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Flyers Road Woes Continue in 4-1 Loss to Buffalo, Simmonds an All-Star |
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If the Philadelphia Flyers are to once again make the Stanley Cup playoffs, they are going to need to win more frequently on the road. The team dropped to 8-10-3 in away games -- and to 2-6-3 since their 10-game winning streak -- as they fell to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night by a 4-1 count.
If one only looked at the stat sheet and saw that the Flyers outshot Buffalo by 40-27 margin, out-attempted the Sabres in shots by an 81-45 margin and won 63 percent of the faceoffs in the game, it would be easy to draw the conclusion that the Flyers dominated.
However, the assumption would be wrong. The Flyers generated only sporadic scoring chances against winning netminder Anders Nilsson while leaving Steve Mason (23 shots on 26 saves) to fend for himself for too much of the second period due primarily to failed cleared and extended defensive zone shifts. As a result, the Flyers fell into a 3-0 hole through 40 minutes. This time, there was no big third period comeback in the Flyers.
After a scoreless first period and a pair of 10-bell saves by Mason in the second stanza, especially a sprawling pad save on Josh Bailey, the Sabres broke through for a pair of goals before the midpoint of regulation.
On a power play, the Flyers struggled to clear their own zone when there were opportunities to do so. Finally, a Rasmus Ristolainen slap pass went past Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald to an open Sam Reinhart near the net, and Reinhart potted his ninth goal of the season at the 5:15 mark. Ryan O'Reilly got the secondary helper.
At 8:39, Mason left out a diagonal rebound on a side angle blast by Buffalo defenseman Taylor Fedun as the Buffalo player pulled up at the top of the right circle on what initially looked to be a routine 3-on-3. With Andrew MacDonald going over to partner Ivan Provorov's side to guard O'Reilly and Matt Read defending Kyle Okposo over the middle, the left slot was left open as William Carrier arrived full speed and Claude Giroux -- who started out parallel to Carrier in the neutral zone -- floated in, watching the puck. The puck went directly to Carrier in the left slot and he roofed the puck to make it a 2-0 game on his second goal of the season. Fedun and O'Reilly received the assists.
The Flyers generated a mini-push later in the second period but got very sloppy in the waning seconds of the period. MacDonald turned a puck over and the Flyers never recovered. Evander Kane skated right through the slot and snapped a point blank shot past Mason at 19:51; a real backbreaker of a goal for the team to yield. Reinhart and Zach Bogosian assisted on Kane's 10th goal of the season.
The Flyers appeared in severe jeopardy of getting shut out until Brayden Schenn ripped an otherwise meaningless power play goal past Nilsson from the left side at 17:53 of the third period. Giroux and Provorov assisted on Schenn's 13th goal of the season. Both teams went 1-for-2 on the power play in the game.
Schenn's tally was his ninth power play goal of the season, tying him with Sidney Crosby and Cam Atkinson for the NHL lead in that category. He has scored six of Philadelphia's last seven goals on the man advantage.
Philadelphia pulled Mason for an extra attacker but could not generated any legitimate pressure on Nilsson. In the final five seconds of the game, Marcus Foligno guided an empty net goal into the Flyers net from the neutral zone for his eighth goal of the season. Reinhart assisted to complete a three-point game.
Shayne Gostisbehere attempted 11 shots on goal for Philly in 21:34 of ice time. He put seven on net. However, most were seen by Nilsson. When there were rebounds, the Flyers didn't get to them or chipped the puck wide.
The Flyers return home on Thursday to host the Vancouver Canucks. The game, one day ahead of Flyers Alumni Weekend, will be Playoff Heroes Heritage Night.
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SIMMONDS NAMED TO NHL ALL-STAR GAME
Flyers right winger Wayne Simmonds was named to represent the Metropolitan Division team in the NHL All-Star Game in Los Angeles; Simmonds' first selection to the event. The ex-King was the lone Philadelphia player chosen. As with last year,the All-Star Game will be played in a 3-on-3 tournament format.
Simmonds leads the Flyers with 17 goals among his 32 points in 43 games. Even when he has not been scoring, Simmonds has contributed in other ways. He kills penalties, does everything he can to stir some emotion and energy when the team is lacking it and remains the Flyer most likely to be the first in to stand up for a teammate.
As with many Flyers, Simmonds has been mired in an offensive drought since the team's 10-game winning streak ended although he generally has continued to play well without much payoff of late. In the last 11 games, including Tuesday's 4-1 loss in Buffalo, Simmonds has just three points (one goal, two assists).
Also keep in mind that Simmonds has always been a bit of a feast or famine player offensively, and the stretch since mid-December has been his first real dry spell of the season. The goals will start coming again for Simmonds. The club as a whole has been scuffling for goals for most of their current 2-6-3 swoon, so a goal-scoring breakout for Simmonds in the near future is much-needed.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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