Elliot Desnoyers may not sleep again for days.
Clearly energized to be appearing in his first NHL game, the 19-year-old forward made a splash in the Philadelphia Flyers’ 2-1 overtime win over the Boston Bruins on Monday.
Desnoyers Turns Heads
Debuting in front of 13,047 fans at Wells Fargo Center, Desnoyers proved to be an effective playmaker as a third-line center. He set up linemate Nicolas Aube-Kubel for several Grade A scoring opportunities.
Then, in the late stages of the second period, he dropped the gloves with big veteran defenseman John Moore — and held his own.
Elliot Desnoyers making @HFXMooseheads (and Philly) proud. 💪👏 pic.twitter.com/Qj2G56fgxy
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) October 5, 2021
“I was happy to see young Desnoyers tonight, get his first game,” said coach Alain Vigneault after the game about his fellow Quebec native. “I thought he had a lot of compete.
“Didn’t expect him to drop the gloves there, but I guess he got upset. So that’s the good French blood in the young man.”
“It was a part of my game that I wanted to show,” Desnoyers said after the game. “Not necessarily that I’m a fighter — it was actually my first fight. But just that I’m ready to do anything to get my team the ‘W’.
“I just felt like it was a good time, you know, losing by one.”
Game Management
He wasn’t wrong. The fight came less than two minutes after Jack Studnicka put the Bruins up 1-0 with a second-period power-play goal, beating Carter Hart with an in-tight backhand.
The fight charged up the home crowd. Then, the Flyers tied the game with 19 seconds left to play in the middle frame, when Sean Couturier beat Jeremy Swayman with a down-low one-timer off a sweet feed from new power-play quarterback Keith Yandle.
COOOOOOOOOTS on the power play and the very appropriate goal song: Coots! (There it is). pic.twitter.com/Myf8FZhD92
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) October 5, 2021
After a relatively uneventful third period, Ivan Provorov delivered the win for the home team in overtime, off a slick 3-on-3 setup by Travis Konecny and Couturier.
Ivan Provorov seals the deal in OT. 👀 pic.twitter.com/3VAwTOscGP
— NHL (@NHL) October 5, 2021
Can Desnoyers Challenge Morgan Frost?
While Kevin Hayes is recovering from abdominal surgery, Morgan Frost has been asked to prove that he can handle a top-six role at center.
Frost made his third preseason appearance on Monday. He logged four hits and went 6-for-10 in the faceoff circle, playing with Oskar Lindblom and Cam Atkinson. But after missing nearly all of last season following shoulder surgery, the 22-year-old has not yet hit the scoresheet, or delivered a ‘Wow’ moment that forces Vigneault to keep him in the Flyers’ top six.
Coming into his third pro season with just 22 NHL games on his resume, Frost will be waiver exempt in 2021-22. Desnoyers, a fifth-round pick in 2020, starred in the QMJHL last season with 49 points in 37 games — tops on his team and seventh in the league. At 19, he isn’t eligible to play in the American Hockey League this season. He can play up to nine games in the NHL without burning a year of his entry-level contract — and still be eligible to be returned to junior.
Did Desnoyers do enough on Monday to possibly earn another preseason look from Vigneault? Maybe even extend his audition into the regular season? Or was Monday’s game his reward for a hardworking summer? He spent much of it in Philadelphia, rehabbing from hip surgery.
Did the club want to offer up a memory that he can use to fuel another strong junior season? Even if that’s the case, that’s not a bad thing. Desnoyers has already exceeded expectations in his first pro training camp. This fall, could play himself into the conversation for a chance to play for a gold medal in Alberta at the 2022 World Junior Championship.
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Two Preseason Games Remain
It was a successful exhibition homestand for the Flyers, with two wins and just two goals against. Next, the team hits the road for its last two exhibition games.
Tuesday, they’ll face the New York Islanders in Bridgeport, Conn. Vigneault said his lineup will be comprised mostly of players who didn’t play Monday. Only Connor Bunnaman, Aube-Kubel and possibly a defenseman are expected to go back-to-back. Tuesday’s group should include Claude Giroux, Derick Brassard, Nate Thompson, and Tyson Foerster up front, as well as Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Sanheim and Cam York on the blue line, with Martin Jones likely tagged for the start in goal. There will be no TV broadcast of the game.
More cuts are expected after Tuesday’s game. Then, the club will be back on NBC Sports Philadelphia on Friday, closing out the preseason schedule in Washington.
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