|
Wrapup: Energized Flyers Double up Blues, 6-3 |
|
|
|
|
|
WRAP: FLYERS DOUBLE UP BLUES, 6-3
The Philadelphia Flyers pounced right away on the St. Louis Blues, built a commanding lead and went on to skate off with a 6-3 victory at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. The Flyers, who reached the statistical midpoint of the 2017-18 regular season, swept their two-game season series with the Blues.
A team that posted 53, 54 and 55 points on home ice in the past three seasons, the Flyers are just 10-8-4 on home ice this season but 6-2-0 over the past eight home games after winning four of five on a pre-Christmas homestand and two of the three on the current one. The homestand ends on Sunday afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Flyers were unhappy with many facets of their performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins in an ugly 5-1 loss on Tuesday night to open the homestand. In each of the last two games, the team has been much more assertive. Against the Blues, the Flyers stormed out to a 2-0 lead and 16-7 shot advantage in a dominant first period.
"That’s part of being a good home team: having a little extra. Not just being good, not just being solid, but having that push to start a hockey game is what helps you establish a small advantage at home. We’ve been able to do that the last couple nights now," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.
Scott Laughton (7th goal of the season), Claude Giroux (14th), Jordan Weal (5th), Sean Couturier (5-on-5 and empty net goals, 20th and 21st) and Wayne Simmonds (power play, 14th) scored for the Flyers. Giroux (36th and 37th assists), Jakub Voracek (41st assist), Ivan Provorov (12th assist), Travis Konecny (10th assist), Shayne Gostisbehere (23rd assist) and Andrew MacDonald (3rd assist) chipped in helpers.
"I think we get everyone going early in the game and guys are ready, guys come out strong and we establish our game and I think it obviously helps a lot when you get a good start and you go from there," Couturier said.
Starting for the 16th straight game, Brian Elliott stopped 28 of 31 shots. He saw just a combined 16 shots through the opening 40 minute, making 15 saves. In the third period, he saw a lot more rubber, in quantity and quality, coming up with 13 of 15.
Asked directly if he feels he needs a day off, Elliott gave the answer that any competitive professional would.
"No, not at all," Ellliott said. "I love playing. I am not thinking about that. I’m thinking about getting a win out there."
Making his NHL debut, Tyrell Goulbourne (5:23 TOI, 11 shifts) paid an immediate dividend. He blasted St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo with a clean hit that forced a turnover. Laughton claimed the puck and scored what was officially an unassisted goal at the 2:15 mark to get the Flyers off to a fast start in the first period. The Flyers built on it from there, and Goulbourne finished with four credited hits.
"His first shift and he makes a great play like that. It kind of got us going a little bit. It was a good play for us and good for him,” Giroux said.
The Flyers expanded the lead to 2-0 as Giroux attempted a saucer pass off the rush to Konecny and got a lucky bounce as the puck deflected off the backside of sliding St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko, deflecting airborne and looping into the net at 6:42.
In the second period, the Flyers double the lead to 4-0 before the game was 32 minutes old. Weal worked a give-and-go with Voracek and scored a pretty goal off the rush at 8:32, cutting across from the right side and sliding home the puck on the backhand. Couturier then scored off the rush at 11:45. The sequence started with a stretch pass from Konecny to Giroux to start a 2-on-1 rush. Couturier skated toward the net and tipped home the puck as Giroux feathered it in front.
The rest of the game was more see-saw in nature but with four goals in their back pocket, the Flyers had built a big cushion.
Ivan Barbashev (1st goal of the season), Paul Stastny (9th) and Parayko (4th) scored goals that made things uncomfortable for the Flyers for awhile but the team never got their deficit to less than two the remainder of the game. Stastny (20th assist of the season), Vladimir Tarasenko (23rd and 24th assists), Barbashev (1st asssit), Joel Edmundson (7th assist) and Alex Steen (17th assist) chipped in assists.
Jake Allen took the loss in goal for the Blues. He stopped 33 of 38 shots, with a couple of denials of odd-man rushes and point-blank chances highlighting an otherwise so-so outing. According to Blues head coach Mike Yeo, who opted to call timeout rather than changing goalies when the score got to be 4-0, there was no consideration given to a mid-game goalie switch.
"Not his fault. We gave up so many big time chances, he made a lot of saves and certainly that [five non-empty net goals] can’t be pinned on him," Yeo said. "That's the wrong message [to change goalies in that scenario]."
Barbashev's first goal of the season, which cut the St. Louis deficit to 4-1 with 5:04 left in the second period started when Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald made a strong-side pinch and the play ended up as a 2-on-1 rush the other way. Barbashev nicely elevated a backhander under the short side crossbar from a tight angle; no goalie was going to stop that one.
The Flyers took a three-goal lead and a 29-16 shot edge into the third period. Needing 20 reasonably solid minutes to close out the game, the team instead did a pratfall on the first shift of the period and got scored on just 12 seconds into the frame as the lead shrank to 4-2.
Ivan Provorov had the puck poked in past him at blueline by Barbashev. Nothing was dangerous at this point but the Blues were aggressive and the Flyers on the ice basically were spectators. Tarasenko pounced on the puck, dished to a wide-open Stastny near the back door and the Blues had their second goal of the game.
Given some life, the Blues pressed heavily for several minutes. Ex-Flyers center Brayden Schenn, who had been a non-factor in the opening 40 minutes apart from graciously waving to the crowd in acknowledgement of their cheers after a first-period video tribute thanking him for contributions over six years in Philadelphia, started to assert himself in the final stanza.
However, the Flyers withstood the push over the first four-plus minutes of the period and then settled things down. Philly started to generate more offensive zone time and to take away time and space from the Blues.
Midway through the third period, Philly struck for a power play goal that restored a three-goal cushion at 5-2. At the 11:18 mark, Simmonds moved in front of the net to set up a screen and deflected home a Gostisbehere blast from the point. Allen had no prayer at making a save.
At 15:29, with the Blues already having pulled Allen for a 6-on-5 attack, St. Louis got back within 5-3. Parayko weaved a shot through traffic and past Elliott.
Temporarily, the Blues put Allen back in goal but, with over two minutes remaining, the team again pulled him for a 6-on-5 attack. The Flyers did a good job at intercepting pucks and killing time off the clock but Philly failed on no fewer than four cracks at the empty net. Finally, at 19:45, Couturier blasted a shot into the vacant cage from high in the offensive zone to seal a 6-3 final.
"Obviously, that’s not how you want to start the period," Hakstol said of the Stastny goal at the 12-second mark. "It’s a sloppy play off of the opening faceoff, but I thought we settled things down pretty well. I thought we were a little bit better tonight coming out in the third period overall. I think we can still do a better job of closing out that hockey game. Hey, they made a play. They got one goal. Nobody rattled, nobody panicked. We just went back at it and played."
The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. Faceoffs were 38-25 in Philly's favor, led by an 11-for-15 afternoon for Valtteri Filppula. Hits were 21-20 in the Blues' favor, but Goulbourne's credited four were the game-high. St. Louis blocked 20 Flyers shot attempts to nine blocks by the Flyers.
The Flyers go back at it again on Sunday afternoon, closing out the homestand against the Buffalo Sabres.
"We can sit back and enjoy this for the next 30 minutes or so and then gotta park it. Gotta park it and move onto the next challenge which is here tomorrow at 1 o’clock," Hakstol said.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»