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Wrapup: Flyers Finish 3-Point Weekend, Down Detroit 2-1 via SO |
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WRAPUP: FLYERS WRAP UP 3-POINT WEEKEND WITH 2-1 SHOOTOUT WIN AT THE JOE
The Philadelphia Flyers wrapped up an exciting weekend of hockey with three points, as they defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 via shootout at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday evening. The previous afternoon, the Flyers settled for one point in a home shootout loss to the New York Rangers.
Philadelphia has put together a six-game point streak (5-0-1). After starting the season 5-8-3, the Flyers have earned points in 20 of their last 27 games. They have gone 15-7-5 in that span.
“It’s an important win for our team,” Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said in his postgame press conference with attending media. “Our guys have continued to battle hard for one another and I think that’s what this was about tonight. Our guys just kept battling hard for one another and found a way.”
Even in victory, shootouts are just glorified 65-minute ties with a bonus point from a postgame skills competition. But since the points from shootouts count just the same in the NHL standings (except in an end-of-season tiebreaker scenario), it hurts to leave too many of the table as the Flyers have done so many times since the shootout was foisted on the NHL regular season game in 2005.
This was a gut-check game for the Flyers, who had a couple tough calls go against them. For the third straight game, the Flyers had to battle back in the third period from a one-goal deficit and found a way to come out with point(s). Philly did a lot of bending but not breaking for two periods against the Red Wing and then had the better of the play in the third period.
“It was a tough, emotional game – let’s be honest,” Voracek said to the attending media in Detroit.
“We were obviously pretty upset at that goal that got disallowed, but we knew we had five minutes in front of us in overtime, and we knew we had to stick with it. Neuvy did a great job; he shut the door in overtime and the shootout. It’s a huge road game… back to back games in a tough building. I think that’s the best team we’ve played so far this year
Both games this weekend saw excellent goaltending duels: the Michal Neuvirth vs. Petr Mrazek game on Sunday was every bit as good as the stellar battle between Steve Mason and Henrik Lundqvist the previous day. Neuvirth stopped 29 of 30 shots in regulation and overtime before going two-for-three in the shootout. Mrazek turned back 30 of 31 through 65 minutes and then stopped Wayne Simmonds in the shootout before being beaten in the second and third rounds.
Each team had a golden opportunity to win during extended power plays but the Red Wings finished 0-for-4 and the Flyers were 0-for-5. Detroit saw a five-minute power play go by the wayside in the first period after Ryan White was tossed from the game on a match penalty for a high hit on Detroit forward Tomas Jurco. In the third period, the Flyers had 1:36 worth of five-on-three time. The two goalies stepped up big whenever needed by their teams.
Match penalties carry an automatic NHL review for supplementary discipline. While not every match penalty results in a suspension or fine, it seems likely that White will get a suspension of some sort for the way he lifted up into a hit where the head was the principle point of contact. However, Jurco stayed in the game and the league also weighs injury/ lack of injury into its rulings.
After killing the five-minute penalty, the Flyers went on outshoot Detroit by an 11-10 margin in the first period. Both teams generated multiple odd-man rushes. In the middle frame, Detroit took the play to the Flyers -- who were guilty of some bad early period turnovers and failed clears -- as the Red Wings outshot Philly by a 13-5 margin.
"They’re one of the fastest teams we’ve played this year," Giroux said to the attending media. "They feed off turnovers and they regroup and come fast. It was a good test for us to play a fast team like that. At one point in the game they were all over us, and we kind of slowed down the way we were playing and just went back to the basics.”
With 1:35 left in the period, a shot by Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall hit off Neuvirth's glove-side shoulder, landed in the crease and trickled over the goal line. A fraction a second earlier, Darren Helm brushed into Neuvirth's glove -- part of which was inside the blue paint and part of which was outside the crease, with goaltender's feet clearly within the crease.
The Flyers challenged the ruling. After the on-ice officials reviewed the play on their tiny on-ice monitor, the on-ice ruling was upheld and the Flyers were charged with their lone timeout of the game. Jonathan Ericsson got the primary assist and Pavel Datsyuk got the secondary helper on Kronwall's third goal of the season.
In the third period, the Flyers cranked up the pressure on Mrazek and soon got the game tied. At the 4:24 mark, Jakub Voracek made a nice pass to Giroux in the right circle. The Flyers captain finshed off the play with authority, beating Mrazek cleanly and putting the shot off the long side post and into the back of the net with a clang-thud accompaniment. Voracek earned his team-leading 26th assist of the season and Simmonds got his 13th helper as Giroux collected his 13th goal of the season.
On the shift immediately following the Giroux goal, Datsyuk appeared to have a breakaway as he got hooked from behind by Scott Laughton. The officials ruled it a minor penalty rather than a penalty shot -- a break for the Flyers, especially given how dangerous Datsyuk is one-on-one with a goalie --and Philly killed the penalty.
At exactly the 10:00 mark of the third period, the Flyers got a cheap power play on the automatic delay of game penalty that came with Detroit defenseman Mike Green accidentally flipping the puck over the glass from the defensive zone. Twenty four seconds later, Kronwall took a blatant -- and needless -- tripping penalty as Voracek tried to skate into the offensive zone. That gave the Flyers a two-man advantage for 1:36. Philly generated heavy pressure and threw all sorts of rubber at Mrzek but Detroit held the fort. A dazzling save on a Voracek one-time from the right circle highlighted the segment.
Philly kept on coming, but Detroit finally pushed back with some extended offensive zone time late in the period. With five seconds left in regulation, Sean Couturier forced a Brendan Smith turnover and had an unimpeded path to the net when he was hooked by Smith and lost the scoring chance. Once again, the play looked like a potential penalty shot but the ruling on the ice was a minor penalty. However, this gave Philly a chance to either win in regulation or take a 4-on-3 power play for 1:55 into overtime.
With 1.6 seconds left on the clock, Flyers rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere ripped a shot into the net. However, the goal was immediately disallowed by referee Dave Jackson. In screening Mrazek from in front of the crease, Simmonds jumped to allow the puck to get through but his backside connected with Mrazek, who crashed heavily to the ice.
Another replay delay ensued. Due to the time left on the clock, this one was automatically reviewed in the NHL's "Situation Room" in Toronto (as opposed to the coach's challenge review earlier in the game). The no-goal call from the ice stood. Additionally, Simmonds received a goaltender interference penalty, meaning that the two teams would skate three-on-three in overtime after all.
In the overtime session, Neuvirth made three additional saves and Mrazek had one save. Final shots were 31-30 in the Flyers' favor. Gostisbehere and Laughton led the Flyers with five shots on goal apiece.
Final shot attempts, however, were 69-49 in Detroit's favor, which was more indicative of the territorial play for the majority of the game. The Wings missed the net on a whopping 23 attempts, in part because the Flyers gave up the perimeters and took away inside the dots but also because the Wings missed on their share of inside chances, too. The Flyers blocked 16 shots while Detroit mustered nine blocks.
With the score tied through 65 minutes, the shootout ensued. Gustav Nyquist and Simmonds were each unable to convert their first-round attempts. Pavel Datsyuk then scored a pretty goal to put Detroit in the driver's seat. To win within three rounds, the Flyers needed back-to-back goals by their own shooters sandwiched around a save by Neuvirth (or at least a missed net or fumble by the Wings). That's exactly what the Flyers got.
Giroux turned Mrazek inside out and scored in the bottom of the second round. Neuvirth denied Brad Richards in the top of the third round. Voracek then beat countryman Mrazek with a wrist shot through the five hole to end the game and secure a second point for the Flyers.
“I had it made up in my mind,” Voracek said to the attending media. “The last few shootout times I’ve been kind of slow and kind of thinking about it on the way to the goalie, but I had it made up in my mind when I touched the puck what I was going to do.”
The Flyers left Detroit with their 47th and 48th points of the 2015-16 season through 43 games played. This is how they stand in the playoff picture: fifth in the wildcard picture behind higher wildcard Boston Bruins (51 points, 44 games played, tiebreaker edge on the Flyers), lower wildcard Montreal Canadiens (50 points, 46 games played, tiebreaker edge on the Flyers), the Pittsburgh Penguins (49 points, 44 games played, tiebreaker edge on the Flyers) and New Jersey Devils (49 points, 46 games played tiebreaker edge on the Flyers).
In the push for an automatic Metropolitan Division playoff spot, the Flyers trail the second-place New York Islanders by six points (54 points, 45 games played, tiebreaker advantage on the Flyers) and the third-place New York Rangers by five points (53 points, 45 games played, tiebreaker edge on the Flyers). With the Rangers having lost in regulation on Sunday to the runaway Metro Division and Eastern Conference leading Washington Capitals (71 points, 45 games), the Flyers ended up gaining a point on the Rangers over the weekend despite New York's shootout win in Philly on Saturday.
The Flyers will likely take an off-day on Monday followed the back-to-back games. On Tuesday, they will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Wells Fargo Center.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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