PHILADELPHIA – So much for that disappointing home-ice record, at least for one night.
The Flyers entered Thursday night’s game with a sub-.500 record in the supposed friendly confines of the Wells Fargo Center.
With the 65-point Winnipeg Jets in town, it looked like another tough assignment for the hockey locals.
But the Flyers, now 12-12-2 on WFC ice, seemed determined to reverse their fortunes in Philly and did so in quick, dramatic fashion, racing to a 3-0 first-period lead, then finishing off the Jets by a 4-1 score to sweep the season series.
Philadelphia picked up goals from Tyson Foerster, Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost in the first 20 minutes and never looked back. The Flyers are 20-4-2 when they score first.
Goaltender Samuel Ersson, who looked quite sharp in a 2-0 shutout win at Winnipeg on Jan. 13, continued his dominance of the Jets. The Flyers’ defense did its part, too, limiting the number of quality scoring chances.
The Jets scored with 5:12 to play to spoil Ersson’s bid to blank the Jets in back-to-back games.
When Ryan Poehling scored a shorthanded goal early in the second period, the outcome was all but decided.
Foerster kicked things off just 3:37 into the game when he finished off a perfect pass from Poehling and tapped in the puck behind goalie Laurent Brossoit.
Konency finished off a Frost setup at 14:03 for his 24th goal of the season to make it 2-0. Then Konecny returned the favor, figuring in on Frost’s goal from the slot at 18:06.
Not satisfied, the Flyers came roaring out of the gate in the second. Poehling executed a solo rush down the right side and scored from the top of the circle at 2:29.
From there, the Flyers clamped down on defense. The Jets entered the game with a team plus-36 goal differential but continue to struggle against the Flyers.
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