Egor Zamula looking to stay with the Flyers. Scoring his first goal vs. Vancouver didn’t hurt.

Scoring your first NHL goal is a special moment for any player. But it’s all the more important when ice time is not a guarantee.

Egor Zamula, who has been rotating in and out of the lineup with rookie defenseman Emil Andrae for the first three games of the season, took less than two minutes into the Flyers’ home opener to find the back of the net.

Travis Konecny whiffed on a one-timer attempt, and the feed from Scott Laughton went past him to find Zamula at the point. The 23-year-old defenseman waited just long enough for an open lane to the net. Zamula’s wrist shot beat Thatcher Demko glove side — the first goal inside the Wells Fargo Center this season, and his first of his career.

“Dream come true, you know?” Zamula said. “Unbelievable.”

His goal proved to be the game-winner in a 2-0 victory over the Canucks. Sean Couturier’s penalty shot that had echoes of Martin St. Louis was the cherry on top.

Flyers coach John Tortorella has been preaching to his defensemen to shoot the puck more, and Zamula remembered his words as he corralled the puck on the blue line.

“I worked [the] full summer to be more [effective on] offense, you know, on the blue line,” Zamula said. “I like playing the blue line in the offensive zone. I think I’m skilled enough to do that.”

Zamula, who signed a one-year, $775,000 contract extension in May, came close to adding another goal in a second period. The Flyers outshot the Canucks 23-2 over the period, but Demko kept the score at 2-0, including a stop on a Zamula wrister after he joined the rush.

“It’s so tough to get shots through in this league because there’s double layers, triple layers of trying to block shots. [Zamula’s] got some good offensive instincts,” Tortorella said. “Still a bit too much around the boards for me with him; I think he has the ability to make plays. He’s just gotta get enough confidence to look through the play and find an open guy, instead of winging it around the boards.”

Zamula had strong offensive numbers in juniors, putting up 28 points in 28 games in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. After joining the Lehigh Valley Phantoms a year later, his numbers saw a drop-off as he adjusted to the AHL.

Now Zamula is trying to make his case to stick around with the big club. It’s the second year in a row Zamula made the roster out of camp, but last year Zamula was sent down to the AHL in November. He played 44 games for the Phantoms, but his season was cut short when he underwent surgery on his left shoulder in April.

When he was first sent down, he spent a lot of time with fellow Russian Artem Anisimov, a former NHL center playing with the Phantoms who Zamula said helped him a lot. And while rehabbing his shoulder in the offseason, Zamula spent the summer in Philadelphia, training at the Flyers’ facility every day with Tyson Foerster and Joel Farabee. He said in training camp that he put on 20 pounds over the offseason.

“Never give up, you know?” Zamula said. “I work my ass off in the summer, and this year for sure I [have] more confidence, and I feel better this year.”

The Flyers’ new postgame celebration involves awarding one player a dog mask that Scott Laughton secured via Amazon, in a nod to the Eagles. The previous honoree, Couturier, gave the mask to the young defenseman. Zamula said it didn’t smell too bad.

“He had a big injury last year, battled hard all summer to rehab and be strong and ready for camp, and had a good camp, and now he’s getting an opportunity to play, and he’s earned it,” Couturier said. “He deserves it, and you know, just glad that he got that big goal.”

Owen Tippett took a maintenance day on Wednesday and did not practice. Tortorella expects Tippett to be back for Thursday’s home game against the Edmonton Oilers (7:30 p.m., ESPN+).