Every once in a while, you’re faced with a former adversary. The teams change, the colors change, but the fire remains.

In the immediate aftermath of a 1-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Flyers were left searching for answers. Perhaps the best answer was a simple one from Vegas GM George McPhee who, in speaking directly to Crossing Broad, stated of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, “He stole it. He flat out stole it.”

Fleury has a history of going back-and-forth with Philadelphia from his days in Pittsburgh. The five goals he gave up in season opener was the most he’d given up to the Flyers in at least five years. When I told him his GM said on the elevator that it was a case of him stealing the game, he lit up. I asked how it felt to hear from his GM and whether it was important to him to bounce back like he did in this game coming into an arena where he’s had so many battles:

Marc-Andre Fleury: It’s a fun place to play. It’s always loud and the atmosphere is good. People are on you a bit.

Crossing Broad: Does winning a game against a former division rival, even though you’re in the Western Conference now, is there anything that stills sticks in your mind about being back in Philadelphia and going up against an old rival or does that kind of stuff go to the side once you switch teams and conferences?

Fleury: No, I mean, it’s still in my head a bit, right? For so many years they were the rival, always a big battle with them, like the Pennsylvania battle. I see fans that I saw when I was playing with Pittsburgh and they still yell at me. It’s fun. It’s a fun place to play.

Crossing Broad: It’s gotta feel good to rob Giroux, right? Is there anything special knowing the game was on his stick at the end there and you came up with another great save?

Fleury: He had a couple of chances, that breakaway and one at the end, he caught me leaning. You know, he’s got plenty of goals and assists on me throughout the years. It’s good I could give it back a bit.

Sean Couturier was asked about Fleury’s performance and what he saw on the ice:

“He had a great game. He had a few pretty unbelievable saves, especially at the end there to rob G on the open net. I think earlier, two breakaways where he closed the door.”

Anthony SanFilippo asked Couturier if there was anything the team could’ve done to knock him off his game. He replied, “You try to put more traffic, but it’s not like we weren’t doing it. He was just on his game finding the pucks… He was hot and you gotta give him credit.”

I asked Sean Couturier if there was anything he saw that Fleury or the Vegas defense did to adjust to how the Flyers played in the season opener.

“I don’t know if they really adjusted. They’re a good team. You gotta expect them to be hungry, especially with the way their start of the year was going. I thought we did a good job, it just happens sometimes where the puck just won’t go in. You just gotta give him credit. He had a heck of a game.”

The Flyers’ next game is Tuesday against the Florida Panthers. There’s going to be a pretty cool giveaway:

For more on the Flyers’ game against the Golden Knights, check out Anthony’s observations.

If you haven’t done so already, go subscribe to Snow the Goalie [iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS], where Anthony and I will be breaking down games and storylines at least once a week.