In St Louis, Travis Konecny hit for a double on Thursday night to help the Philadelphia Flyers end a 13-game road skid with a 5-2 win over the Blues.
“Yesterday, when I found out, you know ‘Philly’ was so awesome with getting them down and flying them down,” Hodgson said. “I think they got in around two o’clock today, so they were here and it’s so special to share that moment with them.
“I just try to play a simple game and make my presence known and just be physical and just be good defensively.”
Martin Jones made 26 saves in the Flyers win.
“I’ll say we were due, that’s for sure,” Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said. “But you know, especially considering we played a lot of really good road games, we just haven’t always gotten wins. Even looking at Detroit [Tuesday, a 6-3 loss to the Red Wings], there were a number of times we had Grade-A opportunities and great, great chances to tie up the game, but we haven’t been able to deliver and get the job done. But tonight, obviously, happy for the guys.”
Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexei Toropchenko scored for the Blues in the loss.
“Well, at the start of the game we didn’t shoot, that’s for sure,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “We had some real good opportunities early and just passed them up. And then, you know, what I saw was just a team that skated and outworked us in the first period, that’s the easiest way to put it.
“… You can’t just give teams a 2-0 lead. We’re not starting a game that way.”
Philadelphia moved to 21-32-11.
Hayden Hodgson picked up a goal and two points for the Flyers, it was his NHL debut.
St Louis dropped to 35-19-9.
“I think we just didn’t play our game at all,” St. Louis’ Justin Faulk said. “The work ethic wasn’t there, the compete level and intensity wasn’t there from a lot of guys [and] I’m very much in that group. Didn’t have a good game by any means. But that’s just not acceptable. We’ve kind of had that.
“It’s been a little bit of a theme, starting slow and thinking we can score our way through in the second and third [periods] and finding ourselves back in games and then win. Sure, certainly at times that’s going to happen. To think that that’s going to continually happen and think you’re going to be at the right side of things more times than not, it’s not true. Every team in this league, whether it’s the Flyers, who are out of the playoffs or a Colorado [Avalanche], guys are going to play hard and make it tough on you and we got what we deserved tonight.
Konecny and Patrick Brown scored to give Philadelphia a 2-0 lead.
“We just wanted to have a good start and not worry about what was on the other side,” the Flyers’ Owen Tippett said. “We just want to play our game and I think we did that. I think we came out strong and it’s a tough building to come into, so I think we played a full 60.”
Joel Farabee hit for an empty-net goal late for the 5-2 final.
Jordan Binnington made 22 saves in the St Louis loss.
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