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Flyers' Four-Goal Rally Goes to Waste in 7-4 Loss in Chicago |
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Flyers Four-Goal Rally Goes to Waste
The Philadelphia Flyers finished their season-opening road trip at 1-1-1 after seeing a four-goal rally go for naught in a 7-4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Tuesday night. The Flyers have yielded 11 goals in the last two games.
Trailing 4-0 late in the second period, Matt Read's power play goal off an end-boards carom of a Jakub Voracek shot gave the Flyers a spark of life heading into the third period. in rapid succession, Read scored again at the 37-second mark of the third period, flipping a puck upstairs from in close.
At 1:54 of the third period, Sean Couturier received a nice setup on the rush from an unlikely source -- defensive defenseman Nick Schultz, who backhanded a pass to the open center. Couturier slid the puck home through the legs of goaltender Corey Crawford.
Finally, at 3:49, Wayne Simmonds (who had hit the post twice in the game) potted a game-tying power play goal. Simmonds followed up his own rebound on the doorstep after Voracek threaded a pass to him.
Unfortunately for the Flyers, the resiliency shown during their remarkable comeback over 5:26 of game time was just about the only positive thing that could be taken away. Defensively, the game was a tire fire for the Flyers. Virtually every mistake ended up in the Flyers' net. The Philadelphia blueline was collectively awful, with the tandem of veteran Mark Streit (minus-three) and 19-year-old rookie Ivan Provorov (minus-five) having an especially rough night.
The Flyers goaltending on this night, while not the primary culprit on any of the six goals (the final Chicago goal, Artem Anisimov's second of the final stanza, was an empty netter) was ordinary, although also rather luckless, on a night where it had to be stellar. A spectacular save by Steve Mason on Patrick Kane in the third period stood out positively with the Flyers trailing 5-4 but, for the most part, the momentum saves weren't there for the Flyers in this game.
Starting goaltender Michal Neuvirth lasted just 25:04, yielding four goals on 16 shots. In relief, Mason had little chance on either of the two goals he allowed on 11 shots, both of which turned into 2-on-1s in prime shooting position, but he ended up absorbing the loss.
Needing to get past the slow starts of the first two games, the Flyers instead found themselves trailing within the first minute of the game. While Philly did settle in and actually outplayed Chicago for most of the first period, things went awry late in the period and quick back-to-back goals by the Blackhawks turned a manageable 1-0 deficit into a 3-0 crater.
At the 56-second mark of the first period, Streit got caught up in the neutral zone leaving Provorov alone to defend a 2-on-1 rush with the deadly Patrick Kane and Anisimov attacking. Attempting to prevent a pass across, Provorov dropped to the ice but slid out of position. Neuvirth made an initial save but Kane scored on a wraparound.
At 17:26, fourth-line Chicago forward Dennis Rasmussen -- a player in whom the Flyers had interest a few years ago before he opted to sign instead with Chicago -- gained a breakaway when Provorov wiped out and fell down inside his own blueline. Rasmussen put a little shift on Neuvirth and scored on the backhand.
Just 46 seconds later, with Shayne Gostisbehere (closing hand on the puck) in the penalty box for the Flyers, Chicago cashed in on a power play. Scoring the 500th goal of his NHL career, Marian Hossa tipped in an Anisimov pass from the doorstep. That ended the night for Neuvirth.
For much of the second period, there was little hint of the big Flyers comeback that lay ahead, as the Flyers seemed dazed and demoralized. Chicago dictated most of the play. The fortuitous bounce of the puck to Read -- who had to be going to the net in the first place in order for the carom to mean anything -- gave the Flyers a spark. The spark became a fire in the third period with the three rapid-fire goals to knot the score.
Unfortunately, the Flyers were not done gifting counterattacking chances to the still-potent Chicago side. Claude Giroux, who earlier could be seen consoling Provorov on the bench after the second Blackhawks goal, turned a puck over in the neutral zone and a three-way passing sequence from Kane to Artemi Panarin to Anisimov created a 2-on-1 down low. Anisimov slipped past Read's backchecking attempt and scored from point blank range at 10:24 of the third period.
This time, there was no comeback from Philly. Provorov turned the puck over in a dangerous spot inside the offensive blueline, and Panarin ripped home a one-timer off a feed from Kane on the ensuing 2-on-1 counterattack to make it 6-4. Anisimov tacked on an empty-net goal in the final minute of the game.
The Flyers lost their statistically best puck-possession forward, Michael Raffl, to an upper-body injury in the second period. He did not return to the game. Tim Panaccio reported the injury as an abdominal strain. Additionally, Simmonds,who did some penalty killing in the preseason and used to be a regular penalty killer in his years with the Los Angeles Kings, put in 1:32 of penalty killing time for the Flyers.
The Flyers will have a 1:30 p.m. practice on Wednesday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. The home opener against the Anaheim Ducks will follow the next night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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