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Wrapup: Flat-Footed Flyers Fall to Avalanche, 4-0 |
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FLAT-FOOTED FLYERS FALL TO AVALANCHE, 4-0
Historically, the first game back off a long road trip can be tough sledding for a team. However, the Philadelphia Flyers have played a lot of bad hockey recently in losing seven of their last eight games (1-5-2). They made progress over the course of a 2-1 overtime loss in Calgary and 3-0 victory in Winnipeg but then severely backslid in a dreadful 4-0 shutout loss at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.
With the loss, Philadelphia dropped to 5-7-3 on the season. Colorado improved to 5-9-1.
Pretty much nothing of importance went well for the Flyers in this game. Colorado played a simple, solid road game but Philadelphia made it rather easy on their opponent. At the end of the night, there really wasn't a single facet of the game where the Flyers could honestly say they did the little things well.
"We were coming off two pretty determined efforts," said Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol. "I think we thought the effort on the road in Calgaryand the effort in Winnipeg; those are two pretty determined efforts. We didn’t follow that up enough in any phase of our game tonight."
The Flyers yielded two goals within the opening minute of the first and second periods, and now have given up 10 goals that the opposition has scored within the first 90 seconds of the start of a period. Beyond that, the Flyers were poor in all three zones. They didn't pass well, even in short range.
Tellingly, the Flyers didn't have their feet moving so they couldn't carry the puck in with possession. They couldn't chip-and-chase to pressure the Avalanche on the forecheck, so Colorado had a lot of easy breakouts.
There's more. The Flyers didn't cover particularly well defensively. They got outnumbered around the puck. They didn't win many 50-50 pucks. They couldn't string back-to-back good shifts together. There were no discernible between-period adjustments made; at least not ones that made any impact. Last but not least, Flyers players exhibited a lot of negative body language, giving in quickly to frustration and slamming their sticks repeatedly.
"I didn’t think we were working smart," said Flyers right winger Wayne Simmonds. "We were working, but not working smart. We’re sending two guys in on the forecheck when the goalie is pinning the puck. We’re not putting the puck in the proper spots and that’s what happens.”
The result: The Flyers got outshot by a 40-25 (15-7, 14-7, 11) margin, generating all of one power play opportunity the entire night (0-for-1) and going 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Jarome Iginla scored a fluke goal in the opening minute of the game. The Avs built a 3-0 lead with a pair of early second period goals by Matt Duchene. Cody McLeod tacked on a power pay goal early in the third period.
Reto Berra earned a 25-save shutout but was only tested a few times. Michal Neuvirth turned back 36 of 40 shots. The first goal he yielded was a combination of bad positioning and bad luck, but the others were tough to pin on the goaltender.
At the 57-second mark of the first period, Iginla's slow-motion knuckleball from a severe right side angle somehow rolled up Neuvirths skate and found a coin-slot opening inside the short side post with Neuvirth in a reverse VH position. Nick Holden and Carl Söderberg got the assists.
"Bad goal, bad angle. Got to have those," said Neuvirth. “I think the first goal I gave up was a big factor. It took the momentum and they were the better team tonight.”
Over the remainder of the period, Neuvirth made 14 saves to keep the deficit to one.
"We knew how important the start would have been and a tough bounce on the first goal. It kind of stunned us a little bit," said Flyers defenseman Mark Streit.
"I thought as a team we have to make a better job of turning the page and accepting that it happened and just move forward. Stick with the system and just play our game. I don’t think we did a good job at that. I thought we had a few shifts here and there we kind of played the right way. Certainly not enough against a team like that. I think we made it pretty easy to them.”
Just 25 seconds into the seond period, Duchene skated in and slammed his fifth goal of the season home after Nathan MacKinnon swung out from behind the net on a wrapup around try. Gabriel Landeskog got the secondary assist. On the play, Michael Del Zotto abandoned his slide of the slot to go over challenge the wraparound and Duchene arrived ahead of Wayne Simmonds.
About 2:30 into the second period, Sam Gagner was unable to finish off a point-blank rebound chance. This was perhaps the first tough save Berra had to make up to that juncture.
The score became 3-0 at 3:44. Nick Holden barely held in a puck at the blueline and then put a shot through traffic on net thet bounced directly to Duchene, who stashed home the rebound from a side angle. Tyson Barrie gt the secondary helper.
Neuvirth juggled a side-angle shot by Dennis Everberg and then stopped a wraparound try on the other end at 6:06. At this point, shots for the period were 9-2 (24-9 for the game) in Colorado's favor at this point. By the end of the middle frame, shots were 29-14 Colorado.
Söderberg nearly scored at the 50-second mark of the third period but the puck rolled off his stick. In a scrum after the whistle, Radko Gudas was called for roughing. The Avs cashed in on the ensuing power play.
At 2:04 McLeod scored on a second effort after an initial wraparound attempt for his third goal of the season. Barre and Söderberg got the assists on the powerplay goal.
Immediately after the next faceoff, the Flyers' Gagner shot a puck that missed the net and then landed on the back of the net. The referee initially signaled goal and then corrected himself.
The Flyers finally got their first power play at 2:45. Andreas Martinsen went off for roughing Brayden Schenn. Philly did not generate anything of consequence.
With 8:46 left in the game, Giroux hunched over after a hit by Francois Beauchemin. He skated slowly back to the bench and sat down, and then later returned for his next shift.
A time ticked down to 5:39, Berra read an attempted back-door play and got over quickly to make a clean save on Brandon Manning. There was no rebound.
Shots on the final period were 11-11. For the game, Colorado attempted 57 shots (40 on net, 10 that were blocked, seven that missed the net). The Flyers attempted 54 (25 on net, 16 blocked,13 misses). Philly closed some of the gap in the third period but the game was out of reach at that point.
The Flyers return to practice on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. The Washington Capitals pay a visit on Thursday.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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