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Wrap: Flyers Drop 3-1 Decision to Ottawa |
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Wrap: Flyers Drop 3-1 Decision to Senators
The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Ottawa Senators, 3-2, at the Canadian Tire Centre on Friday evening. Compared to the electric atmosphere of Thursday's game against Nashville at the Wells Fargo Center, it was much harder for the Flyers to create much energy or emotion in this game. They competed but they never had much pace or sustained pressure.
A strong goaltending performance for the Flyers went to waste as they lost the special teams battle and were outplayed in the third period after the game was knotted at 1-1 entering the final stanza.
Tim Stützle (14th goal of the season) gave the Senators a 1-0 lead in the middle stages of the first period. Cam Atkinson (23rd) tied the game at 1-1 less than seven minutes into the second period. Josh Norris (25th) scored a mid third period power play goal to put Ottawa ahead, 2-1. Alex Formenton added a long-range empty-net shorthanded goal (14th) for insurance.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Senators went 1-for-3.
A Morgan Frost hooking penalty at 8:44 of the third period proved costly, as Ottawa converted it into Norris' goal on the man advantage. At 13:58, Patrick Brown took a neutral zone tripping penalty. The Flyers killed it off but lost two minutes off the clock in doing so.
Joel Farabee created a late power play for the Flyers, keeping his feet moving to draw a penalty on Austin Watson with 3:27 remaining in the game. The Flyers pulled Jones for a 6-on-4 attack but Anton Forsberg made a strong save on Atkinson before Formenton scored his shorthanded ENG.
Martin Jones took the loss despite 32 saves on 34 shots. Forsberg earned the win as he stopped 27 of 28 Flyers shots.
Rasmus Ristolainen logged 22:48 of ice time despite four penalty minutes and blocked seven shots. Justin Braun recorded an assist and, along with Ristolainen, co-led the Flyers in blocked shots with seven. Kevin Hayes won 12 of 17 draws.
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Sandström Lifts Phantoms over Springfield
A stellar 32-save performance by goaltender Felix Sandström and a 6-for-6 showing on the penalty kill backstopped the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to a 3-1 road win over the Atlantic Division leading Springfield Thunderbirds on Friday night.
Springfield scored on their first shot of the game: a 2-on-1 opportunity converted by Klim Kostin at 2:03 of the first period. The Phantoms stepped up thereafter in the first period, holding the Thunderbirds to just four additional shots on goal against nine generated by Lehigh Valley. However, Springfield took a 1-0 lead to the first intermission.
Sixty-three seconds into the middle stanza, Adam Johnson (2nd goal of the season) knotted the score at 1-1. Johnson carried the puck on a 2-on-1 counterattack joined by Wade Allison. Moving inside the left faceoff dot, Johnson elected to shoot and beat Springfield goalie Joel Hofer over the glove. Logan Day and Allison received assists.
The Phantoms made it 2-1 at 13:11 of the second period. Matthew Strome was denied on a scoring chance off a rush with Linus Sandin but the rebound went to trailer Egor Zamula and the young defenseman stashed it home for his fourth goal the season.
Lehigh Valley opened a 3-1 lead at 18:01 of the second period as Tanner Laczynski (3rd) deflected an Adam Clendening shot into the het. Garrett Wilson drew the secondary assist.
The Phantoms, who went 0-for-4 on their own power plays, had to survive three penalty kills over the game's final 21:46 in order to nail down the win. This including a 6-on-4 (later 6-on-5) attack with Hofer pulled for an extra attacker. Sandström made 14 saves in the third period and had help from the goal posts along the way. There were some nervous moments after a giveway by Allison, who had a clearing opportunity, but the Phantoms emerged with their two-goal margin still intact.
The Phantoms have 20 games remaining on the schedule. With a 21-25-10 record, they are in last place in the eight-team Atlantic Division. Lehigh Valley is two games into a season-high six-game road trip. Six teams in the division will make it to postseason play. The Phantoms, who are six points behind sixth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with one game in hand, have their work cut out for them to overcome the gap but it's not impossible.
On Saturday, the Phantoms and Thunderbirds (32-18-7) will rematch in Springfield. Game time is 7:05 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on AHLTV.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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