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Wrapup: Flyers Squander a Point in 3-2 Shootout Heartbreaker |
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WRAPUP: FLYERS SQUANDER A POINT IN 3-2 SHOOTOUT HEARTBREAKER
Steve Mason deserved a much better fate on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena. He deserved a shutout to propel the Flyers ahead of the Detroit Red Wings into a wildcard spot.
Instead, the Flyers settled for a point despite a 51-save performance by Mason at a 2-0 lead with 1:07 left in regulation. A horrific icing by Wayne Simmonds, a Boone Jenner deflection goal that was seemingly played with his stick blade over the crossbar, a deflected shot into traffic that resulted in a Cam Atkinson rebound goal, five futile Flyers shootout attempts after Mason kept the first four shooters at bay and a game-winning shootout goal by Jenner turned a vital victory into a lost point the Flyers can only hope doesn't haunt them come April 10.
On the bright side, the one point the Flyers did gain temporarily pulled them ahead of the Detroit Red Wings, based on having played one fewer game, for the final playoff spot.
The Flyers got goals by Claude Giroux and Ryan White (power play). Brayden Schenn had two assists. Nick Schultz and Sean Couturier had one apiece. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 33 shots during the game and went 5-for-5 in the shootout.
The Blue Jackets had the game's first shot, as Mason turned aside a 34-foot snap shot by Boone Jenner. The rebound went off his glove but there were no Blue Jackets nearby. The same thing happened on the second shot. There were no stoppages of play through the first 6:39. Shots were 7-2 in Columbus' favor as Mason swallowed up a long-range Seth Jones shot for a whistle and TV timeout.
At 7:51, Mason had to be quick to stop a quick snap shot by Oliver Bjorkstrand from the left side. At 8:20, Mason stopped Alexander Wennberg's right slot shot for his ninth save. With 11:12 left, Pierre-Edouard Bellemere broke Columbus' run of getting six straight shots on goal.
Mason held onto a Seth Jones point shot through a Matt Calvert screen in front at 9:35. The Blue Jackets won the ensuing faceoff and generated pressure --and two more shots -- before Philly got the puck out of the zone. With 8:36 remaining, shots were 12-3 Columbus.
Columbus turned a puck over on their own end and the Flyers capitalized at 11:42 to grab a 1-0 lead. Giroux jumped on a Schenn pass and, from the right slot, snapped a 12-foot shot past Bobrovsky. Schenn and Nick Schultz got the assists on Giroux's 20th goal of the season.
The Blue Jackets got the game's first power play as Shayne Gostisbehere went off for hooking Brandon Saad at 12:05. Philadelphia got through the kill.
Columbus went right back to the power play as Michael Raffl was guilty of holding behind the Flyers' net at 14:47. The Flyers staged a strong kill without allowing a shot to get through but the Blue Jackets pressured at the end and continued to control the puck in the Philadelphia end for another 20 seconds.
The Flyers stabilized the play in the waning minutes. Columbus outshot the Flyers, 15-8, but Philly had only one that mattered.
At 2:55 of the second period, Mason denied Michel Chaput from the left slot off give-and-go feed from Scott Hartnell.
At 3:26, after Jared Boll barreled into Bellemare away from the puck, Radko Gudas and White went after him in response. Ryan White got a roughing minor. Boll got a charging major in addition to a fighting major. The Flyers got a three-minute power play after two minutes of four-on-four.
During the four-on-four Mason snapped a Saad shot out of the air with his glove. He then had to stop David Savard on an overload as the power play began. The did nothing with their power play except generate a late harmless right side angle shot by Giroux (the Flyers second shot of the period). As the penalty ended, Raffl generated a dangerous chance. Shots for the game were 21-11 in the Blue Jackets' favor to that point.
As the second period and regulation time approached the midway point, the Flyers generated their first extended offensive zone pressure of the game. Philly pressured further after a TV timeout until Bobrovsky hung on to a heavy but unscreened Gostisbehere shot. The shot gap narrowed to 21-14 at 12:06.
With 7:22 left in the period, Mason picked a Cam Atkinson shot through traffic after Philly turned a puck over the neutral zone under no pressure. Then Laughton turned over a puck at the blue line and stoned Saad at point blank range. As time ticked down to 6:39 left, with Hartnell setting up shop nearby, Mason gloved a shot out of the air.
Mason was not able to cover a rebound on a tricky Jenner backhander but no damage resulted. With 2:33 left, he stopped a counter attack by Saad, who went one-on-one with Gudas and was kept to the outside.
The Blue Jackets attacked again with 1:10 left. Brandon Manning took a high sticking penalty trying to clear the porch. Couturier turned in some great penalty killing work. The Blue Jackets took 50 seconds of carryover power play time into the third period.
Shots in the second period were 17-9 Columbus; 32-17 Columbus through 40 minutes.
The Flyers killed off the remaining 50 seconds of penalty time with authority. Giroux generated a scoring chance after the penalty ended. With 17:50 left, Mason denied and held on to a deep right slot shot by Saad after seeing the puck all the way
With 17:12 left, the Flyers bottled up the neutral zone and the Blue Jackets took an icing. On the next shift, Columbus won a neutral zone faceoff after a White hand pass violation and the Chaput took the puck at the net, forcing Mason to make a save.
Couturier forced Bobrovsky to hold onto a flip-in, enabling the Flyers to get a line change and an offensive zone faceoff. Read lost the ensuing faceoff, however, and the Flyers spent the next shift mostly in the defensive zone -- but with all lanes cut off -- and the shift ended with Columbus taking other icing. Giroux won the draw and put the puck on goal but the Blue Jackets broke out.
Bobrovsky covered another flip-in -- this time with Simmonds bearing down on him -- with 14:46 left. Shortly thereafter, White toe-dragged the puck through the defense and nearly scored a much-needed shorthanded goal. Shots at the 6:09 mark of the period were 4-3 in the Blue Jackets' favor.
Raffl blocked a shot and broke out on a 2-on-1 off a lead pass by Couturier, joined by Sam Gagner. Raffl shot from high in the circle. Bobrovsky made the save. On the shift after that, it was Mason's turn again. He stoned William Karlsson's wide open backhander near the net with a clutch left pad save. At 9:25, after Ryan White threw his weight around and had a big clear of the defensive zone, the Blue Jackets went offside.
With 10:09 left, Mason stopped a Ryan Murray on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that was deflected on net by Atkinson. The save was Mason's eighth of the period and 39th of the game.
Philadelphia went to its second power play of the game at on a Jenner roughing minor at 10:44. Schenn was unable to pot a Giroux rebound as it sat uncovered in the slot. The next time around after, Gostisbehere kicked the puck up ice, and Schenn and White had pokes at a Couturier attempt, White found the net to make it 2-0.
White's power play tally, his 10th goal of the season, was assisted by Schenn and Couturier at the 11:54 mark.
Gregory Campbell foolishly knocked down Cousins way after the whistle at a stoppage at the Flyers net at 13:46. The Flyers did not score and a wide open look for Mark Streit was as close they got but two more valuable minutes ticked off the clock. Gudas fired a side angle shot on net that Bobrovsky covered as the penalty expired.
With Bobrovsky pulled for an extra attacker, Murray slashed and broke his stick on Simmonds at 17:27. Simmonds inexplicably tried a singe angle slap shot -- with Bobrovsky pulled again -- and took an icing. Columbus won the draw.
With 1:04 left, Mason lost his shutout on a deflected in goal by Jenner on a Seth Jones shot, whose stick was pretty high but video review upheld it despite the stick seeming pretty clearly to be above the height of the crossbar. With 7.6 seconds left, Atkinson scored on the rebound of a deflected shot, and suddenly the game was tied.
The game went to OT. Giroux turned nothing into something over the middle and nearly snapped a shot past Bobrovsky. Couturier took a hooking penalty on Wennberg at the 1:00 mark, and Columbus got a 4-on-3 power play. Mason stopped a high right slot slapper from Atkinson. Mason stopped a Jones slap shot from the left circle and got a face-full of Hartnell crashing into him at the whistle. Mason then made two point blank saves as the penalty expired.
Couturier set up a wide open Matt Read off the rush. With a lot of open net, Read shot the puck over the net.
With 1:14 left, Voracek made a power move to the net and got hooked by Jones to put Philly on the power play. Bobrovsky read a Giroux one-time all the way and came way out to make the save. After an incredible diving keep by Gostisbehere and one more save by Bobrovsky point blank on Simmonds, the game moved to a skills competition.
Third period shots were 14-12 Columbus. Overtime shots were 8-4 Columbus; 53-33 Columbus for the game.
Atkinson shot first and was denied on a five-hole attempt by Mason. Cousins shot in the bottom of the first round, sliding a backhander just wide of the long side after beating the goalie.
Wennberg went second, getting forced wide and missing on a deke-and-backhander try. Gagner went west to east, lost the puck and fell on top of Bobrovsky.
Dubinsky went third, swing in from the right side. He hit the post to. Giroux ran out of room and flipped the puck just wide.
Mason poke-checked Bjorkstrand in the fourth round. Schenn cut in from the right side and was denied from about 15 feet.
Jenner scored on a forehand-to-backhand-to-forehand move. Couturier was stuffed at the left post.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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