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Wrap: Flyers Drop SO to Canucks, 3-2; Phantoms Lose in OT, 4-3 |
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WRAP: CANUCKS 3 - FLYERS 2 (SO)
Erasing a pair of one-goal deficits, the Philadelphia Flyers got the game to overtime before falling to the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, via shootout at Rogers Arena on Saturday night. The Flyers' performance was inconsistent in the first and second periods but dominant in the third period.
Carsen Twarynski (1st NHL goal) and Oskar Lindblom (power play, 2nd) scored in regulation for the Flyers, answering goals by Brock Boeser (1st) and Tanner Pearson (2nd).
Carter Hart played well, stopping 22 of 24 shots, including a vital penalty killing save in overtime among five stops in the extra frame. However, Jacob Markström played just a little better, denying 29 of 31 Flyers shots. In the shootout, Hart went 1-for-3, getting beaten by Elias Pettersson and Pearson. Markström went, 2-for-3, denying Kevin Hayes to end the game after Claude Giroux scored in the second round.
An unsung hero for the Flyers was veteran defenseman Matt Niskanen, who stepped up big in several key spots. He broke up a 2-on-1 rush in the second period. Late in the third period, it was a well-conceived clean zone entry by Niskanen that started the eventual game-tying goal sequence as Travis Konecny (3rd assist of the season) made a perfect feed moments later to a wide-open Lindblom in the left slot. In overtime, Niskanen showed poise with the team down on 4-on-3, and came up with a desperately needed zone clear.
Statistically, the first period was pretty even, apart from the Canucks getting only tally off the rebound of a deflected shot. Shots were 7-7. Shot attempts were 16-15 in Canucks favor (7/5/4 to 7/6/2). Both teams went 0-for-1 on the power play.
Markström made a highlight reel skate save on Jakub Voracek off an entry and feed from Kevin Hayes. However, stats don't always tell the real story. Canucks won more of the puck battles, and had the better and more extended offensive zone pressure. The Flyers got a strong two-way first period from Sean Couturier and fourth-line right winger Tyler Pitlick.
The period's lone goal was scored by Boeser. Vancouver won a battle behind the net and fed out to Chris Tanev at the point. Tanev's shot was deflected by Elias Pettersson and bounced in on Hart; a very tough rebound to contain. Boeser pounced and scored at 5:01.
The Flyers had a 9-7 shot edge in the second period but there were a few misadventures along the way. The Flyers yielded a 3-on-1 rush in the opening minute of the frame, but survived it and then Vancouver was whistled for too many men on the ice.
Philly got the game tied at 1-1 at the 3:14 mark. Vancouver got caught in a line change and Justin Braun hit Twarynski with a pass to send him in on the attack. From near the left dot, Twarynski fired a shot low to the blocker side that found the net. In addition to scoring his first NHL goal, Twarynski led the Flyers with five hits. He redeemed himself for a bad cross-checking penalty after a whistle in the first period.
Right after the Flyers got the game knotted, they trailed again, 2-1, due to a series of small details adding up: The fourth line took an icing and was forced to stay out on the ice. Michael Raffl lost the ensuing faceoff. Tanner Pearson got to the net and tipped home Chris Tanev's shot at 4:27. Hart didn't have a realistic chance of stopping this one.
The Flyers had some good chances as the period progressed. There was an initially very promising sequence in which Konecny won the puck in the neutral zone, gained the attack zone and sent a cross-ice pass for Lindblom that missed connections. There was also a shift in which Giroux had an open look but passed it up, looking for Hayes. Additionally, the Flyers generated strong pressure on their one power play in the period, but couldn't find the net.
Late in the period, Sanheim got caught up ice as he joined the attack but was swarmed by Canucks on the left wall. A diving sweep check by Niskanen on the ensuing Vancouver 2-on-1 enabled the Flyers to escape damage.
The third period was all Philly; a 14-6 shot edge for the Flyers, with the first and final five minutes being downright lopsided.
The Flyers came out roaring to start the period with waves of pressure. Hayes came within a whisker of tying the game amid a barrage of early looks. Three Flyers icings in a short span temporarily stalled their momentum.
Head coach Alain Vigneault shortened the bench somewhat in the third period, dropping Jakub Voracek to the fourth line (although he still got out on the power play and the shootout as well), moving James van Riemsdyk to the Hayes line and giving Pitlick shifts in the top 9.
A forechecking Michael Raffl, whose line had struggled in the first and second period, created a power play opportunity on a chip-and-chase puck pursuit. The first power play unit could not get untracked but the second unit picked up the slack. With time ticking down near five minutes left, Niskanen's entry and Konecny's feed to an open Lindblom resulted in a 2-2 deadlock.
After Lindblom's goal, the Flyers dominated late in regulation, just as they had started the period. A persistent Kevin Hayes and an unlucky Travis Sanheim (beating Markström cleanly over the glove but putting a shot off the far side post) came the closest.
In overtime, Hart turned in his best work of the game. He stopped a semi-breakaway, although Couturier was called for "throwing his stick at the puck" (when all he actually did was lose his stick while attempting a poke check in the neutral zone). Yeoman penalty killing work by Niskanen, Scott Laughton, Robert Hägg and a huge save by Hart got the game to a shootout.
In the skills competition, Hart denied Boeser and Markström stoned Voracek. The two sides traded second round goals by Pettersson (under the crossbar) and Giroux (quick shot release before Markström got set). In round 3, Pearson beat Hart through the five-hole as the goalie, who read the play but got beaten nonetheless, wasn't quite able to get his stick down or close his pads in time. A sprawling Markström then denied Hayes from about five feet out from the left side of the net.
The Flyers (2-0-1) will be in Calgary on Tuesday and Edmonton on Wednesday.
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Phantoms Downed on OT Buzzer-Beater by Hershey
In a game in which they were outplayed at times but never trailed in regulation or the first 4:58 of overtime, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-1) settled for a single point on Saturday from a 4-3 overtime loss to the Hershey Bears at the PPL Center.
Scoring the second of his two goals in the game, Travis Boyd's left circle shot at 4:59 of overtime found its way into the net with Hershey on a 4-on-3 power play. J-F Berube took the loss for the Phantoms (28 saves on 32 shots), while Vitek Vanecek (23 saves on 26 shots) earned the win for Hershey.
In the first period. Maksim Sushko opened the scoring at 3:26. The Belarusian winger got credited with his first AHL goal as Phil Myers put the puck at the net and it went in off the rookie winger. German Rubtsov got the secondary assist.
At 5:35, with the Phantoms on the power play, the Bears tied the game on a shorthanded marker. The sequence started with an offensive zone turnover by Greg Carey and a counterattack by the Bears. Beck Malenstyn's seemingly stoppable backhanded from the right circle leaked through Berube for an unassisted goal. Berube partially redeemed himself with several tough saves over the rest of the game.
At 13:03 of the first period, a hustling Kyle Criscuolo overtook a Bear, claimed the puck and centered it an open Joel Farabee in the slot. The 19-year-old scored his second AHL goal in as many games, temporarily putting the Phantoms ahead again, 2-1. Mike Sgarbossa got it back with a power play goal at 16:40.
There was no scoring in the second period. Midway through the period, Kurtis Gabriel fought Liam O'Brien in response to a hit that Phantoms veteran defenseman Nate Prosser had taken. Gabriel got the upper hand at the end, and wrestled O'Brien to the ground. The Hershey player jumped up, barking at Gabriel and they continued to jaw from the penalty box.
Several minutes later, Morgan Frost and Nicolas Aube-Kubel started a near-miss tic-tac-toe attempt. Strome wasn't quite able to jump into the seam in time to get an attempted pass from Aube-Kubel and the promising play was short-circuited.
Hershey, which was idle on Friday night unlike the Phantoms, seemed to have the fresher legs to start the third period, but the Phantoms tightened things up defensively. Shots were limited for both sides over long stretches.
At 3:54, however, the Phantoms retook the lead at 3-2. Good forechecking by Misha Vorobyev and a strong move and setup by Gabriel left Isaac Ratcliffe with his first goal of the season on a tap-in. It was Ratcliffe's first goal of the season but second in the AHL as he scored in his AHL debut during the next-to-last game of the 2017-18 regular season.
Farabee's next shift was arguably even more impressive than his earlier goal. He emerged with the puck from a 1-on-3 board battle on the right side and snapped a shot on net. Vanecek fought it off.
Playing his third AHL game, Frost was moved down in the lineup in the third period, seeing shifts on the fourth line with Criscuolo and Sushko after starting the game on the second line, centering veteran Nicolas Aube-Kubel and fellow rookie Matthew Strome (who had been a scratch on Friday night).
At 11:57, after an Aube-Kubel neutral zone turnover resulted in an odd-man rush for Hershey, Boyd took a feed from veteran Matt Moulson and deposited it in the net. Berube had no chance of stopping this one.
A shift or two later, with Hershey on the attack, Farabee came up with a clutch defensive play. He got a zone clear under some pressure.
Frost nearly won the game for the Phantoms late in the third period. It would have been an outstanding solo-effort goal had it been finished off. Frost pokechecked the puck free from goaltender Vanecek and then swept it just wide of the net. Still searching for a point after three AHL games, Frost remained snakebitten in the 3-on-3 overtime. He turned a defender inside out with the Phantoms attacking in the Hershey end and snapped off a shot against the grain but Vanicek got enough of the blocker on it to knock the puck to safety.
At 3:40 of OT, Chris Bigras was called for tripping. The Phantoms' Vorobyev (Who had a very strong night on the draw) won the ensuing faceoff, and Myers raced off with the puck as he saw lots of open ice. He was unable to score. With the game one second away from going to the skills competition, Boyd ended it on the 4-on-3 power play.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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