FLYERS FIRE BLANKS, LOSE 4-0 TO OILERS
A poor first period, a couple hit goal posts, two costly miscues in a second period they otherwise dominated and a backbreaking third period shorthanded goal spelled the Philadelphia Flyers' doom in a 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night.
Edmonton, mired in the cellar of the Western Conference, swept the two-game season series with the Flyers. This marks the first time since 1993-94 that the Flyers have gone without a point against the Oilers in a season where the teams played more than once.
“Probably two things for me stand out," said Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol. "One, I didn’t think we matched their pace in the first period and for a team that hasn’t had a whole lot of success on the road they probably got out of that first period feeling pretty good. Second thing to me that stands out is the second period. We had a lot of opportunities, we couldn’t buy a break around the net and they capitalized on the opportunities that they had, that’s the difference in the game. At least those are two things that stand out to me.”
On this night, the Oilers, who entered the game with an atrocious 8-20-5 road record this season, pushed the play early and then were opportunistic later in the game.
Cam Talbot was outstanding in net for the Oilers, recording a 35-save shutout. He also benefited from the Flyers hitting the post a couple times on shots that beat him and from 20 missed shots overall by the Flyers -- including several of their best looks, and one which came moments before the second Oilers goal. The shutout was the third of Talbot's career against the Flyers. The first two came as a member of the New York Rangers.
Nail Yakupov, Taylor Hall, Patrick Maroon and Lauri Korpikoski (shorthanded) scored for the Oilers. Connor McDavid set up Yakupov's goal with a burst of speed off the rush. For exiled former Flyers farmhand Maroon, it was his third goal in six career games against the Flyers. Against the rest of the NHL, he has 24 goals in 198 games.
Despite generating a slew of scoring chances in the second period, Philadelphia went 0-for-7 on the power play on a night where Edmonton had only power play of its own.
“I thought our second period power plays were good. We had posts, we had opportunities, and we had a couple plays that we just misfired," said Hakstol.
"We needed a goal and we didn’t get one. I thought the second period power plays were good, third period we got a little bit sloppy. Obviously the short-handed goal was the nail in the coffin. Pure fact we needed a goal we didn’t get it.”
Michal Neuvirth was adequate in goal for Philadelphia but was unable to cme up with momentum saves when needed, with the exception of the team's lone penalty kill of the game. He finished with 27 saves on 31 shots; just the second time this season he has yielded four goals in a game.
“I felt like they were better in front of the net and on both sides, and I think that was the difference," Neuvirth said.
"Maybe [one or two momentum saves could made a difference]. But, you know, I didn’t. We put a lot of pucks on net, spent a lot of time just there at the top of the crease. But like I said, I feel like they were stronger in front of the net."
Shayne Gostisbehere by far was the Flyers' best player in the first period and continued to create scoring chances but he was in the middle of Edmonton's second and fourth goals en route to a minus-three night. The line of Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn also finished at minus-three. Gostisbehere and Giroux each had six shots on goal. Gostisbehere and Mark Streit each hit the goal post once.
An unhelmeted Schenn hit the back of his head on the ice in a third period fracas near the benches. He took several more shifts but sat out the final 6:07 with the score out of hand. Schenn was in the Flyers' locker room after the game but declined to speak.
Right off the hop, the Flyers yielded a 2-on-1 rush with Nick Schultz back defending. A pass across was denied by Schultz but Neuvirth was tested on close-range shots by Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov, followed later in the shift by a Mark Fayne shot from about 55 feet. On the very next shift, the Flyers gave up another odd-man. A sliding Gostisbehere broke up the play.
Gostisbehere made a nice one-on-defensive play against Taylor Hall about seven minutes into the period. Shots were 7-1 in the Oilers' favor before the Flyers got their second shot on a point shot with 10:13 left in the period. Talbot hung on for a stoppage.
Gostisbehere joined puck carrier Ryan White on a two-on-one attack at 10:28. White elected to shoot, perhaps hoping for a slam dunk rebound but Talbot did a good job deadening the puck.
The Oilers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 11:20. McDavid easily turnstiled Evgeny Medvedev, who had crossed over to cover over the middle and then had no prayer of covering to the outside. McDavid cut in from the circles and was denied on the doorstep by Neuvirth. The rebound sat in the crease and was immediately stuffed home by Yakupov. Eberle got the secondary assist on Yakupov's sixth goal of the season. The goal came on the Oilers' ninth shot of the period.
The best Flyers player up to that point, Gostisbehere, activated in the offensive zone and created a shot attempt for Nick Cousins but the puck was deflected into the netting. A TV timeout ensued at 12:40.
Edmonton got the game's first power play. Schultz was sent off for interference behind the Flyers net at 15:49. Neuvirth picked an early shot through a partial screen for his ninth save of the period. Couturier created a shorthanded scoring chance but his pass across eluded Matt Read, who got in too tight. Neuvirth kept the score at 1-0 with his 10th, 11th and 12th saves of the period before the penalty expired.
Edmonton had a three-on-two rush against the Giroux line but Schultz made two blocks in the Philadelphia end to thwart the threat. At the other end of the ice, Talbot fought off an explosive shot by Gostisbehere.
Zack Kassian hooked down Gostisbehere behind the Flyers net at 18:09. The Flyers went to their first power play with the shots 14-4 to their disadvantage at that point. Gostisbehere hit the right post on a one-timer set up by Giroux with Simmonds providing the screen. Schenn missed the net with a good look from mid slot. Talbot made a pair of stops along the way.
Shots were 14-6 in the Oilers' favor (25-18 Oilers in shot attempts). The Flyers took nine seconds of carryover power play time into the second period.
The Flyers could not capitalize on the brief carryover power play, although they had a promising looking in the opening seconds. After the Kassian penalty expired, Schenn intercepted an Oilers' turnover just over the blueline, the counterattack went offside.
Gagner forced another Oilers turnover, this time deep in their zone. He found Giroux going to the through the slot but Talbot made the save as Giroux tipped the puck on net; Talbot's ninth of the game. The Flyers kept up the pressure on the next shift before Talbot absorbed a point shot by Radko Gudas for a stoppage.
Talbot made his 11th -- and best to that point -- stop on Schenn from the doorstep. Schenn then had his stick chopped out of his hands by Adam Clendening, who was penalized for slashing at 6:08. Early in the power play, Streit hit the post off a feed from Gostisbehere. With 28 seconds left, Talbot cleanly gloved a left-circle wrister by Giroux.
As the penalty expired, Couturier was grabbed by for another Edmonton penalty. After a very, very long delayed penalty as the Flyers applied the pressure -- and one point, the players on the bench had to bang their sticks to get Neuvirth's attention to skate off for an extra attacker --Anton Lander went off for holding at 9:24.
The second unit almost scored at 10:27. Gagner split the defense for a great chance and then Talbot barely got a stick on Couturier's partially blocked followup with lots of net staring at him as the puck creeped near the goal line. Late the power play, Talbot made an outstanding point blank save on Simmonds. Shots in the middle period became 12-2 in the Flyers' favor.
Neuvirth, who had barely seen any action in the stanza, stopped a Leon Draisaitl backhander at 11:23 after Hall knocked Gudas off the puck.
Gostisbehere, after creating a rush at one end that resulted in a great chance but a missed net for Simmonds from the slot, was not able to corral a bouncing puck up high in the offensive zone. Hall jumped past him, claimed the puck and wristed a shot over Neuvirth for an unassisted breakaway goal at 14:22 to build a 2-0 lead for the Oilers. The goal was Hall's 21st of the year.
"It’s just the puck between me and Mac [Andrew MacDonald]. We probably should’ve talked and I tried to take it, and I mishandled it and gave it right to him," Gostisbehere said.
The Oilers made it 3-0 at 16:11. Neuvirth was not able to control a rebound of a Pardy shot and Maroon (fifth goal) put his initial followup off the post but then scored off a second effort. Brandon Davidson got the secondary assist
Darnell Nurse got called for tripping and the Flyers went on a power play at 17:03. The Flyers had a mad scramble in front off a Giroux rebound but could not get to the puck. The second unit generated a lot of pressure but put nothing on net.
Referee Kendrick Nicholson lost sight of an uncovered puck with Michael Raffl and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare banging away for it in the waning seconds. Shots were 16-9 Flyers (23-22 Edmonton overall) but the Oilers put in the only two that counted in the cash register.
Neuvirth left out a bad diagonal rebound off a routine pad save in the opening half minute of the third period but recovered. The score remained 3-0.
At the 4:30 mark of the third period, Gagner moved in for a good scoring chance but Talbot came up with his 25th save of the game. Two minutes later, Talbot stopped Giroux cleanly for save number 27 and held on for a TV timeout.
At 7:16, a ruckus broke out near the Edmonton bench when Simmonds took exception to some rough treatment of Gostisbehere by Hall. Simmonds got a double-minor and Maroon got two as did Pardy. In the meantime Schenn, fell backward over Giroux and hit his head on the ice. Schenn took a while to get up but seemed OK.
During the four-on-four, Talbot stopped a Couturier shot from up high with Read lurking in front . The goalie seemed to see the puck all the way.
Neuvirth made his 25th save on a routine long-range shot by Adam Cracknell. With Oilers oncoming, he held for a stoppage. A few minutes later, at the 11:10 mark, Medvedev pinched on the play and had a good shooting from the mid slot but fired wide of the net.
The Flyers got their fifth and sixth power plays as Kassian carelessly high-sticked MacDonald in the Oilers' zone at 11:17. The Flyers turned over and flubbed a couple early pucks and then paid the price with a backbreaking shorthanded goal at 11:59. Gostisbehere lost the puck to Mark Letestu who fed out to Korpikoski in the left circle. Korpikoski (seventh goal) beat Neuvirth high to the glove side.
"I tried to chip it, and it went right to their guy," Gostisbehere said.
The frustrated Flyers did nothing with the remaining power play time.
Things got feisty again with 4:14 remaining, with players from both sides pushing and shoving after whistle. Kassian got roughing and high-sticking minors plus a 10-minute misconduct. Gudas got a roughing minor plus a misconduct. The Flyers got their seventh power play. They didn't score.
Talbot and company closed the door the rest of the way. Third period shots were 12-8 Flyers (35-31 Flyers for the game).
“Some nights you get the breaks and you get maybe a lucky bounce and some nights you don’t," said Flyers defenseman Mark Streit.
"I think that tonight it was the second period. I thought we deserved better. I thought we had a lot of action, a lot offensive zone time and played pretty good hockey. But then on the other hand they scored two goals and we got none. Frustrating but you know it’s one of those nights and we got to stay positive. Still a lot of hockey to be played. Still a lot of games and tomorrow’s a new day and Saturday obviously a new big game coming up.”
With the Pittsburgh Penguins defeating the New York Rangers 4-1 on Thursday, the Flyers fell five points behind the Penguins for the final wildcard playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers will practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, on Friday and host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday evening.
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2016 Flyers Alumni Fantasy Camp Registration
Registration is now open for the 2nd annual Flyers Alumni Fantasy Camp (Aug. 19 -22) in Atlantic City. The Alumni have assembled an excellent group of instructor/coaches this year, including Hockey Hall of Famers Bernie Parent and Mark Howe, along with the likes of Danny Briere and Flyers assistant coach Ian Laperriere.
For more information,
click here.
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FLYERS ALUMNI IN WILLIS FOUNDATION BENEFIT FOR STROKE: MARCH 6
The Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Team will play its second annual benefit game against a team representing the Willis Towers Watson risk advisor, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage company. All proceeds go to the benefit of the Willis Foundation charities.
The game will be held on March 6 at the Flyers Skate Zone in Pennsauken, NJ, with a 12:10 pm. opening faceoff. After the event, there will be a VIP meet-and-greet with the Flyers Alumni players, with food, soft drinks and beer served.
The event is free to attend for Willis employees, partners and clients. It is open to the public at a cost of $10 for admission to only the game and $50 including the meet-and-greet. For more information or to purchase admission contact organizer Joe Clark at (610)254-5664.
At this year's game, a donation check will be presented to the Philadelphia-based
Delaware Valley Stroke Council, which is dedicated to providing resources for support, treatment for stroke patients and their families as well as public education on reducing the risks of strokes and life after a stroke.
This cause has become near and dear to the heart of Flyers Hall of Fame left winger Brian Propp, who suffered a stroke last year despite seemingly being the picture of good health and an active lifestyle. "Propper" has made a tremendous recovery and is doing well now. He will be coaching in Sunday's game.
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