WRAPUP: FLYERS MUSTER 3-2 OT WIN VS. JETS
There's no such thing as an easy hockey game down the stretch in the NHL, regardless of the opponent. The Winnipeg Jets have already been mathematically eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race but they gave the Eastern Conference playoff hopeful Philadelphia Flyers all they could handle at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.
The Flyers prevailed in overtime, 3-2, after the Jets clawed their way back from a 2-0 deficit.
"I thought right from start to finish it was an absolutely great effort by the guys on our bench and in our locker room," said Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol.
"They battled and emptied the tank coming off of a pretty tough road trip and a long travel day. The guys battled until the bitter end and that’s what it took.”
Claude Giroux scored the game winning goal with 13.6 remaining in overtime, converted a wide open chance created by a Shayne Gostisbehere diving sweep check in the offensive zone on Mark Scheifele. Mark Streit and Wayne Simmonds scored second period goals. Sean Couturier, Michael Raffl, Brayden Schenn and Giroux earned an apple apiece before Gostisbehere's game-winning assist.
“I was going to change, I was pretty tired. I tried to get back because they had a three on two and they missed the net so I was about to get it and Ghost had a break away. I was pretty tired I couldn’t make the pass, but he did a good job of recovering the puck," Giroux said of the game's final sequence.
Steve Mason was once again outstanding in goal for the Flyers, stopping 26 of 28 shots including a host of tough chances through traffic, off deflections or from point-blank range. When the Flyers needed stoppages, Mason came up cleanly with pucks and held onto them. He handled pucks efficiently.
Winnipeg's goals were scored by Scheifele off a breakaway in the second period and an unstoppable tally Blake Wheeler wide open in point blank range off a gorgeous feed from Scheifele.
Losing goaltender Ondrej Pavelec kept his team in the game and provided a chance to win. The Streit goal was a missed coverage where the Flyers veteran blueline got open on the weak side and received a perfect setup by Couturier. The Simmonds goal scored from the deep slot deflected in off Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. Pavelec, who finished with 30 saves on 32 shots, nearly came up with a save on Giroux on the deciding goal.
Coming off a grueling four-game road trip, the Flyers got off to a strong start in the first period but fatigue set in as the game progressed. For the first time in the 2015-16 season, the Flyers did not take a single penalty that left them shorthanded. There was a latter third-period four-on-four.
“That’s all part of it. You have to do the little things. Little things lead to big things on a night like tonight and it starts with effort. Staying out of the box, some timely plays, and overall great effort. The energy you could see the guys starting to get zapped a little bit as the second period wore on, but our guys stayed with it," Hakstol said.
Philly was credited with 19 blocked shots for the game. Radko Gudas led the way with six. He also generated five shots on goal (on 12 total shot attempts) and was credited with three hits.
The Flyers dominated the faceoff circle throughout the night, winning 38 of 57 draws (67 percent). Giroux (11-for-18), Couturier (15-for-24) and Ryan White (4-for-4) led the way.
“Every game is tough. It is still a tough challenge. You can’t really underestimate any teams. Especially a team like Winnipeg, where they don’t have anything to lose, they just go out there and play. It is a dangerous game, where you can’t let them slip. Tonight was a huge two points," said Couturier, who has 11 points in his last 12 games.
Most of the early pressure in the game belonged to the Flyers.
After the Flyers got away with a pair of turnovers in the opening minute on Winnipeg shots that went wide of the net, Simmonds deflected a shot on net at the 2:25 mark. A mini-scrum developed after the whistle. Shortly after that, the Flyers fourth line was well set-up in the Winnipeg zone but was guilty of one pass too many. Then Michael Raffl cut inside on a rush but Pavelec made the stop.
Shots were 4-0 at the five-minute mark. Schenn then narrowly missed scoring on a wraparound try with Pavelec caught on the other side.Joel Armia got over to block Schenn f With 13:23 left in the period, Pavelec picked a right circle Bellemare wrister and held for a stoppage and TV timeout on Philly's fifth shot.
Raffl got open and had a break to the net from the offensive blue line, and slid into Pavelec on the follow-through of a backhander at 7:23. The puck was actually underneath Raffl and never went over the line.
“That’s one of the best things I can do out there. Skate and be physical. Playing with Coots and Jake, they find you on the wing when you have speed. It’s been going very well late," Raffl said.
Mason finally saw a shot at 9:37, turning the puck aside on a Mark Scheifele shot from 50 feet. He then saved a Jacob Trouba point offering.
Mark Scheifele went to the box for slashing at 9:59. Moments into the power play, Dustin Byfuglien crushed Schenn in the left corner. He was OK. The Flyers switched units about 55 seconds into the power play. The second unit moved the puck well but Couturier missed the net on a pair of shot attempts.
Streit misjudged a play in the neutral zone, leading to an initial odd-man rush and extensive prussure by Winnipeg as the Flyers were unable to get the puck out and Voracek had a giveaway on an attempted pass-out. Shots were 8-6 Flyers as time ticked down to five minutes left in the first period.
Pavelec stopped a Ryan White deflection and held on for a stoppage at 15:56. Pavelec made his 10th save with 1:54 left on a severe angle shot by Gagner. At the other end, Mason sticked aside long-range shots by Ben Chiarot and Byfuglien.
Shots in the first period were 12-8 in the Flyers' favor.
“I thought we played really well the first 10 minutes and then we got a little sloppy the last 10, so they kind of got back into the game," Raffl said.
Streit put the Flyers ahead 41 seconds into the period as he swung in from the right point and went over to the weak side, took a feed from Couturier and beat Pavelec for his sixth goal of the season. Raffl got the secondary assist.
Mason made a potential momentum save at the end of the next shift after the Streit goal, coming up cleanly with a shot through a heavy screen in front at the 2:00 mark. At 2:48 Mason had Nic Petan going hard to the net and came up with a puck in close.
Gagner narrowly missed the net with Pavelec frozen. On the net shift, Schenn missed from point blank range. Pavelec's luck ran out moments later as the Flyers made it 2-0.
Taking a centering feed from Schenn, Simmonds put a shot on net that deflected off Byfuglien and into the net. Giroux got the secondary assist on Simmonds' 26th goal of the season at 5:10.
On the next shift Voracek gave a puck away attempting a pass through the right cirle and Scheifele went past a flat-footed Couturier's poke-check attempt and then off on a breakaway. He beat Mason inside the post to the stick side. The goal at 6:26, Scheifele's 25th of the season, was unassisted.
At 10:15, with the Flyers back on their heels a bit on a long defensive zone shift, Mason came up with an Armia deflected shot with bodies in front. Mason then made another huge save at point blank range on Nikolaj Ehlers. With 2:55 left, MacDonald gave the puck away directly in front of the net. Mason erased the gaffe with a save on Ehlers.
The Flyers got their second power play at 17:04 as Armia went off for tripping Streit. This time, the first unit created opportunities, and a rebound try for Simmonds and a hash-marks shot by Schenn were denied. Matt Read hit the post through a screen late in the advantage.
Second period shots were 11-9 Jets; 21-19 Flyers through two periods.
The Flyers had a mini 2-on-1 with Couturier and Raffl in the opening minute but were unable to get an assist.
Winnipeg tied the game on a counter rush at 2:35. With the Bellemare line and the pairing of Schultz and Streit on the ice, Scheifele carried the mail. Wheeler went right down the middle to take a nice pass from Scheifele and scored from point blank range for his 20th goal of the season and a 2-2 tie game.
Shots for the third period were 4-1 Flyers through 6:46 but the Jets had the only one that mattered to that point. On the next shift, Simmonds carried the puck in with control around Byfuglien and fired a left circle shot off Pavelec's left shoulder.
Mason stuffed Ehlers from close range for his second save of the period. When play moved the other way, Trouba landed a huge -- and clean -- hit on Read behind the Winnipeg net at 9:55.
Gagner could not finish a right slot chance against a squared-up Pavelec and then passed for Read near the left post but the puck missed connections. On the net shift, Gostisbehere made a great blueline keep, found shooting daylight and hit the post. At the other end, the Flyers got lucky on a weird high carom off the boards.
With 4:03 left, Mason melted down Winnipeg pressure at the net and covered the puck. Play moved to 4-on-4 when Manning and Chiarot got roughing minors for the ensuing post-whistle scrum.
With 3:09 left, Pavelec got kicked in the head with the back of Trouba's leg with a collision at the net. He got up slowly but stayed in the game. Giroux had a dangerous chance late in the 4-on-4.
Shots in the third period were 9-7 Flyers; 30-26 through regulation.
Couturier, Simmonds and Streit started OT against Wheeler, Scheifele and Byfuglien. Philly got possession and a Streit shot. The Giroux line pressured but a questionable offside on a seeming Gostisbehere keep ended the shift. Wheeler and Scheifele set up a dangerous chance.
Finally, a Scheifele turnover on a sweep-check by Gostisbehere created a 2-on-0 down low for the Flyers. With 13.6 seconds left in OT, Giroux snapped a point blank shot that Pavelec got a piece of the puck but not enough to keep it out of the net.
“More desperation than anything," Gostisbehere admitted about his gamble to go for the sweep check. "I probably wasn't going to get back. Gagner said ‘Thank God you got that because I don’t know what I would have done on a 3-on-1. It was a good play overall.”
The Flyers captain's overtime goal was the seventh of his career; a new Flyers franchise record, surpassing Simon Gagne.
Shots in overtime were 2-2; 32-28 Flyers for the game.
"I think we actually kind of did the reverse of what we were feeling. We came out really strong; we talked about that this morning. So we came out really strong with some good play and then I think we kind of slowly fizzled off. But we stuck with our structure and our systems and I think that carried us this game," Simmonds said.
With the win, the Flyers kept pace with the Detroit Red Wings in the Eastern Conference wildcard race. Detroit hung on to beat the Buffalo Sabres in regulation, 3-2, on Monday. The teams are tied with 87 points and Detroit has a 36-25 tiebreaker advantage in regulation and overtime wins. However, Philadelphia retains the final wildcard spot in the East due having playing one fewer game (75 to Detroit's 76).
The Flyers will take an off-day on Tuesday. The next night, the play the Washington Capitals in a Wednesday Night Rivalry game on NBC Sports Networks. The Caps wrapped up the President's Trophy and home ice throughout the playoffs, with a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
Detroit is right back in action on Tuesday, visiting the Montreal Canadiens. A Detroit win or regulation tie will at least temporarily move them in front of the Flyers and into wildcard position. A Wings regulation loss would keep the Flyers in the lower wildcard spot with two games in hand.
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GOSTISBEHERE EARNS MASTERTON TROPHY NOMINATION
Flyers rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been nominated for the 2015-16 Masterton Trophy by the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA). The announcement was made on Monday morning.
While it is unusual for a rookie to be nominated for the league's award for perseverance, dedication to the game and sportsmanship, there is more to Gostisbehere's nomination than "just" the fact he overcame a torn anterior cruciate ligament that short-circuited his first professional season in 2014-15. There's more to it than his diligent rehabilitation and the 15 pounds of muscle he painstakingly added to his frame over his 10 months off the ice.
"I never doubted myself, but were some bad days and negative days where you could have had a better day rehab-wise. It’s about the ups and downs in rehab. Take those positives and run with them," Gostisbehere said of his ACL rehabilitation.
“It’s something different. But I have a great support system around me with friends and family and my girlfriend as well. It’s a good thing.”
Gostisbehere's story is one of an overlooked and undersized prospect hailing from Florida -- a non-traditional youth hockey market and a converted forward who later took up playing defense. "Ghost" attended what was then a low-profile college (Union) and was a pivotal player in a Cindarella story that eventually culminated in an NCAA Frozen Four championship.
Gostisbehere was bypassed in the NHL Draft his first year. Even as he established himself as one of the best collegiate players in the country, he was used mostly as a power play specialist and third pairing defender on a stacked Team USA squad that won the World Junior championship gold medal.
Each and every step of the way in his still-young career, the Flyers' 2012 third-round pick has defied the odds and the naysayers. He has emerged as one of the most dynamic young offensive players in the NHL and a potential Calder Trophy candidate as NHL rookie of the year. The ACL tear and rehab simply added a little more spice to his candidacy.
It seems unlikely that PHWA voters outside the Philadelphia chapter will get on board with Gostisbehere's candidacy the way they did when an all-but-retired Ian Laperriere won the Trophy as basically a career-long achievement award after post-concussion syndrome prohibited his return to the ice.
That does not mean, however, that "Ghost" was an out-of-left field nomination. Mature beyond his years, he personifies overachievement. There is every reason to believe that, if he stays healthy, he's the real deal in the NHL. Thrpugh it all, he has remained modest and aware of the areas of his game that he'd still like to improve.
"He’s one of those kids that has a lot of success early in his career and he looks fine. He’s not cocky at all. He’s just the same kid I met when I used to watch him at Union," said Laperriere, who was the Flyers' player development director at the time Gostisbehere was drafted and is now a Flyers assistant coach.
In franchise history, the Flyers have had three Masterton winners: Bobby Clarke (1971-72), Tim Kerr (1988-89) and Laperriere (2010-11).
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