Alex Nedeljkovic stopped a lot of shots for the Penguins on Monday night, but he never had a chance at this one.
At the halfway mark of the second period, Travis Konecny came streaking up the boards with the puck, and with the Flyers on the rush, placed a pinpoint pass on the stick of Tyson Foerster, who stood alone at the top of the left faceoff circle completely unmarked.
Foerster settled it then fired off a laser of a wrister. Nedeljkovic barely even had the play registered before the puck ricocheted around the back of the net as the horn went off and the Wells Fargo Center crowd left its feet.
The Flyers tied it, and after a slow start to the year production-wise, Foerster had his fourth goal in three games and his fifth on the season to help push them to an eventual 2-1 overtime win and a home and home sweep of rival Pittsburgh.
The 21-year-old winger, who figures to be a key piece to the rebuilding Flyers' future, was always going to score eventually, and the hope was that once he did, the goals would rack up in bunches.
Guess what?
"He's playing well, playing really well," Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim said postgame. "Obviously scoring wasn't there early and yet he was still playing good hockey and now you're seeing that side of it. Really happy for him, he stuck with it through the course of the start of the season, and he's getting rewarded."
The rewards started piling up in last Thursday's overtime loss to New Jersey. Foerster scored twice in the third period on redirects within the final five minutes to tie the game at three and force an extra frame against the Devils. Neither was exactly a goal-scorer's goal, but hey...
"They don't ask how," Foerster said.
Then in Saturday's shootout win at Pittsburgh late in the third, on a Flyers power-play unit that has struggled all season, Foerster found space – also at the top of the left circle – and rifled a shot by a defender and goaltender Tristan Jarry shortside to give Philly the lead on what absolutely was a goal-scorer's goal.
He sniped it, with all the confidence that he could now. Then he came home a couple of days later and did it again.
"He's a goal scorer," Sean Couturier, who's been centering a line with Foerster and Konecny, said. "I'm sure he was probably gripping the stick a little earlier in the year, but the way he plays, he plays the right way. He's mature in the way he plays. He battles hard, wins a lot of battles, does a lot of little things that people maybe don't notice, even if he's not producing."
And it was the little things – like solid checking, smart reads, and great stretch passing – that have kept the 2020 first-round pick in the lineup to this point even when the results weren't necessarily showing up for him on the stat sheet, and going back to last season, what earned Foerster his first look up in the NHL to set him up for a full-time role in this one.
"To me, it kind of fast-forwards him as far as what it is to be a pro and the things you have to do as a National Hockey Leaguer," head coach John Tortorella said. "It’s great seeing him score the goals, but it’s been so impressive as far as the other stuff. That’s caught us off guard as a coaching staff. We didn’t realize how equipped he was.
"A lot of people questioned his skating. I haven’t seen it for a second, his skating affect any part of being a National Hockey Leaguer. This is why we kept him in there. He stuck with it. I think there was a time where he was getting frustrated, and I think he was showing it. He just couldn’t go down that road as far as frustration. He just continued to play. I think he’s reaping some of the rewards of just his consistency as far as his mind."
Because Foerster was always going to score eventually, and the hope was that once he did, the goals would rack up in bunches.
And guess what?
"Feels good, obviously, to score in those games and get those big goals," Foerster said. "But we're hot right now and we're winning games. That's really all that matters."
MORE: Tortorella wants Flyers to play aggressive now to prepare for future
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