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Wrapup: Special Teams, 3rd Period Sink Flyers in 4-2 Loss to Ducks |
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WRAPUP: SPECIAL TEAMS, 3RD PERIOD SINK FLYERS in 4-2 LOSS TO ANAHEIM
The Philadelphia Flyers entered their first game after a five-night break over Christmas with the opportunity to get their three-game California road trip off to a strong start.They left with a 4-2 loss the Anaheim Ducks with the familiar narrative about being unable to beat teams that are struggling in the standings.
The game was tied at 1-1 after the first period and 2-2 at the second intermission as both clubs held a short-lived one goal lead. The Ducks then proceeded to go ahead to stay in the opening minute of the third period and never looked back.
Former Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry scored power play and even strength goals for the Ducks. Forner Hart finalist Ryan Getzlaf's opened the scoring with a 5-on-3 power play goal. Shawn Horcoff put a stranglehold on the game with a shorthanded breakaway goal. John Gibson stopped 24 of 26 shots to earn the win in goal.
For the Flyers, Jakub Voracek converted a friendly bounce the puck off the end boards on an intentionally errant shot by Nick Schultz to tie the game at 1-1 in the middle stages of the first period. Michael Raffl briefly gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead with a pinballing rebound goal on the power play early in the second period. Sean Couturier assisted on both Flyers' tallies.
Losing goaltender Steve Mason (33 saves on 37 shots) had no chance on either of the first two Anaheim goals and was oustanding in stopping 27 of 29 shots through the first and second periods. He gave the Flyers a chance to come away with one or two points from the game. In the third period, however, Mason failed to come up with critical momentum saves.
Getzlaf's power play goal on a two-man advantage was a high slot blast fired through a heavy screen by Ryan Kesler,who was stationed directly in front of the goalie. Perry's power play goal was a scramble around the net squeezed under Mason from near the right side of the crease and trickled over the goal at the end of a multi-save sequence in which the goalie received no help from the penalty killers.
In the meantime, Mason played brilliantly through the first 40 minutes. He seemed locked in despite the lengthy schedule break.
At the 58-second mark of the third period, Perry squeezed past an Evgeny Medvedev hip-check attempt on the right half boards, moved lower in the zone and wristed a shot through the five-hole to give Anaheim a lead. Mason told the attending media after the game that it was a shot that should routinely have been stopped, and was not.
Mason has periodically been beaten through the five-hold on breakaways this season, including a Magnus Pääjärvi goal on a 2-on-0 breakaway in the Flyers' 4-3 win over St. Louis in the final game before Christmas. Horcoff's shorthanded 2-on-0 breakaway goal off a terrible turnover by Shayne Gostisbehere was scored from a straight-in approach whereas Pääjärvi angled in over the middle from the left wing.
No breakaway, especially a two-man breakaway, can be pinned on the goaltender if it ends up in the net but the Flyers desperately needed a save here from Mason to stay in the game. Horcoff's wrister after settling a bouncing puck caught Mason backing up a little bit and squeezed through the goaltender into the net. Gostisbehere complained to the referees that he'd been interfered with by Horcoff as the eventual goal-scorer went past him up ice.
Once Anaheim had a two-goal lead, they utterly shut down the Flyers. The few good looks that Philly had in the third period rarely ended up on net.
The Ducks have been arguably the NHL's biggest enigma. A Western Conference powerhouse that posted a 109-point season in 2014-15 and 116 points the year before that, the Ducks have inexplicably been the NHL's lowest scoring team this season and sit in the basement of the Western Conference despite having most of the same nucleus intact. Team captain Getzlaf came into the game with just one goal on the season.
On Sunday night, Bruce Boudreau's club looked more like the Ducks that topped the West during each of the two previous regular seasons.
Anaheim outshot the Flyers by a 37-26 margin, and held the Flyers to just five mostly harmless shots in defending a late in the third period. The Flyers were held to just 39 shot attempts for the game: 26 on goal, eight that were blocked by Anaheim players and five that missed. It marked the Flyers' lowest shot attempt total of the entire season to date and the fewest they’ve had since since the club mustered 39 attempts against the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 3, 2015.
The Ducks' possession advantage started with utter dominance of the faceoff circle. Anaheim
The Ducks won the special teams battle on this night, going 2-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill with a third-period shorthanded goal that was a dagger to the Flyers' comeback hopes.
Flyers captain Claude Giroux, who took several maintenance days earlier in December, was held without a point for the fifth straight game. Over that span, he created numerous scoring chances that did not end up in the net. The last time Giroux went five games without a point was the first five games of the 2013-14 season.
Normally one of the NHL's best faceoff men, Giroux had a miserable night at the dot against the Ducks. Giroux went just 2-for-16 (13 percent) and got beaten time after time by Getzlaf (16-for-19, 84 percent). Giroux was on the ice for both of Anaheim's third period goals although he was not directly to blame in either sequence. Giroux had four shots on goal, got blocked on two other tries and missed the net on another.
Minutes-eating defenseman Michael Del Zotto (upper-body injury) missed the game and is considered day-to-day. Brandon Manning re-entered the lineup, skating 16:46 of ice time and engaging in a first-period fight with Clayton Stoner.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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