Frost nets shootout winner for Flyers in season opener versus Canucks.

 Morgan Frost scored the decisive goal for the Philadelphia Flyers in the fifth round of a shootout, leading to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Friday.

Frost approached slowly from the left before launching a close-range wrist shot that sailed over Kevin Lankinen's glove. “I’ve done that a few times before—coming in slow and from an unusual angle to freeze the goalie while picking my spot,” Frost explained. “Luckily, it went in. I made a few mistakes out there, including a penalty I’d like back, so scoring the shootout winner feels great.”

In regulation, Cam York and Tyson Foerster found the net, while Samuel Ersson made 24 saves for the Flyers (1-0-0) in their season opener. Ersson saved 11 of 12 shots in the first period, notably gloving a backdoor shot from Brock Boeser during one of the Canucks' two early power plays.

“Ersson was key for us, giving us a chance to find our rhythm,” coach John Tortorella said. “We started strong, but back-to-back penalties set us back. We settled down in the second period, and neither team created much, but we played well in the third and found a way to win.”

For the Canucks (0-0-2), Teddy Blueger and Nils Hoglander scored, and Lankinen made 29 saves in his first start. Vancouver has now lost its first two games of the season after regulation, following a 6-5 overtime defeat against the Calgary Flames in the opener. The Canucks, who were 42-1-4 when leading after two periods last season, have squandered third-period leads in both games so far.

“It could have been 2-0 or 3-0 after the first,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “We let the Flyers hang around, and they capitalized at the end.”

Vancouver was down to five defensemen for much of the game after Tyler Myers was injured while making a hit on Joel Farabee just 1:46 into the game. Myers, 34, left the ice without putting weight on his right leg. Tocchet had no update on Myers' status after the game. “Hopefully, we dodged a bullet, but I’m not sure,” he said.

The Canucks struck first at 12:55 of the first period when Conor Garland intercepted a pass inside the Flyers' blue line and quickly set up Hoglander for a wrist shot that went over Ersson’s blocker.

The Flyers equalized at 1-1 with a power-play goal at 17:24. Bobby Brink made a cross-ice pass to Farabee, who one-touched it to Foerster for a tap-in while Lankinen was caught moving the other way.

“I think the power play is about creating momentum, whether you score or not,” Farabee noted. “It was nice to get the goal early. For the first game of the year, I think it looked pretty good.”

Blueger put Vancouver ahead 2-1 at 11:25 of the second period, passing from the right boards to defenseman Derek Forbort at the left point before redirecting a backdoor return pass from Forbort past a stranded Ersson. “It’s something we’ve been working on in practice—going high-low and beating the defender to the corner,” Forbort explained. “I had a feeling he’d be there.”

York tied the game 2-2 at 2:48 of the third with a quick wrist shot from the left face-off dot that went over Lankinen’s glove and in off the post after Ryan Poehling made a cross-ice pass.

Tocchet praised his remaining five defensemen for handling the extra minutes and difficult pairings, but the Flyers sought to exploit their situation. “We wanted to grind them out,” Farabee said. “They were down to five defensemen early, so we aimed to wear them out. York came up with a huge goal to tie it, and Ersson locked it down from there.”

Notes: Two Flyers forwards made their NHL debuts. Matvei Michkov, the 19-year-old selected No. 7 in the 2023 NHL Draft, recorded five shots, one blocked shot, and one penalty in 18:32 of ice time. Jett Luchanko, the 18-year-old picked No. 13 in the 2024 NHL Draft, played 14:36, finishing minus-1 after losing Blueger on his goal, but forced Lankinen into a sprawling save with a rebound shot. Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes logged a game-high 31:29, more than five and a half minutes more than any other player. Lankinen was a late addition to the Canucks, signing a one-year, $875,000 contract as a free agent on September 21.