Bill Meltzer Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSS
• Archive
• CONTACT
WRAPUP: FLYERS SEE POINT SLIP AWAY IN 3-2 SO LOSS TO RANGERS
Every game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers this season has been up for grabs in the third period, with three of the games being played to 65-minute ties and having, by NHL to be "decided" via shootout. The first time, the Flyers got the bonus point. New York has won each of the last two skills competitions; this time in a 3-2 final at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon.
For the third time in the last three weeks, the Flyers let at least one point slip away by yielding a goal within the final two minutes. The Flyers led the Rangers 1-0 after two periods and 2-1 within the third period but ultimately could not hold off waves of New York attacks in a final stanza that saw Philly get outshot by an 11-1 margin; scoring on their lone shot of the third period and then seeing a 2-on-1 chance with an opportunity to ice the game go awry. The Flyers mustered all of two shots on goal in the final 30:15 of regulation and overtime. Before that, Philly by far had the better of play.
"That’s probably the one thing we’d like to change up in our hockey game. That’s not our effort. Our effort was outstanding throughout the game. I think to stay on pucks as well. Then the third period for sure they didn’t like in the first two. By nature we ended up spending a little too much time in our zone," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said.
Already playing without two-way stalwart center Sean Couturier, the Flyers lost their top goal scorer early in Saturday's game. Wayne Simmonds, who has been red-hot of late and the team's best third-period offensive player, was tossed from the game on a match penalty in a first-period altercation with Ryan McDonagh. Although McDonagh did not return to the game, taking New York's best defenseman off the ice, the intent-to-injure match penalty ruling seemed excessive and based more on the result that what actually happened.
With the Flyers missing key weapons and playing a forward short, Flyers head coach Dave Haktol heavily relied on Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux; burning the candle at both ends with Voracek especially. Voracek logged a massive 27:59 of ice time and 34 shifts, shattering his previous career high be several minutes. Giroux payed 22:18 over 29 shifts.
Shayne Gostisbehere (power play) and Ryan White scored for the Flyers to enable the team to at least salvage one point. Steve Mason stopped 26 of 28 shots in regulation and overtime but went 0-for-2 in the skills competition. Sam Gagner and Claude Giroux were unable to convert their shootout attempts.
Chris Kreider and Keith Yandle (6-on-5 with the Flyers 12.9 seconds away from a regulation win) scored in the third period for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 of 28 in regulation and did not have a shot on his net in OT before going 2-for-2 in the shootout. Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored on their shootout attempts.
“I didn’t pick it up," Mason said of Yandle's goal. "But, at the same time I have to find a way to fight through the bodies in front and make a save there regardless of how hard it is to find it.”
Asked about the skills competition goal by Zuccarello, Mason said, "He kind of had the reach around -- the one handed reach -- there. Lots of guys pull that move and it’s tough for a goaltender. They’re going one way and they throw the stick out there with a reach kind of. It’s a tough play."
For the game, the Flyers won the special teams battle. There were 1-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Faceoffs were 24-22 in the Flyers' favor.
At the 1:58 mark of the first period, Mason made a clean stop of a left circle shot by J.T. Miller; the game's first shot on goal for either team. Simmonds took an elbow in the face at 3:04 as he got hit on what turned into a giveaway. Simmonds went slowly back to the bench. Shortly thereafter, Streit missed the net on an open scoring chance after he got the puck from Voracek, who fended off two Rangers.
Kreider went in alone on Mason, beating him as he cut to the right at the 6:03 mark but tucked the puck off the outside of the net from in tight. Shots on goal were 2-1 Flyers at a stoppage of play with 13:14 left in the first period.
At 10:36, after McDonagh absorbed a hit by Giroux and headmanned the puck up the ice, a rucus developed behind the play. McDonagh high-sticked and slashed Simmonds who retaliated with an slash and what looked like a forearm shiver or elbow to the defenseman, who went down in a heap. McDonagh got a double minor, Simmonds received a highly questionable match penalty for intent to injure, then threw his stick down in anger when he learned of the call. McDonagh did not return.
"I was just happy that Simmonds was still standing after that cross check across the side of the head," Hakstol said. "I don’t have a comment on [the match penalty]. I’m happy that Simmonds wasn’t injured.”
The teams went to a four-minute 4-on-4. As the Rangers went to a minute-long 5-on-4, Mason stopped Oscar Lindberg from the right circle. When the penalty expired --- with no Flyer in the penalty box to serve the penalty -- Voracek jumped off the player bench and sped off on a breakaway. He was stopped by Lundqvist but the puck went Matt Read, who sent a backhander wide of an open net.
This whole sequence came about because of a mistake by the officials. By rule, someone should have been put in the Flyers' box at the time of the match penalty. Voracek was allowed to exit the Flyers bench to replace another player but they should not have had five skaters on the ice until the next stoppage because they did not have a player in the penalty box.
“I was asking ‘Can I go? Can I go?’ and I think the linesman when he asked because I was changing for someone. I don’t think he realized I was jumping for Simmer. So he said ‘yeah yeah’ so I jumped on. I don’t know what’s the rule on it, obviously it's an illegal play. It would be pretty bad if we scored a goal and it was disallowed,” Voracek said.
Viktor Stålberg tripped Brayden Schenn at 17:52 in the Rangers zone and the Flyers went to their first power play. White took Simmonds' place on the first power play unit. The second power play unit one good chance but couldn't convert. Shots in the opening period were 7-7.
At the start of the second period, Michael Raffl took Simmonds' place on the top line, with Voracek moving from left wing to right wing. Taking a pass on the period's second shift from Sam Gagner, Nick Cousins drew his second power play for the Flyers, hooked by Jesper Fast at the 46-second mark.
Mason made a tough stop off a faceoff through traffic, then another save on the next shift for his 10th save of the game and got his 11th as Stålberg collected a Flyers' turnover and shot from above the right circle.
The Flyers got their third power play as Dominic Moore received a marginal neutral zone hooking penalty on Mark Streit at 6:17; Streit fell down but it looked like a legal play by the understandably upset New York forward. The Flyers then cashed in to make it 1-0 at 7:06.
Gostisbehere's shot from center point went through a Ryan White screen directly in front of Lundqvist with Schenn also in the vincity. Initially credited to White, the scoring was later changed to credit Gostisbehere with his ninth goal and fifth power play tally of the season. Voracek and Giroux received the assists in the final scoring.
"There were two hungry guys [White and Schenn] in front, they were the only guys," Gostisbehere said. "It was them two and the goalie. It was a good traffic play and it was a good overall power play."
After the opening goal, the Flyers narrowly missed extending their lead on chances by Gostisbehere and Giroux, Lundqvist held onto the latter for a stoppage of play at 10:37.
The Flyers sent Voracek out for a double shift, and he nearly scored. Then all hell broke loose in the New York zone as Philly flurried, with nothing being called by the officials. As play finally moved the other way, Evgeny Medvedev took a flipped-in puck in the face. Behind the play, a tired Matt Read had his first NHL fight (although it wasn't much of one) in defense of Scott Laughton, whom Read likely thought had been slew-footed by Lindberg. Lindberg got a cross-checking minor and fighting major at 12:49.
The Flyers' power play lasted 1:16 until Laughton got on the wrong side of the puck and took a hooking penalty at 14:05. At the 15:45 mark, Lundqvist stopped Voracek's seventh shot on goal of the game and Philly's 19th shot of the middle period. However they would get just two more on net the rest of the day. Mason then made a late PK save and the Flyers cleared the rebound.
Voracek continued a stellar game by fighting his way through two Rangers in the neutral zone and getting the puck deep into Rangers' territory. No scoring chance resulted but it once again forced the Rangers --without McDonagh to trigger breakouts -- to go 200 feet.
Shots were 20-8 in Philly's favor in the second period; 27-15 Flyers overall.
The Flyers continued to heavily double-shift Voracek in the third period. There no shots through the first two minutes but Voracek generated some more pressure.
The Rangers tied the game at 1-1 at the 3:16 mark. Mason had no chance to stop a Kreider deflection of a Dan Girardi point shot as Kreider moved in front of the net. Girardi and Zuccarello assisted on Kreider's 11th goal of the season.
Mason made a great skate save on the next Rangers shift and then New York had a flurry of chances in close.
Suddenly, at the 5:46 mark, the Flyers struck out of nowhere to restore a 2-1 lead. White's righthanded wrist shot from the left circle found room inside the near post. Gostisbehere and VandeVelde got the assists on White's sixth goal of the season at 5:46.
Most the remainer of the game seemed like one long penalty kill for Philadelphia, even though the teams were at full strength. Immediately, the Rangers went back to the attack but Mason came up 13:50 left. Mason bailed the team out again as he stopped Moore after Laughton coughed up the puck. The goalie held for a stoppage with11:22 left. Stålberg was then denied point blank with 10:24 left as the Rangers finally got credited with their 20th shot of the game.
Mason got bowled over in the crease and the Flyers took an icing as Cousins, Gagner and Schenn got trapped in the defensive zone. Luckily, Philly was able to get Giroux on the ice late in the shift, so he was able to take the next faceoff after the Flyers called timeout with 4:12 left.
With 3:42 left, the Flyers took another icing. However, on the next shift, they generated a 2-on-1 transition chance by Giroux with Voracek joining. Giroux telegraphed pass all the way and the chance to virtually seal the game went awry.
The Rangers hemmed Philly in their own zone and finally got Lundqvist off the bench. With tired Philadelphia players on the ice, they tied the game with 12.9 seconds left in regulation.Yandle right point blast with all kinds of traffic in front of Mason sailed high into the net as the screened goalie dropped low to play the percentages. The assists went to Fast and Dan Boyle.
Shots in the third period were 11-1 Rangers; 28-26 Flyers through regulation. Play went to overtime.
"We definitely knew they were going to have a push. I thought we did a good job of getting the pucks out and taking care and getting the break going, we didn’t get much going offensively and would have liked to have more zone time but we’re down a couple guys and you mix and match lines trying to guys out there," White said.
"It just wasn’t really running as good as it has been the last three or four games but guys battled hard and we were seconds away from getting two points, it’s tough to lose for sure.”
In a frenetic overtime in which Gagner had a spectacular early shift but tucked a shot just wide, Yandle (holding) and Del Zotto (roughing) received coincidental minors with 45.5 seconds left. Play remained 3-on-3, of course. Shots were 2-0 Rangers; 28-28 apiece. The tied game went to the shootout.
Gagner went first, and shot over the net on a forehand shot. In the bottom of the first round, Zuccarello put on a west-east-west move and scored and he pulled the puck around Mason.
In the second round, Lundqvist did not bite on Giroux deke attempts and the Flyers' captain ran out of room near the right post. Stepan won the shootout with wrister over Mason's glove as he cut in from the left circle.
The Flyers return to action on Sunday at noon, playing the NHL-leading Washington Capitals on the road. Mason, who has played every minute of the team's current stretch of four games in less than six nights, three in less than four and back-to-back weekend matinees said after the game that he does not feel overtaxed and is fine to play on Sunday if Hakstol elects to go with him rather than giving rookie Anthony Stolarz his first career NHL start under tough conditions.
“I feel great," Mason said. "I've said it earlier: I haven’t really been overtaxed this season so my body feels pretty good right now. I’m not sure what the plan is tomorrow, but I’ll be ready to go if that’s the case."
Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division, the New York Islanders sustained a 5-1 oss to the Detroit
Red Wings. The New Jersey Devils got one point from a 3-2 shootout loss to the Capitals, who were running away with the division and Eastern Conference top spot. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in evening action against the Florida Panthers. The Carolina Hurricanes are idle.
As a net effect, the Flyers (55 points in 50 games) lost a point in the standings to the second-place Rangers (63 points in 52 games) due to the shootout, held ground with third-place New Jersey (59 points in 53 games) and gained a point on the lower wild card seeded New York Islanders (58 points in 50 games). The Penguins (57 points in 50 games) enter their game with a chance to leapfrog the Islanders. Philly picked up one point on the sixth-place Hurricanes (56 points in 53 games).
************
FLYERS ALUMNI GAME A SMASH SUCCESS
A capacity crowd of Flyers fans from every generation packed Santander Arena (home the Philadelphia Flyers' ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals) on Feb. 5 in a celebration of Flyers hockey featuring Alumni of the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s joining forcing for the Flyers Alumni Game, pitting Team Orange against Team White. For more on the evening's events and the serious purpose behind the fun, click here.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»