The 2013 Philadelphia Flyers are a deeply flawed team that can neither protect leads efficiently nor win games that are up for grabs. Therefore, it was no real surprise that the Flyers blew a 2-0 lead against the New York Islanders last night and went on to lose 4-3 via shootout.
The problem is NOT that the players don't care. The team is just ill-assembled in general and paper thin on the blueline in particular. The latter issue was exacerbated last night with a shoulder injury suffered by Braydon Coburn.
Coburn has been one of the team's biggest disappointments this season. He entered the season with expectations of building on his excellent stretch run of last year and assuming a huge minutes-eating role, with increased puck moving duties. He's stumbled badly. But with Andrej Meszaros (shoulder) and Nicklas Grossmann (upper body) already sidelined and the likes of Bruno Gervais, Erik Gustafsson and Kurtis Foster comprising half the starting blueline, an injury to any of Coburn, Kimmo Timonen or Luke Schenn was the last thing the team needed.
On the bright side, Scott Hartnell tallied a pair of power play goals for his first multi-goal game of the season. The first one, a partially flubbed shot that found its way into the net, put the Flyers ahead, 1-0. The latter, a rebound goal, knotted the game at 3-3 and forced overtime. Hartnell also engaged in a first-period fight.
Seldom-used veteran Mike Knuble was a surprise starter last night. He was in the lineup to send a message about the need to compete as hard as possible, win or lose. He also tallied his third goal of the season to give Philly a 2-0 lead late in the second period.
The Flyers caught a break at the tail end of the first period when an Andrew MacDonald shot beat Ilya Bryzgalov but crossed the goal line after the clock hit zero. The breaks evened out late in the second period when John Tavares put a puck toward the slot and had it deflect into the net off Luke Schenn's skate.
Midway through the third period, fourth line Islanders forward Colin McDonald took a feed from Keith Aucoin and ripped it past Bryzgalov. With 4:23 remaining in regulation, the Islanders took the lead on another goal by McDonald. The sequence started with a failed clearing attempt that went directly to McDonald in the high slot. His shot hit off Gervais' skate and deflected into the net.
Philly seemed doomed to another regulation loss until Frans Nielsen was called for a faceoff violation at 18:46 of the third period. Hartnell cashed in with his second power play goal of the game to force overtime.
After a scoreless overtime, the game moved to the skills competition. Claude Giroux was the lone Flyer among four shooters to score a goal. Brad Boyes and Josh Bailey scored for New York.
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