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Wrapup: Ghost Does it Again as Flyers Edge Preds in OT, 3-2

November 27, 2015, 8:09 PM ET [28 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
WRAPUP: FLYERS EDGE PREDS IN OT, 3-2

It wasn't quite a carbon copy of the game-winning overtime power play goal by Shayne Gostisbehere in Monday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes but the intent and result were identical as Gostisbehere scored on a 4-on-3 power play to defeat the Nashville Predators in overtime, 3-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Black Friday.

The play was drawn up at the bench by Flyers captain Claude Giroux, and then executed well all around as Jakub Voracek controlled the puck up high, Giroux fed Gostisbehere and Wayne Simmonds screened goaltender Pekke Rinne to enable Gostisbehere's quickly released shot to find room over the goaltender's blocker.

“Get some traffic, move around," Giroux said of the play's design. "Make that forward not really see what’s going on behind him so we were just trying to get some guys open and either if it’s Ghost or Jake open, I was going to try and make that pass and it worked so that’s good.”

For Gostisbehere, it was his third NHL goal in his seventh game of the season (ninth game overall in the NHL). All three have come on the power play, and five of Gostisbehere's six points since his recall have been on the man advantage.

With his two OT goals in the past week, Gostisbehere has become the first rookie in Flyers' franchise history to earn multiple overtime goals in a season.

“It’s a fun ride right now and I don’t have any plans of getting off it," said Gostisbehere."I’ve never scored that many OT winners in my life so I mean it’s a surreal moment but I’m going to keep going.”

With the win, the Flyers improved to 8-10-5 on the season (5-4-3 at home). The Predators dropped to 12-6-4 (5-5-2 on the road). The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Philly has killed off 16 consecutive disadvantages.

Friday's game was evenly fought for most of the afternoon. Michael Del Zotto and Colin McDonald scored in regulation for the Flyers. Filip Forsberg and Mike Fisher tallied for the Predators before Philadelphia turned a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty in OT into Gostisbehere's game winner.
Both Michal Neuvirth (33 saves on 35 shots) and Rinne (33 saves on 36 shots) were strong in goal for their respective teams.

The Flyers' lineup featured a couple of changes from Wednesday's match in Brooklyn. Evgeny Medvedev re-entered the lineup for just the second time in the month of November, replacing Brandon Manning. Medvedev was paired with Gostisbehere. Philly also had a pair of changes on the fourth line, with the just-recalled Nick Cousins centering the unit and Scott Laughton moving from center to left wing.

“I thought he quietly played well tonight," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said of Medvedev's play. "He competed extremely hard, I thought he made the little plays that sometimes don’t show up. Little five-, ten-foot breakout passes, plays that are popped to the middle that are difficult to make under pressure, he did a good job.”

Forsberg open the scoring early in the game, scoring from the offensive left circle to give his club a short-lived 1-0 lead. The Flyers struck back barely two minutes later for a line rush goal generated as Del Zotto jumped into the play, took a pass from Brayden Schenn and roofed a shot just inside the crossbar to the top long-side corner.

The tie score held until 4:57 of the third period, when the Flyers' fourth line chipped in a gritty-but-good goal as Colin McDonald won the rebound of a bouncing shot off the stick of Medvedev ahead of Nashville's Eric Nystrom and stashed it home for a go-ahead goal.

"It was a little bit fortunate trying to spin off that d-man in front. The puck went to where I spun. It was just one of those fortunate things, they say it’s a game of inches and that’s perfect and exactly right," McDonald said.

The veteran NHL-AHL swingman, who captained the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms prior to his recent recall, logged 7:39 of ice time over 11 shifts.

"I understand my role at this level," McDonald said. "It’s a little different than it was in the American League. I have some experience in this league on the fourth line role. That’s not going to change; that’s what I have to do to stay here."

With the Flyers just 20 seconds away from their fourth regulation win of the season, Fisher scored on a close-range rebound to force overtime. The team credited Nashville for making a good play rather than citing any breakdowns on their own end.

“We did everything that we wanted to on it. I have to be honest with you, the guys were in the right spots, they were battling hard, they got a puck to the net, and they won the battle on the puck. Their guy made a real good desperation play on the rebound and there’s not a lot structurally that we would change there," Hakstol said.

Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas logged 24:53 of ice time and registering a game-high six credited hits as well as one block, while partner Del Zotto led the team with 25:34 on the ice as well as scoring a goal. Roman Josi (one assist, three shot attempts) led both teams with 28:13 of ice time and veteran superstar Shea Weber (five shots on goal, seven shot attempts, three credited hits) logged 26:48.

The Giroux line dominated the game's opening shift. Right winger Schenn missed the net on an open chance in front as he fell to the ice. The Preds then struck at 1:44 to open a 1-0 lead.

Loose coverage by the Flyers' third line and the defense pairing of Luke Schenn and Nick Schultz contributed to a rather easy goal off a centering pass from Mike Ribeiro behind net to Forsberg at bottom of the circle. James Neal got the secondary assist on Forsberg's third goal of tehseason.

The Flyers quickly got the goal back at 4:00 on a line rush goal. Del Zotto joined the play and roofed a shot from the left circle; a bread-and-butter play for Del Zotto last year that hasn't been seen much this season. Brayden Schenn and Giroux got the assists on Del Zotto's first goal of the season. The tally broke the Flyers' 261:53 even-strength drought, dating back to the third period of the game against Los Angeles.

“I’d say that was one key, I don’t really look for turning points but I’d say that was a huge point in the hockey game for us," Hakstol said.

“I look back at our game from the Islanders, we had no cohesion getting up ice, there was a big gap between our forwards and our defensemen; we weren’t able to attack the line with any speed or any numbers. That goal tonight was an example of our players doing a real good job of it. We were a little bit better there tonight, a step in the right direction."

Matt Read took a hooking penalty in the offensive zone at 6:53. Philadelphia killed it off in good shape. With 10:16 left in the period, Rinne somewhat awkwardly contained a Read backhander from the left circle.

The Mike Fisher line took an icing with 7:16 left in the period. The Pierre-Edouard Bellemare line, which buzzed in the Nashville zone on the previous shift, was not able to do anything with the offensive zone start after losing the draw. There was a TV timeout at 13:02 with shots on goal tied at 6-6.

Voracek got called for a holding penalty on Colin Wilson along the defensive zone boards at 15:38. The Preds moved the puck around effectively, and Neuvirth had to come up big three times to deny good scoring chances.

The Flyers pushed the play in the offensive zone in the final couple shifts of the period. Rinne found a Del Zotto left point shot through some traffic.

Shots were 12-10 in the Predators' favor. Shot attempts were 18-16 Nashville. The Flyers had three shot attempts blocked and missed the net on three others. Nashville had six attempts blocked and missed the net once.

According to NHL.com's Adam Kimelman, the pairing of Evgeny Medvedev and Shayne Gostisbehere combined for four Flyers scoring chances for while out on the ice and zero against. The pairing of Nick Schultz and Luke Schenn were out for a combined two Flyers chances and 13 for Nashville.

Play was fairly even through the first three minutes of the second period. At 3:38, Neuvirth made a clean save on a left circle shot by Fisher, who attempted to use Radko Gudas as a screen.

The Flyers seemed to have a potential 2-on-1 rush brewing near the five minute mark. Weber made a nice play to break it up at the blueline. A few minutes later, the Couturier line flurried in close after an initial deflection on net by Read but the net remained elusive for the trio.

Cousins' line generated a good shift to keep play in the offensive zone. Luke Schenn had a shot attempt blocked out of play with 11:21 left in the second period.

There was a TV timeout at 10:49. Shots for the period were 7-4 Flyers at this juncture; 17-16 in the Flyers' favor through 30:49.

The Flyers got pinned in their own end shortly after the TV timeout. A bad turnover by Gostisbehere prolonged the shift. Not long thereafter, Scott Laughton narrowly missed the long side on a shot from the right circle.

The Flyers went to their first power play at 14:11. Voracek got hauled down in the offensive zone by Wilson. Giroux won the first draw from the right circle and Rinne fought off a center point blast by Gostisbehere. The Preds got a shortanded rush, and Neuvirth erased the juicy rebound of a Mattias Ekholm shot with a spectacular sliding save on Nystrom.

Forsberg rang a 30-foot shot off the post at 17:23. The score remained 1-1. With 49.8 seconds left, Rinne gloved a Voracek right circle shot and hung on for a stoppage.

Second period shots were 10-10 (22-20 overall in Nashville's favor). Shot attempts were 21-18 in the Flyers' favor (37-36 Flyers overall). The Flyers had nine shot attempts blocked (12 overall) and missed the net twice (five overall). Nashville had three attempts blocked (nine overall) and missed the net four times (five overall).

The teams traded off one routine shot apiece in the opening minute of the third period. Voracek made a nice backhanded pass on a rush up the right wing but Chris VandeVelde was denied in close by Rinne at 2:03.

Read was momentarily open in the right slot but got checked at the last moment to send a weak 10-foot dribbler on net off a good pass by Simmonds at 4:23.

The Flyers' fourth line gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 4:57. McDonald stashed home the rebound of a bouncing Medvedev left point shot for his first goal as a Flyer. Laughton got the secondary assist.

Neuvirth melted down some Nashville forechecking pressure as he gloved and hung on to a Barret Jackman shot from the left side boards. A TV timeout ensued at the 7:57 mark. Shots for the game were tied 26-26 through 47:57 (6-4 Flyers for the period).

An attempted stretch pass by Nashville went for an icing at 9:49. After Cousins got dumped forthe ensuing right circle faceoff, Laughton won the draw cleanly. Later in the same shift, McDonald dropped the gloves with Jackman. The fight at 10:25 was mostly a grappling match but McDonald sustained a cut over his right eye.

With 6:15 left, the Predators got a good rush cooking. Neuvirth denied a mid-slot chance for Smith. On the next shift, the Couturier line had a pair of 2-on-1 rushes. On the first, puck-carrier Simmonds elected to shoot and was denied by Rinne. On the second, Simmonds forced a bad pass that got blocked and went right back to him but he was smothered by Rinne.

The Preds won possession deep in the Flyers zone. Neuvirth survived -- and hung on to a right point blast by Weber. With 4:13 left, after Luke Schenn fell down in the neutral zone, Neuvirth flashed the leather to glove a left circle snap shot by Cody Hodgson.

Bellemare's line had a strong forecheck to force a turnover behind the Nashville net Voracek emerged with the puck and sent it out to Luke Schenn, whose right point shot was held by Rinne with no rebound at 17:15. Back at the other end of the ice, Neuvirth stopped a backhanded wraparound by and held on for a stoppage.

Rinne was pulled for an extra attacker with 1:30 left in regulation. With 1:06 left, Neuvirth dialed up another clutch save on Smith from the left circle after Seth Jones held the puck in at the point. The Predators called timeout.

With 20 seconds left in regulation, after the Preds moved the puck all around the perimeter and put a shot on net before Fisher scored from the doorstep off a Forsberg rebond. Roman Josi got the secondary assist at 19:40.

Second period shots were 12-10 in Nashville's favor (34-30 overall in Nashville's favor). Shot attempts were 22-15 in the Predators' favor (58-52 Preds' overalll). The Flyers had four shot attempts blocked (16 overall) and missed the net once (six overall). Nashville had five attempts blocked (14 overall) and missed the net five times (10 overall.

Play moved to 3-on-3 overtime. With 3:14 left, Giroux collected a Predators turnover in the neutral zone but the play fizzled and dribbled in harmlessly on Rinne. With about 2:30 left, Read was not able to finish a semi-breakaway under pressure from behind.

The Preds got flagged for too-many-men on the ice with 2:20 left to create a four-on-three power play for Philly. Voracek had a shot from below right circle but it ended up being from too sharp of an angle and Rinne made the stop easily. The Flyers called timeout with 1:15 left in OT and 55 seconds left on the power play.

For the second time in the last three games, Giroux fed Gostisbehere and the rookie defenseman scored the game-winner on the power play in OT. The winner came from the right circle and found its way in through a Simmonds' screen; the previous one was scored from between the circles. Voracek got the secondary assist at 4:08.

Shot in overtime were 6-1 in the Flyers' favor (36-35 Flyers overall). Final attempts were 60-59 in Nashville's favor (7-2 in Philly's favor in OT). Both clubs missed the net once in OT. No shot attempts were blocked.
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