FLYERS VS. SENATORS WRAP: PHILLY RESCUES ONE POINT, CAN'T CLAIM SECOND
On the brink of going down to a fourth straight regulation loss, the Philadelphia Flyers snatched one point from a frustrating Saturday matinee with the Ottawa Senators at the Wells Fargo Center. However, the team was unable to do anything in overtime and came away empty in a six-round shootout as the Senators left with a 4-3 win.
The bright side: the Flyers' youngest players stepped up big in regulation. Nineteen-year-old Nolan Patrick (5th goal of the season) scored with 2.6 seconds left on the third period to force overtime in a game the Flyers never led at any point, despite controlling the play for most of the final 40 minutes. Twenty-year-old Travis Konecny, who saw a six-game point streak end on Thursday, assisted on all three Flyers goals against Ottawa.
Sean Couturier (27th goal of the season) and Scott Laughton (8th goal) also scored for the Flyers. The Laughton goal started a late-game rally back from a 3-1 deficit.
Ottawa got first-period goals from Matt Duchene (12th) and Derrick Brassard (13th). In the second period, Chris DiDomenico (4th) converted a 2-on-1 rush off a Claude Giroux wipeout and turnover to build a 3-1 lead. A would-be second goal for Duchene late in the second period was overturned when the Flyers successfully challenged the play for an offside.
The Flyers put on an all-out assault in the third period and had just enough time to get two goals to find away to get a point. Craig Anderson was strong in goal overall, stopping 33 of 36 Flyers shots in regulation. Erik Karlsson broke up a 2-on-1 chance for the Flyers in OT, and Anderson did not see another shot on goal after the Patrick tally.
Alex Lyon got the start in net for the Flyers for the second straight game. Unfortunately, for the second straight game, the rookie was unable to come up with saves at key times. He committed early and was beaten by Duchene on the first goal. The second goal, albeit one where he got no help from his defenders, was one where the short-side post wasn't sealed off and Brassard was able to whack away at the puck until he forced it over the line. The 2-on-1 goal was unstoppable once Ryan Dzingel's pass got past Robert Hägg to the goal scorer.
Lyon finished with 20 saves on 23 shots, getting pulled after the second period. Michal Neuvirth came in, saw just three shots in the third period, but then stepped up to make three saves in overtime and then five in a row in the shootout before he was finally beaten by one-time Flyers preseason tryout player Mike Hoffman to end the game.
In the shootout, the Flyers went first. Jordan Weal, Patrick, Jakub Voracek, Giroux. Wayne Simmonds and Shayne Gostisbehere all failed to beat Anderson. Neuvirth did his part by stopping Duchene, Erik Karlsson, Taylor Pyatt, DiDomenico and Brassard to give his team chance after chance to claim a second point from the game. Instead, Hoffman finally did the scoring honors to grab the win for Ottawa.
After spending the better part of seven weeks climbing out of a deep hole created by a 10-game winless streak, the Flyers put themselves by the All-Star break on the cusp of not just squeaking into a playoff wildcard spot but potentially earning a more favorable first-round playoff matchup and maybe even home-ice advantage.
That seems like a long time ago now. The Flyers have now gone winless in their last four games (0-3-1) and could fall back below the playoff cutoff line by the time they play their next game on Tuesday on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Over the last four games, seemingly every breakdown the Flyers made would end up in their net. Neither Neuvirth (pre-All Star game match against Tampa Bay, first post-break game against Washington) nor rookie Lyon (in New Jersey or against Ottawa on Saturday) came up with virtually any momentum saves on tougher-than-average and there were also stoppable shots that leaked through at the worst possible times.
The penalty kill, abysmal most of the season, was atrocious in three regulation losses. That was not all on the goalies, although a few more saves would have loomed large. At least on Saturday afternoon against Ottawa, the Flyers went 3-for-3 on the PK.
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QUICK HITS: FEBRUARY 4, 2018
1) Flyers defenseman Mark Alt is the son of two-time NFL All-Pro offensive lineman John Alt; a member of the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame. Mark himself was a standout football player in high school; a quarterback who took his team to the Minnesota State championship and had multiple college football scholarship offers in addition to hockey scholarships. Today on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, Alt talks about why he chose hockey over football and gives his Super Bowl prediction for today. For more,
click here.
2) In a showdown for first place in the AHL's Atlantic Division, the visiting Lehigh Valley Phantoms came up a bit short on Saturday night, falling 2-1 to the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. J-S Dea scored on the game's opening shift, and the Pens led the rest of the game. Daniel Sprong made it 2-0 with a mid first period power play goal. A Chris Conner power play goal (assisted by Oskar Lindblom and Phil Varone) got the Phantoms back within a goal with 11 minutes left in the game but the Phantoms could not find an equalizer against Tristan Jarry (34 saves). Dustin Tokarski stopped 19 of 20 shots in a losing cause for the Phantoms.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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