex Bump, a fifth-round draft pick, became just the 26th player in franchise history to score in his first NHL game on Saturday night? And in a crucial game to boot?<\/p>\n
The big moment came at 4:46 of the second period. After the 10-foot shot eluded Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner, there were smiles on Bump\u2019s face and on those of family members in attendance at PPG Paints Arena.<\/p>\n
Sure, it was important that the Flyers earned two points in a 4-3 shootout win, where Trevor Zegras scored the only goal and goalie Dan Vladar stopped all three shots for his 20th win of the season.<\/p>\n
But for the front office personnel in attendance, including GM Daniel Briere, it had to be a great night for multiple reasons, with Bump and fellow rookie Denver Barkey scoring.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Bump, just called up from Lehigh Valley, made no mistake after taking a feed from Nikita Grebenkin.<\/p>\n
With Bobby Brink traded away to Minnesota, Bump made his NHL debut a memorable one. He started at left wing and wore number 20.<\/p>\n
In a second intermission interview, Bump said it was a relief to get the first one out of the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun,\u201d he said. \u201cGuys have been taking it easy on me. Kind of showing me the ropes. So yeah, it\u2019s been fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got an unreal support system. Got a lot of family in Cleveland, so a quick drive for them. It (the goal) was kind of a big relief. Glad to get it over with in the first game. Don\u2019t have to worry about it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the game, Bump was still pretty emotional.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t as nervous as I thought I would be,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m still getting used to it but it\u2019s only going to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Rick Tocchet was happy for the rookie.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe played with a lot of confidence,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHe played 16 minutes and we had to kill six power plays. Did a nice job. We have to learn to develop these guys in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bump drew rare reviews from his teammates, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cFantastic,\u201d said Zegras. \u201cWhen you get to play with someone in their first game, it\u2019s always special. Not too often do you see them score in their first game. We were all fired up for him. There was amazing energy in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jamie Drysdale was pleased to witness history.<\/p>\n
\u201cAwesome,\u201d Drysdale said. \u201cI don\u2019t care who you are or how many games you\u2019ve played, to watch a guy play his first game and score his first game, you just know the emotional rollercoaster going through their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers had to come back from three one-goal deficits. Bump\u2019s goal tied the game at 2. Then, after the Penguin went ahead, Barkey scored at 10:03.<\/p>\n
The Flyers fell behind early, surrendering a power-play goal to Tommy Novak at the three-minute mark. But the Flyers came right back 54 seconds later. Owen Tippett converted a pass from Zegras for his 20th goal of the season. That\u2019s the fourth straight season Tippett has reached the 20-goal mark.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Travis Konecny missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. Nick Seeler missed his second straight with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh was without future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby, injured during the Olympics, and Evgeni Malkin, who was suspended five games for slashing Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Zegras\u2019 hot streak in the shootout continues. In addition to scoring on two-thirds of his attempts this season, he\u2019s an incredible 19 of 30 for his career.<\/p>\n
What is the secret?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure,\u201d Zegras said. \u201cSomething I\u2019ve practiced a lot my whole NHL career. Had a couple traumatic experiences with it growing up so I made it a point to be good at it in the NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Drysdale did a good job sticking up for partner Cam York as time was winding down in the first period. Pittsburgh\u2019s Avery Hayes hit York with a borderline check behind the neck, sending the defenseman crashing to the ice.<\/p>\n
Drysdale jumped in and dropped Hayes to the ice with a couple of hard blows. It was the first fight of Drysdale\u2019s NHL career.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of guys have done it for me,\u201d Drysdale said. \u201cSo I just figured it was my turn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Center Luke Glendening, 36, picked up off waivers on Friday, made his Flyers debut and wore jersey number 41.<\/p>\n
In 52 games with the New Jersey Devils, Glendening had four assists.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Flyers host the New York Rangers. The teams met Feb. 28 in New York, Matvei Michkov supplying the overtime winner. \u2026 Christian Dvorak entered Saturday game with 37 points, one off his career high. \u2026 York picked up an assist on Tippett\u2019s goal, the 100th point of his NHL career. \u2026 The Flyers are 7-3 in shootouts, Pittsburgh 1-9. \u2026 The Flyers finished with a season-low 15 shots, including just 14 in regulation. Their previous low was 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The game was played in Pittsburgh, but the script could have been written in Hollywood. How else to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[5,4,118,56,1469,100,5216,43,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-492766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-penguins","11":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","14":"tag-pittsburghpenguins","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116192379328613639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}