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Wrap:Flyers Fail Key Test, Drop 4-3 Decision to Devils |
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WRAP: FLYERS FAIL KEY TEST, DROP 4-3 DECISION TO DEVILS
The Philadelphia Flyers have suffered three straight regulation losses at a crucial juncture of the season. On Thursday night, one evening after wasting a strong start in Washington, the Flyers were unable to protect a third-period lead and went down to a regulation 4-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils in a game from which Flyers vitally needed to come away with points.
Philly had been 18-0-3 when leading after two periods. They ended up dropping to 18-1-3.
The Flyers nursed a 3-2 lead through the first half of the third period, not allowing much in the way of quality chances but also generating virtually zero attack of their own. That formula was unlikely to work for a full period, and it didn't. The Devils tied the game at the 11:00 mark of the third period. Philly had two good chances to forge back ahead but were unable to do so, and then a deflection goal off the rush won the game for New Jersey with 1:27 left on the regulation clock.
For the Flyers, continued failure on the penalty kill (2-for-4) and a third straight game of subpar goaltending with Brian Elliott sidelined were key factors. Both halves of the defensive pairing of Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning also continued to be noticeable for the wrong reasons.
Kyle Palmieri (power play, 10th goal of the season), Drew Stafford (power play, 8th), Damon Severson (8th) and rookie forward Nico Hischier (9th) scored for the Devils. Pavel Zacha (10th and 11th assists of the season), Taylor Hall (32nd assist), John Moore (8th assist), Sami Vatanen (13th assist), Pamieri (10th assist), Blake Coleman (7th assist) and Ben Lovejoy (5th assist) added assists.
Keith Kinkaid, continuing to play in place of the injured Cory Schneider, was adequate in net for New Jersey. He came up with a couple of key stops with the game on the line, and it was enough to come away with the win after Hischier's go-ahead goal late in the third period. Kinkaid finished with 22 saves on 25 shots.
Claude Giroux (power play, 15th goal of the season), Wayne Simmonds (power play, 17th) and Shayne Gostisbehere (10th) scored for the Flyers. Jakub Voracek (49th and 50th assists of the season), Simmonds (15th assist), Gostisbehere (25th assist), Valtteri Filppula (12th assist) and Taylor Leier (4th assist) chipped in helpers.
The Flyers went 2-for-3 on the power play, responding in kind to a pair of early power play goals by New Jersey.
Making his first NHL start, Alex Lyon was not very good in goal for the Flyers in stopping 18 of 22 shots. For the third straight game, the previous two coming with Michal Neuvirth in net, Philadelphia's goaltending play was a significant detriment. Momentum saves have been in scarce supply the last few games.
Lyon battled hard and tried to be aggressive. However, two of the goals he yielded, albeit on deflections, slipped through the five hole and another was not impossible though far from routine. His rebound control was suspect a few other times and, in general, the 25-year-old rookie did not project an aura of being in control of the game at any point. Part of it may have come from lengthy stretches of inactivity.
1ST PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Lyon made a tough early save on Pavel Zacha. He later stopped a Drew Stafford shot from high in the zone after a neutral zone turnover by Shayne Gostisbehere.
The Devils got the game's first power play at 2:57 as Nolan Patrick was called for hooking Nico Hischier after a lost defensive zone faceoff. With a gaping seam on a backdoor pass and plenty of time and space to shoot, Palmieri made it 1-0 on a short side high shot under the crossbar from the right circle. Zacha and Hall got the assists.
With 15:11 remaining in the period, the Flyers had their first good scoring chance but Wayne Simmonds, tipped a puck wide of the net.
Mirco Mueller was penalized for interference at 5:31. The Flyers got a 1:01 length 5-on-3 on a crosschecking penalty on Travis Zajac. On a broken play in front, the puck went to Voracek. The NHL assist leader then fed the puck back across in front to Giroux, who buried it into the open left half of the net. Voracek and Simmonds got the assists as the game was tied at 1-1.
As the power play continued at 5-on-4, the Flyers yielded a shorthanded chance to Sami Vatanen. Giroux fired a puck well wide of the net as the Zajac penalty expired and the puck rimmed out along the boards. Lyon ventured far out of his net to prevent Zajac from claiming the puck inside the Flyers' zone and going in alone. Lyon fired the puck into the bench.
With 8:16 left in the period, Andrew MacDonald coughed up a puck to Hall in the neutral zone but Robert Hägg canceled it out. At the other end of the ice, Taylor Leier fired a turnaround shot on goal.
On an odd sequence in the offensive zone, Gudas was called for interference on Palmieri at 12:47; his first penalty since his 10-game suspension.
Gudas, pinching in on the play, was trying to get back out to his point position, saw Palmieri right in his path and made the strange choice to try to hurdle his opponent, accidentally knocking him hard to the ice instead. Far away from the puck, it was a clear-cut interference penalty. Palmieri left the game, skating up the tunnel but soon returned. Pushing, shoving and chirping ensued and eventually Damon Severson and Brandon Manning dropped the gloves. Severson threw one punch, missed and fell to the ice. Voracek and Hall received offsetting roughing minors.
Stafford made it a 2-1 game at 13:49 as Stafford deflected home a slap-pass from Moore. Vantanen got the secondary assist.
Zaja, looking to avenge Palmieri, dropped the gloves with Gudas at 14:48. Zajac received an extra roughing penalty, giving the Flyers their second power play. Kinkaid came up with a Gostisbehere shot through a Simmonds screen. Shortly thereafter, Simmonds prevented a clear from behind the net. The Flyers worked the puck around and Simmonds potted a Gostisbehere rebound at 15:46 to knot the game at 2-2.
With 3:57 left, Raffl was called for interference on Hischier, after knocking away his dropped stick. There were some scary moments on the first half of kill, but the second portion was handled more efficiently. The Flyers survived it.
First period shots were 9-6 in the Flyers' favor.
2ND PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Gostisbehere made a good solo rush up the ice, and surprised Kinkaid with a rising shot from the deep slot but the goalie fought it off. Lyon was the busier goalie early in the period but play settled down soon after he came out to cut down the angle and made a solid save on Mirco Mueller.
Philly started to assert itself as the game neared the midway point. At 7:01 of the middle frame, Gostisbehere capped off an excellent shift by giving the Flyers the lead at 3-2.
Gostisbehere made a strong play along the defensive left side boards to enable a breakout and then joined the rush up the ice. A backhand pass from Filppula tipped off the stick of Leier and over to Gostisbehere in the left circle. Ghost's shot went off a sliding Kinkaid and into the short side of the net. The assists went to Leier and Filppula.
Lyon made a decent save at 10:05. The dangerous Jesper Bratt received a stretch pass from Andy Greene and sped down the left wing a half stride ahead of Gudas. From the top of the left circle, Bratt fired a wrist shot on net. The rookie goalie made the stop without yielding a rebound.
The Flyers reasserted control by stringing several good shifts together. The Patrick line had an especially strong shift that hemmed the Devils deep in their own end of the ice.
However, at 15:46, Travis Konecny (whose five-game goal streak and six-game point streak came to an end on this night) took a bad tripping penalty behind the New Jersey net. The Flyers penalty kill stepped up finally on this one, preventing zone entries through the neutral zone and getting pucks out quickly. The Devils didn't get much of anything going.
Philly closed out the period in good shape and took their 3-2 lead to the locker room.
Second period shots were 10-7 in the Flyers' favor (19-13 Philly overall).
3RD PERIOD SYNOPSIS
The Flyers kept New Jersey along the perimeter for most of the opening 10 minutes. There was little in the way of quality scoring opportunities for the Devils and virtually nothing off the rush. On the flip side, the Flyers generated very little attack of their own.
A lengthy puck scrum behind the Flyers net saw Scott Laughton, Gudas and Manning digging at the puck side-by-side-by-side against Miles Wood, Palmieri and Zacha. Finally, a moment after Manning fell down and scrambled back to his feet, the Devils won the battle. Palmieri kicked to Zacha with his skate. Zacha found room to wheel behind the cage. With the Philadelphia center and both defensemen trapped behind the net (Gudas attempted too late to get back to help defend in front), the onus was on the wingers to defend a pass out. Raffl, the closest winger, moved over to challenge Zacha.
Severson alertly jumped into the huge seam in front and pinched all the way down to the inside of the hash marks. Now it was going to take a great save by Lyon to keep the Flyers ahead. Instead, Severson easily beat him to the blocker side at the 11:00 mark to tie the game at 3-3. The assists went to Zacha and Palmieri.
The Devils continued to push, looking for a go-ahead goal. Eventually, the Flyers re-established a measure of equilibrium. A 10-foot backhander off the rush by Laughton with 6:16 left marked the Flyers first scoring chance (and second shot) of the period.
The Sean Couturier line, quiet for most of the night, had a good shift and Konecny snapped a shot on goal that Kinkaid handled. With 3:13 remaining on the clock, Raffl attacked with speed after a neutral zone takeaway and fired a shot on goal. Players converged on the net in front, knocking the net off its moorings just before Laughton could pot the loose rebound.
The game seemed destined to go overtime, until disaster struck the Flyers at 18:33. On a rush up the right side, Coleman put the puck at the net. From the bottom of the circle, Hischier tipped the puck. Opening up his pads, Lyon was unable to squeeze them back together in time to prevent the puck from leaking through the five-hole into the net. Coleman and Lovejoy got the assists.
Philly pulled Lyon for an extra attacker. They came nowhere close to generating an equalizer that would have rescued at least one point.
Third period shots were 9-6 in the Devils favor (25-22 Flyers overall).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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