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ANOTHER BUILDING-BLOCK VICTORY FOR FLYERS
The Philadelphia Flyers still have a long way to go to climb out of the 1-7-0 hole they dug for themselves in the first eight games of the season. However, with back-to-back wins over the New York teams in the Metropolitan Division and with slow but steady improvements in most of the games since Craig Berube took over as head coach, the club seems to be heading in the right direction.
Last night in Uniondale, the Flyers scored more than two goals in a game for the first time this season. Vincent Lecavalier notched a hat trick on a power play goal and a pair of even strength tallies. Jakub Voracek also lit the lamp for the first time in 2013-14 and Matt Read added an empty net goal as the Flyers downed the Islanders by a 5-2 count.
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of last night's game was the fact that the Flyers did not have to sacrifice team defense -- which has been considerably better on the whole even in several of the team's losses under Berube -- in order to score goals. The Flyers limited the Islanders to a measly 13 shots over the final 40 minutes of the game.
Although one of those shots turned into a shorthanded goal by New York's Frans Nielsen, which temporarily cut the Islanders' deficit to 3-2, the Flyers stayed with the program. The club also got another solid game in goal from Steve Mason. Mason made 26 saves for the victory, including a handful of tough ones. His best stops of the night came in quick succession as he stopped a very difficult shot right off a faceoff and then stopped a followup attempt.
Overall, the Flyers collectively did a much better job of keeping their feet moving, which aided the club on breakouts, puck battles and in drawing penalties on the Islanders. Philly went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Flyers also killed off all three of their own penalties, while holding an Islanders team that had entered the game ranked No. 1 in the NHL on the power play to just a single shot.
Were there still some areas that can be better than they were last night? Of course.
The Flyers' passing game was still somewhat sporadic. There was a bit of a lull between Voracek's goal and Lecavalier's second goal late in the first period where the Islanders outworked Philly. The Nielsen shorthanded goal started with a bad turnover in the neutral zone and the goal scorer's backhanded shot from the left circle looked potentially stoppable.
All in all, however, the Flyers were the better team on this night and deserved the victory.
Early in the game, the Islanders may have been suffering the dreaded letdown effect after their rousing third-period comeback win against Pittsburgh the previous night. Before the Isles knew what hit them, they were trailing 2-0. The Flyers scored on each of their first two shots of the game against backup goaltender Kevin Poulin.
First, with the Flyers on the power play, Lecavalier got open in the right circle. He received a pass from former Islanders captain Mark Streit and one-timed a shot that went in off a New York defenseman. Claude Giroux earned the secondary assist.
Exactly one minute later, Voracek stepped around the defense and a sprawled Poulin to pot his first goal of the regular season. Brayden Schenn and Erik Gustafsson drew the assists.
The Islanders got a goal back at 10:16 of the opening period. Kyle Okposo blasted a shot from high in the zone that found the back of the net. The puck may have re-directed and Mason was almost definitely screened by defenseman Luke Schenn on the play, so it is tough to fault the Philadelphia netminder on this one.
Late in the first period, with 1:47 remaining on the clock, Lecavalier notched his second goal of the game. Streit triggered a breakout, as Michael Raffl received the puck and generated speed as he carried the puck up ice. Raffl made a nice backhanded pass to Lecavalier. Although Poulin made the initial save, Lecavalier knocked his own rebound out of the air and into the net.
The second period was a methodical one for the Flyers, in which they outshot the Islanders by a 12-5 margin. The aforementioned Nielsen shorthanded goal was the lone tally of the period. The Flyers had the territorial edge and several scoring chances but were guilty a few times of trying to make one too many passes.
In the third period, the Islanders actually had the better of the play in the first few minutes. Philly seemed back on its heels a bit until Lecavalier and company put a stranglehold on the game at the 8:53 mark. The goal was scored on a Flyers counterattack after the Isles lost the puck up high in the offensive zone.
Lecavalier and Max Talbot made nice plays to keep the puck alive down low as it looked like the offensive foray was about to fizzle out. Giroux then fed the puck to Lecavalier, who knocked the puck home to complete the hat trick and give Philly some insurance.
The Islanders did not offer much sustained resistance after the third Lecavalier goal. Philly had to kill off a pair of minor penalties in the third period -- an ill-advised Zac Rinaldo high sticking penalty in the offensive zone and a Nicklas Grossmann slashing-the-stick penalty just inside the defensive blueline -- but killed them off in good shape.
Philly also had a third period power play of its own shortly before the Grossmann minor. They repeatedly tried to feed the puck to Lecavalier -- understandably, since he had the hot hand -- but could not add to the lead.
The Islanders pulled goaltender Poulin with an offensive zone faceoff in the final two minutes of play. At the 18:24 mark, Read guided a shot from the neutral zone into the vacant cage to seal the 5-2 win. Grossmann and Sean Couturier received the assists.
The Flyers are back in action on Tuesday, hosting Anaheim.
GAME NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS:
* There was a scary moment in the second period as Rinaldo, stationed in front of the net, got hit with a puck up high. Covering his face, he hurried down the tunnel to the Flyers' locker room. Rinaldo returned for the third period, temporarily wearing a visor.
* Apart from the third period high sticking minor, Rinaldo was called for charging on a neutral zone hit in the middle stanza.
* After a few rough shifts in the first period, Luke Schenn settled in to play arguably his best game of the season to date. He was rewarded with a little more ice time (18:17 over 25 shifts), and was credited with three hits, three blocks and four shots on goal.
* Braydon Coburn also played arguably his best game of the season. Berube tried to get Coburn and Grossmann out against the John Tavares line whenever possible, and they did a fine shutdown job. Tavares, who assisted on the Okposo goal, was held to one shot on goal in the game. Linemate Matt Moulson also had just one shot.
* Berube rolled all three defensive pairings through the game, distributing ice time fairly evenly. In descending order, the Flyers blueline ice time distribution was as follows: Coburn 21:56, Grossmann 20:33, Streit 19:42, Kimmo Timonen 19:41, Luke Schenn 18:17, Erik Gustafsson 17:37.
* Jay Rosehill had a lengthy fight with Eric Boulton at the 6:46 mark of the opening period. They went toe-to-tie and, at one late point in the fight, each started throwing flurries of haymakers. There was no clear winner of the bout, but it was one of the more entertaining fights of the young season.
* Rosehill, who skated 4:42 of ice time over eight shifts, also had a bad turnover in the first period that led to a heap of defensive trouble in what turned into one of the Islanders' most sustained assaults of the game.
* The Flyers won 34 of 61 faceoffs in the game, led by Giroux's 12-for-18 performance and Couturier's 13-for-22 showing.
* Couturier played an absolutely stellar defensive game and won numerous battles on the boards. Although he's still looking for his first goal of the season, the 20-year-old center is contributing in other ways.
* Scott Hartnell made his return to the lineup last night. He had a solid game on the forecheck and dished out four credited hits. Hartnell also had three shots on goal.
* In the third period last night, Talbot was frequently rotated onto to the left wing of the Giroux line. Raffl ended up skating 18 shifts in the game for 9:18 of ice time. However, the Austrian rookie will always remember the game as the night he nabbed his first NHL point and shared in the middle goal Lecavalier's hat trick.
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FARM ROUNDUP
* AHL: The Adirondack Phantoms earned a 3-1 win last night against the Binghamton Senators. Kyle Flanagan assisted on a Brandon Alderson goal and then scored one of his own to stake the Phantoms to an early lead. Jason Akeson potted a Kris Newbury rebound for an insurance goal. Goaltender Cal Heeter stopped 35 of 36 shots to earn the win.
* QMJHL: Samuel Morin, who had a dominating performance against Sherbrooke last weekend, did not fare as well in a game against Gatineau yesterday. He had a couple of defensive miscues and took a pair of minor penalties -- one of which was avoidable -- in the Oceanic's 5-4 loss. However, Morin did draw a secondary assist on the final Rimouski goal to finish the game as a minus-one. For the season, the Flyers' 2013 first-round pick has two goals, six points, 16 penalty minutes, 15 shots on goal and a minus-three rating in nine games.
* OHL: Oshawa rebounded from Friday's ugly 4-0 loss with a 5-2 win last night against the Mississauga Steelheads. Top Flyers forward prospect Scott Laughton scored his 11th goal in 10 games since being returned to his junior team.
* OHL: Anthony Stolarz and the London Knights were idle last night after a 5-1 loss to Oscar Dansk and the Erie Otters on Friday. Stolarz was pulled early in the third period after allowing four goals on 42 shots. Stolarz had a 35-save shutout in his previous start. The Knights are back in action this afternoon, visiting Guelph.
* SHL: Robert Hägg, who dressed for a game with Modo's J20 team earlier in the week, has remained with Modo's senior team despite the 18-year-old's recent struggles with and without the puck. Yesterday, he was minus-one in Modo's 3-2 overtime win against second-place Luleå. I did not get a chance to watch any of yesterday's game online.
* WHL: Taylor Leier notched two goals in the Portland Winterhawks' 4-3 win over the Spokane Chiefs. For the season, the entry-level contracted winger has eight goals and 18 points in 15 games.
* NCAA: In yesterday's second annual collegiate hockey showcase at the Wells Fargo Center, Vermon downed Penn State by a 5-2 count. Flyers draftee Nick Luukko tallied one of the Vermont goals, tying the score at 2-2 in the second period shortly before Matt White put his team ahead to stay.
* NCAA: Shayne Gostisbehere had seven shots on goal but wound up pointless and minus two in Union's 2-2 tie with UConn on Friday.
* NCAA: Reece Willcox was minus-one without a point in Cornell's 5-3 win over Nebraksa Omaha on Friday. He was minus-one with no points in Saturday's rematch between the teams, won 4-3 by Cornell despite a 40-13 shot disadvantage.
* Exhibition: UND forward Michael Parks did not have a point but was plus one with one shot on goal in North Dakota's 4-1 win over the U.S. National Under-18 team.
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Sunday Quick Hits
* Thank you to Flyers scouting director Chris Pryor, Detroit Red Wings chief European scout Håkan Andersson, NHL Central Scouting European director Göran Stubb and especially Swiss-based Central Scouting scout Thomas Roost for all of their help in a just-published article I wrote for the International Ice Hockey Federation's official site.
The article looks at how scouting Swiss talent is no longer an afterthought for NHL teams, and outlines some of the top 2014 and 2015 NHL Draft candidates as well as promising but undrafted young Swiss talents. For more, click here.
* Flyers Alumni Birthdays: Gritty center Mike Ricci turns 42 today. Hard-shooting defenseman Corey Foster turns 44 today.
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Metro Buzz(with columnists Bill Meltzer, Jan Levine and Dan Petriw) Recorded 10/27/13
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