Flyers Earn 4-3 (1-0) Shootout Win in Pittsburgh
The Philadelphia Flyers (12-10-2) have earned their first win of the season in a game where they had to play from behind. On Saturday evening, they came back from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 in a 4-3 (1-0) shootout road victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins (11-10-2) at PPG Paints Arena.
The deciding factors in the game, apart from winning the skills competition, were the Flyers special teams and what I'd describe as "foreshadowed goals". The Flyers went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill with a shorthanded goal by Scott Laughton that tied the game at 2-2. Philly was 1-for-4 on the power play, with Tyson Foerster scoring at 13:52 of the third period to put the Flyers ahead, 3-2.
In terms of foreshadowing, Foerster had a first-period power play scoring chance from the top of the left circle. The puck was teed up for him (cross-ice by Morgan Frost) and Foerster came close but wasn't able to beat Tristan Jarry. Later, in a third period power play, Foerster had another chance teed up for him (this time by Cam York) and his shot from the left flank hit the bullseye for a go-ahead goal.
Foerster, who has five points (3g, 2a) in his last five games and three goals in his last two, was also instrumental in an Owen Tippett goal that knotted the score at 1-1 in the second period.
This, too, was a "foreshadowed" goal.
Tippett had two separate breakaways in the middle period. He was unable to finish the first one. The second time, on a backhander, Tippett found the mark. Foerster made the lead pass that sent Tippett off to the races.
The Flyers held the Penguins without a single high-danger scoring chance for the game's first 40 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick. However, the game was scoreless for 24-plus minutes until the Penguins made it 1-0 on a puck-luck goal by longtime Flyer-killer Kris Letang.
On the sequence, Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim had two chances to clear the puck from the defensive zone. Both were weak clearing passes and both were intercepted. On the latter, Letang claimed the puck and put a shot toward the net. Sanheim partially blocked it but accidentally deflected the puck past Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson (29 saves on 32 shots).
Shortly after the Letang goal, Flyers winger Tippett had a breakaway but was unable to beat Jarry (29 saves on 34 shots). Two shifts later, Tippett converted one-on-one with the goalie.
The Flyers had a late second period power play. They had a lot of puck possession but couldn't score. Frost tipped a puck into the net but time had clearly expired by the time the puck got to the goal mouth where the Flyer was stationed. The Penguins didn't like it, going after Frost, but nothing escalated.
The Penguins benefitted from some more self-made puck luck at 1:50 of the third period. Erik Karlsson put a harmless shot at the net from the right boards. The puck was going wide of the net but it went off Jake Guentzel's skate and into the cage. It was close to a kick -- marginal either way -- but the goal stood. Once again the Flyers had to come back from a deficit.
While the Penguins had very few chances up to that point that could even be described as medium danger, that was the not the case for the rest of regulation and overtime. Sidney Crosby came within a whisker of scoring from the right circle, hitting the junction where the right post meets the crossbar.
The Flyers were on their heels during a penalty kill with Marc Staal (who struggled once again in his return to the lineup after being scratched on Thursday) in the box for tripping. Philly once again had a couple of failed clears. Late in penalty, with some now-tired Penguins on the ice, Nick Seeler cleared the zone with a bank off the boards. Up ice, Scott Laughton beat Evgeni Malkin to the puck and went in to score shorthanded with one second left on the kill.
For Laughton, the tally (second of the season) broke a nine-game drought without a goal. For the Flyers, it tied the score and 2-2 and represented the club's sixth shorthanded goal in the season's first 24 games.
The Foerster snipe put the Flyers in the driver's seat. Unfortunately, the club was unable to close out the game in regulation. Attacking 6-on-5 with Jarry pulled, the Penguins tied the game at 19:39 on a deflection goal by Guentzel. The sequence started as Tippett was unable to work past Letang in the Flyers zone and lost the puck. Philly never regained possession.
In overtime, the Flyers got outshot by a 6-1 margin. With exactly one minute left in regulation, the Flyers were guilty of having too many men on the ice. Laughton wiped out in the offensive zone left corner and Joel Farabee jumped out to replace him way before his teammate got back to the bench. Ersson and the PK nursed the game to a shootout.
Sean Couturier scored the lone shootout goal for either side. In the top of the second round, Couturier successfully pulled off "the Martin St. Louis" (backhand-to-forehand with a late turn after briefly turning his back to the net). He's tried it three times between a penalty shot and two shootout attempts. It's worked twice.
Ersson made stops on Guentzel (backhander that went over the net), Crosby (outstanding glove save) and Bryan Rust (backhander) to keep the Penguins from converting during the shootout. Foerster (low-glove wrister) and Travis Konecny (glove side wrister) had unsuccessful attempts for the Flyers.
For an in-depth recap, analysis and highlights from Saturday, see the
Postgame 5 on the Flyers' official website. The Flyers and Penguins will rematch on Monday, as the home-and-home shifts venues to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
********
Phantoms Lose to Wolf Pack in OT, 5-4
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-7-4) were swept by the Hartford Wolf Pack (14-4-2) in a weekend back-to-back set at the XL Center in Hartford. After suffering a 7-3 blowout loss on Friday, the Phantoms took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission in Saturday's game on goals by Wade Allison (power play, 3rd) and defenseman Helge Grans (1st) after a penalty-filled period.
Unfortunately, Lehigh Valley got blitzed for three unanswered goals in the second period. It didn't take long for Hartford to erase their deficit as Brennan Othmann (power play, 7th) and Matt Rempe (3rd) scored in the first 97 seconds to knot the score at 2-2. Later, at 16:52, Karl Henriksson (3rd) gave Hartford a 3-2 lead. The Phantoms yielded 28 shots over the game's first two periods.
At 5:29 of the third period, Brett Berard (5th) opened a 4-2 lead for Hartford. The Phantoms made a comeback push as fourth-liner Jordy Bellerive (1st) cut the gap to 4-3 at 6:02. Emil Andrae earned the primary helper. Lehigh Valley had a power play opportunity at 13:20. They couldn't score but cashed in on the next shift. Returning to the lineup after a one-game suspension by the American Hockey League, Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson (5th) forged a 4-4 tie at 16:01, assisted by Ronnie Attard and Allison.
Both teams had opportunities in sudden death overtime. Finally, at 3:52, Othmann scored his goal of the game (8th) to deliver Hartford a 5-4 win.
In a losing cause, Felix Sandström stopped 34 of 39 shots. Winning goalie Dylan Garand denied 32 of 36 shots.
The Phantoms return to action on Sunday afternoon on the road against the Providence Bruins. Saturday's lineup for Lehigh Valley was as follows:
28 Olle Lycksell - 9 Tanner Laczynski - 27 Samu Tuomaala
17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 19 Wade Allison
16 JR Avon - 13 Brendan Furry - 20 Cooper Marody
29 Alexis Gendron - 56 Jacob Gaucher - 15 Jordy Bellerive
6 Emil Andrae - 2 Helge Grans
98 Victor Mete - 12 Ronnie Attard
8 Mason Millman - 37 Adam Ginning
32 Felix Sandström
[40 Cal Petersen]
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»