EMERY SHUTS OUT ST. LOUIS, FLYERS LOSE
Have I told you lately how much I despise shootouts? Win or lose, they remain a horrible way to decide hockey games.
Courtesy of a 28-save road shutout of the Western Conference leading St. Louis Blues by Ray Emery, the Philadelphia Flyers earned a hard-fought point. Unfortunately for the Flyers, they were unable to puck any of their own 31 shots past Blues' goaltender Ryan Miller.
At the end of overtime, the game was deadlocked 0-0.
There is no greater testament to the stupidity of the shootout than this: Emery was credited with a shutout, along with Ryan Miller. For NHL team and individual stat-keeping purposes, there were no goals scored last night.
Nevertheless, thanks to the postgame skills competition that skews the NHL standings, the Blues earned one point but came away with two. The Flyers got the one point they deserved.
The Flyers had no shortage of early scoring chances to get a quick jump on the scoreboard last night. There were at least a half-dozen in the opening 10 minutes of the first period, as Philly outskated the Blues and St. Louis was uncharacteristically sloppy in turning pucks over and allowing the Flyers to have time and space to make plays.
Most notably, the Flyers were unable to convert a 2-on-0 breakaway as Claude Giroux elected to pass to Michael Raffl and the Austrian rookie was unable to finish his chance. There were also wide-open scoring chances for Scott Hartnell in the left slot and for a pinching Erik Gustafsson but no one could solve Miller.
Thereafter, scoring chances for the Flyers were relatively sparse as the Blues tightened their checking and gradually started to get their own forechecking and skating games going. The game settled into what became an odd combination of sloppy play by both teams -- lots of offside rushes, icings, and occasional defensive breakdowns --and a lack of skating room for either side.
Giroux, held pointless in both the Boston and St. Louis games, had a bit of a rough night. He had a few scoring chances and put both of his shot attempts on net but was guilty of over-passing the puck a few times. He also had one of his weakest games in the faceoff circle (5-for-18, 28 percent) of the season.
Lastly, the Flyers captain took an accidental high-sticking penalty against T.J. Oshie late in regulation. The Flyers, who failed miserably on a 5-on-4 power play a few minutes earlier, were forced to play shorthanded for the final 1:24 of regulation just to nail down one point and get the game to overtime. The Flyers then had to kill 36 seconds of 4-on-3 time in OT before they went on to outshoot St. Louis in the extra frame, 4-2.
On the flip side, Giroux and the rest of the Flyers worked very hard at backchecking and coping with Ken Hitchcock's team's puck pursuit. Last night's game turned into broom-closet hockey and became a grind-it-out, physical contest in which the clubs combined for 51 credited hits (25 by the Flyers).
Philly did a very good job overall of containing St. Louis' dangerous top-line trio of Oshie, Alexander Steen and David Backes. The line combined for one shot on goal, got blocked on three other attempts and missed the net six times.
Miller was not tested nearly as frequently over the final 55 minutes of regulation and overtime as he was in the first half of the opening period but he had to make three additional spectacular stops to earn his 31-save shutout.
In the second period, Miller got his leg out to stop Raffl from point-blank range in slot. In the third period, he robbed Wayne Simmonds from the doorstep. In overtime, Miller made a pair of saves in close against Jakub Voracek.
Emery authored quite a few tough stops of his own. Jaden Schwartz, who scored the Blues' only goal when the teams met in Philadelphia on March 22, was one again St. Louis' most consistently dangerous player last night. Emery had to come up big a couple of times to keep Schwartz (six shots on goal) and the Blues off the board. He also made good saves on Derek Roy, Alex Pietrangelo and Patrik Berglund.
Power play opportunities last night were few and far between, as referees Don Van Massenhoven -- in the next-to-last game before his retirement -- and Tim Peel let the players play and did not whistle any borderline infractions. The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. St. Louis went 0-for-3.
In the absence of veteran blueline leader Kimmo Timonen (upper-body injury), Erik Gustafsson returned to the lineup. He played reasonably well in 15:18 of ice time. The entire blueline stepped up, actually.
No one on the defense corps was charged with a giveaway and their man-to-man coverages and puck retrievals were usually pretty solid. It is amazing how much more competent the Flyers defensemen look when the club plays team defense and doesn't leave their defensemen and goalies individually hung out to dry, isn't it?
Andrew MacDonald skated a massive 27:15 of ice time despite two minor penalties, blocked three shots and was credited with two shots on goal. Mark Streit skated 24:31, had one shot, two credited hits, and one crucial takeaway to prevent a potential game-winning scoring chance for Oshie. Braydon Coburn skated 21:15, and was credited with one hit, one block and one takeaway. Nicklas Grossmann had 20:01 of ice time, pinched up intelligently for an overtime scoring chance, and finished with two credited hits and two blocks. Luke Schenn had three credited hits in 16:56 of ice time.
In the anticlimactic shootout, the Blues got a first-round goal by breakaway master Oshie on a backhander following an unsuccessful pokecheck attempt by Emery. Vincent Lecavalier was denied by a Miller skate save that was even better than the one Tuukka Rask made on Lecavalier on Sunday.
In round two, Steen lost control of the puck as he got in close and lunged to disc wide of the net. Giroux, who scored an unstoppable backhanded goal in Sunday's shootout, was unable to elevate the puck enough on the forehand to beat Miller.
In round three, Shattenkirk sealed the extra point for his team. The right handed shooter beat Emery cleanly with a wrist shot from the slot.
The Flyers return to action tomorrow night when they play host to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY QUICK HITS
* Craig Berube gave his players a complete day off today, with a tough road game and last night and a three-in-four slate upcoming starting tomorrow night.
* The Flyers had been on a nice run of games where they won more faceoffs than they lost but got dominated in the circle last night, winning just 38.2 percent. Only Brayden Schenn (7-for-11, 64%) had a productive night on draws. This season, only a teamwide 30-percent showing versus Vancouver on Oct. 15 was worse for Philly.
* Last night's game completed the Flyers' schedule of inter-Conference games this season. Philly finishes the regular season with a 15-10-3 record against Western Conference clubs (7-4-3 vs. Central teams, 8-6-0 vs. Pacific clubs).
* The Flyers' ties/shootout losses versus Boston and St. Louis -- the standings point equivalent of one win and one regulation loss -- have enabled the team to maintain a four-point lead on Columbus for a guaranteed playoff spot as the third-place team in the Metropolitan Division. That means tomorrow's game is a must-win for Columbus if they are to stay out of the dogfight for a wild card spot. Last night, the Blue Jackets were unable to protect a 2-0 lead in the third period against Colorado, losing 3-2 in overtime.
* Unfortunately for the Flyers, the lack of a shootout bonus point from the last two games caused them to fall three points behind the New York Rangers for second place -- and home ice in a potential first-round playoff meeting -- in the Metropolitan Division. The Edmonton Oilers meekly accepted a thrashing by the Rangers on Sunday and the Blueshirts captured a 3-1 win in Vancouver last night. Philly still holds two games in hand on the Rangers but has the tougher remaining schedule, at least on paper. The Flyers still have to go into Boston on Saturday and Tampa Bay next week.
* Talk about sympathy for the Devil: The New Jersey Devils, now 0-11 in shootout games this season and 0-14 over the last two seasons, have 32 legitimate wins this season. That is more than several teams ahead of them in standings, including the Detroit Red Wings, who would be in the Eastern Conference playoffs as a wildcard if the season ended today.
It makes zero sense to me that a team with more playoff-style wins -- regulation or overtime -- can miss out on the postseason due to a rule that disappears (thank goodness) when the playoffs start. I can live with the 4-on-4 overtime manpower rules in the regular season -- to at least slightly increase the odds of avoiding the shootout -- but I would like to at least see a 10-minute overtime adopted and for teams to change sides to create a long line-change.
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