SECOND PERIOD
With that challenging opening period out of the way, it was time for the Blue & Orange to begin battling back.
The Oilers attacked the Philadelphia crease with more urgency in the middle frame, beginning with Adam Henrique’s low centring pass from the left side on the rush less than two-and-a-half minutes in that was pushed carelessly into the danger area by Ersson, but Darnell Nurse couldn’t make the most of his chance by putting it into the visiting netminder’s chest protector.
But Edmonton’s linked trio of Janmark, Henrique and Brown were buzzing on the third line and would get the Oilers on the board 6:26 into the period off another low passing attempt from the left – this time from Mattias Janmark – that produced a rebound that Henrique chopped over the left shoulder of Ersson to make it 2-1 for the Flyers.
“Brownie just needed some Rico in his life, I guess,” Henrique said with a smile. “But you know what? We do a good job feeding off each other and kind of have that chemistry. We still talk quite a bit after each shift or each play about what we’re thinking or what we’re seeing. Sometimes, it changes from game to game, but he sees the ice so well, and I trust his feedback. Same the other way, too.”
Henrique notched his first goal of the season off a primary assist from Janmark, who is now only four points shy of hitting the 200 for his career, while Kulak added the secondary helper to give himself, Henrique and Janmark their first points of the year.
“Just playing hard, trying to play with pace and getting to play our game,” Henrique said of the second-period fightback. “At times, it maybe got away from us a little bit, but I thought we did a good job responding at times. The second period was high tempo and high pace with penalty trouble, but I think overall, it was a pretty good period.”
First appeared on www.nhl.com