Dvorak Rings the Crossbar, Then Finds the Twine
Philadelphia's forward clanged one off the iron early in the second, then scored in the third as the Flyers beat Utah 6-3.
Written during the game · 6:39 PM ET. Final was UTA 3, PHI 6.
The score sheet does not reward a crossbar, but Christian Dvorak's mattered. Just 57 seconds into the second period, his shot hit the bar, the only iron either team found all night. Utah had none.
It came 9 seconds before Travis Konecny scored the go-ahead goal, with Dvorak getting an assist on it. That near miss was part of a sequence that moved Philadelphia from a 1-1 game to a lead it never gave up.
Dvorak did not wait long to cash in. He scored 1:02 into the third to make it 4-1, and his goal came off one of only 1 shot on goal he had all night. His chances were worth 0.49 expected goals, meaning the quality of his looks was high even with so little volume.
The bigger picture is odd: Utah had more shot attempts, 55-47, and the edge in expected goals, 2.67-2.37. But the Flyers finished the chances they got, and the bar was a reminder of how little separated this game from something tighter.
