Wrap: Flyers Fall to Avalanche, 5-2
The Philadelphia Flyers erased a pair of one-goal deficits but paid the price for sloppy defensive zone play and late third-period penalty trouble in a
5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night.
Brian Elliott played a much better game than his stat line would suggest (30 saves on 34 shots), and singlehandedly kept the game in reach during a poor second period for his team. Semyon Varlamov was strong at the other end, stopping of 37 shots to earn the win.
Colin Wilson scored even strength and power play goals for Colorado. Gabriel Landeskog scored the game-winner at 7:18 of the second period on a deflection goal from the blue paint. The Flyers challenged the goal, claiming goalie interference but the call on the ice was upheld. Hart Trophy finalist Nathan MacKinnon assisted on the Landeskog goal and later added an empty-net goal.
Sean Couturier scored his first goal of the season, tying the game at 1-1 at 7:30 of the first period, cleaning up in front on a Travis Konecny rebound. The sequence started with a bank pass out of the defensive zone and then a tape-to-tape feed from Giroux to Konecny to send the third-year forward in home free on Varlamov.
Early in the second period, Mikhail Vorobyev tied the game at 2-2, benefiting on a gifted chance as Colorado defenseman Mark Barbiero accidentally took out Varlamov on a routine dump-in and cover, leaving Vorobyev with an empty net.
The Flyers lost James van Riemsdyk to a late first-period lower-body injury on a blocked puck. He tested it out but was unable to finish the game. Michael Raffl skated in his place in the second period. In the third period, Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol moved Jakub Voracek onto the Couturier line and played Konecny with Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom.
After the pairing of Radko Gudas and Travis Sanheim had a solid opening night performance in Vegas, Hakstol elected to start Christian Folin in Gudas' place in Colorado; a plan that was in place before the opener, according to Hakstol's post morning-skate comments to attending reporters. Gudas is healthy.
The decision backfired, as Folin had a very rough regular season debut with the Flyers. He was not to blame for the first Colorado goal, in which he was outnumbered down low after a collision behind the net on the other side. Patrick did not get back into the play. Folin had a direct role in the second Colorado goal, taking an icing and then turning a puck over to start the goal sequence. In general, Folin struggled covering rushes and handling the puck. Folin also took a late third period hooking penalty that put the Flyers briefly down 5-on-3 and ultimately resulted in Wilson scoring an insurance goal on the power play.
Folin's partner to start the night, Sanheim, had a very uneven game. A couple of times, he lost his balance or gave up his feet, and got outworked by Landeskog on what proved to be the game-winning goal for Colorado. However, Sanheim made some good up-ice plays and breakout passes. He was robbed by a 10-bell save by Varlamov late in the 2nd period.
Shayne Gostisbehere was the stronger half of the Flyers top defensive pairing in this game, as it was not one of Ivan Provorov's better games. Robert Hägg was a blueline bright spot, along with Gostisbehere.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. The first unit generated excellent puck movement on the first and third power plays and nearly scored on the first before Carl Söderberg swept a puck to safety as it slid in the blue paint to the goal line. The second power play and the second unit, was ineffective.
Philly went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. Elliott was the Flyers best PKer on a couple of the kills after failed clears led to extended Colorado pressure but other segments were well-played. The Flyers simply played with fire with a blatant too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty and the Folin hooking call that resulted in a late two-goal deficit.
The Flyers will take an off-day on Sunday after traveling back from Denver. The team will practice in Voorhees on Monday in advance of Tuesday's home opener against the San Jose Sharks.
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HART WINS AHL DEBUT IN PHANTOMS' 6-3 OPENING NIGHT WIN
Highly touted Flyers goaltending prospect Carter Hart stopped 31 of 34 shots to earn the win in his professional hockey regular season debut on Saturday night. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms earned a 6-3 opening night win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the PPL Center.
Nicolas-Aube Kubel scored twice and added an assist for the Phantoms, while Greg Carey also scored twice. Making his AHL debut, German Rubtsov scored his first pro goal, finishing off a give-and-go with fellow rookie David Kase. Reigning AHL MVP Phil Varone rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal and an assist.
Kieffer Bellows and Mitch Vande Sompel scored power play goals for the Sound Tigers. Michael Dal Colle scored just 17 seconds after the Vande Sompel goal to suddenly trim a 5-1 Phantoms lead to 5-3 with 8:42 left to play. Bridgeport drew no closer. Christopher Gibson stopped 23 of 28 shots in a losing cause.
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FLYERS PROSPECTS: SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS
* OHL: Isaac Ratcliffe scored a shorthanded goal (already his 6th tally of the young season) and added a late-game assist in the Guelph Storm's 6-2 blowout of the Flint Firebirds on Saturday.
* NCAA preseason: It was only an exhibition game but Joel Farabee had an auspicious college hockey debut on Saturday night for Boston University: one goal, one assist, four shots, +2 in BU's 7-1 blowout of overmatched Acadia.
* NCAA preseason: Junior right winger Wade Allison (ACL rehab) was held out of Saturday's exhibition game between Western Michigan and Lethbridge; a 4-1 win for Western Michigan. Buffalo Sabres 2018 second-round pick Mattias Samuelsson, the son of Flyers' development coach Kjell Samuelsson, had an assist for the winning side.
* NCAA non-conference: Freshman center Jay O'Brien had two shots on goal but did not record a point in centering the top line for Providence College in a 3-1 win over American International.
* NCAA non-conference: Freshman Noah Cates had two shots on goal and an even plus-minus in Minnesota Duluth's 2-2 tie with Minnesota. He did not record a point.
* NCAA exhibition: Freshman Gavin Hain generated one assist for North Dakota in a 3-2 exhibition game win over Manitoba.
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