BOX SCORE

When you have players from up and down the lineup contributing, it’s not going to be difficult to pick up some wins.

Take Saturday night for example. 

The Philadelphia Little Flyers EHL Premier team, which hit the road for the first time this season, had five different players score and 11 skaters register one point en route to a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Renegades at Aspen Ice Arena. 

A balanced offensive attack has become the norm for PLF in the early going. Through five games, 11 Little Flyers have scored at least one goal and 19 members of the team have collected a point or more. Seven have found the back of the net twice and two have three tallies each.

It’s safe to say things are starting to come together after Philadelphia improved to 3-2-0.

Goaltender Trey Mattern was tremendous in net against the Renegades, as well. The 2003 birth year made 23 saves on 25 shots to pick up his third win for the Little Flyers in 2020-21.

Patrick Price set the tone early with a power-play marker at 4:18. Jon Rineer started the play with a nice pokecheck behind the net that found its way to Kelly Stroik, who made a quick pass to Price in front for a one-time goal and 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, Angelo Carboni hit a streaking Stroik with a stretch pass up the middle of the ice for a clean breakaway. Stroik then beat New Jersey netminder JT Price short side to put the Little Flyers up 2-0.

Philadelphia’s first-period onslaught continued at 16:56, when Steve Griffin intercepted a cross-ice pass while shorthanded and raced up ice for a breakaway of his own. Price managed to get a piece of Griffin’s shot attempt but Jack Ellis was backdoor to put the rebound in for a 3-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.

The second frame was more of the same for the Little Flyers. They outshot the Renegades, 12-5, and continued to dominate possession time.

Logan Downs made it a 4-0 game with a deflection goal on the man advantage at 7:06. Nicolas Bouchard made a nice pass from along the boards to Tyler Law at the point before Downs got a piece of Law’s heavy, low shot towards the target.

The Little Flyers didn’t let up, either. Rineer made another nifty play down low to push a loose puck to Johnny Lee. After cycling back to Pat Jansen at the blue line, the play resulted in Lee picking up a rebound and a wraparound goal for a 5-0 Philadelphia lead.

The Renegades pushed back in the third. Cam Veno got them on the board at 6:35 and Max Werfel followed that up with a power-play tally at 12:54.

But Mattern was able to keep New Jersey at bay, especially late. He made 11 saves on 13 shots in the final frame as the Little Flyers transitioned to shutdown mode and put an emphasis on closing gaps and getting sticks in passing lanes.

Loose pucks
Bouchard extended his point streak to five games. He has two goals and eight assists during that stretch. … Rineer (3A), Price (1G, 1A) and Stroik (2G, 1A) have combined for eight points in the last two games, both Philadelphia wins. … The Little Flyers went 2 for 7 on the power play and successfully killed four of their five shorthanded situations against the Renegades. ... These two teams will complete the home-and-home set with a 3:30 p.m. matchup at IceWorks Skating Complex on Sunday.