Flyers

Nolan Patrick was booted out of the dot for his first face-off of 2021. He was so anxious, and that anxiousness faded, and his skill was on display. He deserved his goal, and it was a great motivator for him.

Joel Farabee will be a point-per-game player this year. I said it earlier in the week and his four-point performance was just the beginning for him. He was the best puck distributor on the power play and the goal that he scored going for the far side off that shot isn’t easy to do. He has some of the best hands-on the team.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel had a nice hit to wipe out Jake Guentzel late in the second. At that time it was an important play because it broke up a scoring chance. He led the Flyers with seven hits. It’s nice he got a point tonight, and he looks more like the player he was in junior hockey offensively, so he will be a nice surprise for the Flyers this season.

Penguins

Kris Letang – He was engaged and looks as good as he ever was skating-wise. I don’t think his point production will be the same but he’s still very effective. When you break up his path into the offensive zone it does derail the Penguins offense. He played 24:45, more than any player in the game. A bad recipe for the Penguins if that’s the case all season.

Mark Jankowski – Did a nice job keeping Konecny out of the offensive zone with his strength and his stick. Jankowski was having a game. He looks like that 20-goal guy again. That’s a huge boost for the Penguins offensively but their defense was awful on the blueline, their forwards helped out a lot.