WRAPUP: FLYERS EARN 3-2 COMEBACK OT WIN IN OTTAWA
It was a grind and it required another multi-goal comeback, but the Philadelphia Flyers downed the Ottawa Senators in overtime, 3-2, on Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Flyers (12-10-3) have won three games in a row for just the second time this season.
One day after getting engaged to be married, Flyers captain Claude Giroux scored a pair of goals including the game-winner. Jakub Voracek did yeoman work in setting up Giroux for Philly's first and third goals. On the latter goal, a determined Voracek was impossible to separate from the puck as he muscled his way from the right wing in the offensive zone to over the middle. He found a wide-open Giroux, who blasted a one-timer home inside the near post to end the game 40 seconds into OT.
One minute after Giroux's first goal -- on a rush where Michael Raffl appeared to go offside but which Senators coach Guy Boucher was unable to challenge the linesman's on-ice ruling of an onside play because Ottawa had already used its timeout after an icing earlier in the period -- the Flyers received a goal credited to Michael Del Zotto to tie the game at 2-2 at the 17:50 mark of the second period. Del Zotto weaved a left point through traffic, which appeared as if it may have been tipped by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, to create a brand new hockey game.
Giroux's two goals were his sixth and seventh of the season. He's scored three times in the last two matches. Barring an after-the-fact scoring change by the NHL to credit Bellemare instead, Del Zotto's goal will stand as his third of the season.
In goal, Steve Mason was not tested often as he made 19 saves on 21 shots to earn the win. Mason left the morning skate early on Thursday amid speculation that he tweaked something in his lower body after going down to make a save but the netminder played through whatever was bothering him. His best work came in making nine saves in the third period with the game tied at 2-2. Mason played one of the best games of his NHL career on Tuesday, making 45 saves in regulation and overtime and going 8-for-9 in the shootout to steal a home win against the Boston Bruins.
Ottawa generated a first period power play goal by the red hot Mike Hoffman, who recorded a hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres in the Senators' previous game. The Flyers, who have been solid on the penalty kill as of late, had their PK box shredded quickly by the Senators' puck movement. Once a Mike Stone cross-ice pass got across to an open Hoffman with Mason guarding the opposite post, it was all over but the Ottawa celebration and the ensuing center ice faceoff. The goal, scored at 8:23 of the first period, gave the Senators a 1-0 lead.
The lead extended to 2-0 at 1:57 of the middle stanza. This one was a bit of bad puck luck for the Flyers. A Dion Phaneuf shot hit Mark Streit, bouncing off the Flyers' defenseman and directly to Ryan Dzingel in point blank range to go from a routine play to a very dangerous scoring chance. Dzingel chipped the puck over Mason after partially missing on an initial effort.
With goalie Craig Anderson on personal leave to be be with his wife as she undergoes chemotherapy and radiation for a rare form of throat cancer, Mike Condon got the start in net for the Senators. He stopped 29 of 32 shots in a losing cause.
Kyle Turris, who scored the late game-tying goal for Ottawa in the Senators' comeback shootout win in Philadelphia in the two teams' first meeting of the season, assisted on both Ottawa goals on Thursday. On this night, however, turnabout was fair play as the Flyers pulled out an overtime victory after trailing.
The Ottawa penalty kill, which short-circuited what had been a scorching hot Flyers power play coming into the previous meeting this season, once again shut down the Philly man advantage. The Flyers went 0-for-4. The Flyers, after getting scored on quickly on their first penalty kill, successfully navigated an abbreviated second kill in the third period to finish 1-for-2.
The Senators were also missing defenseman Mark Methot as well as winger Bobby Ryan. Much of the game resembled the style of an early 2000s game. There were not a lot scoring chances for either side and much of the game was played beneath the hash marks, outside the dots or in the neutral zone. Stretch pass opportunities were few and far between.
In terms of trench warfare, there was a running battle throughout the game between the Flyers' Wayne Simmonds and Ottawa's Phaneuf in particular. There was also a fairly significant amount of clutch-and-grab going on for both sides; again, very much like something out of a latter-1990s or early 2000s game.
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MELTZER'S MUSINGS: DECEMBER 2, 2016
1) Later today on the Flyers' official website, there will be an article on the remarkable season that Flyers' left wing prospect Oskar Lindblom has been having in Sweden.
With two assists yesterday in a 3-2 loss to Skellefteå, the 20-year-old forward is second in the SHL in scoring. Even more important, he's maintained a strong two-way game while being very consistent offensively. He's not producing in spurts to cover stretches of uninvolved games.
Game-in and game-out, Lindblom is making good things happen for his team in all three zones. He doesn't even have the benefit of playing on the top line or being a first-unit power play regular. His production mostly comes at even strength in a third-line role. Actually, his ice time is down about a minute per game from last season, which is asinine given how well he's played all year so far but it seems to be working for him regardless.
Perhaps the most promising aspect of Lindblom's development is that he need not be a scoring-line-or-bust type of player. There is upside to plug him into a lot of different roles, potentially even a top-six role but he can contribute in ways apart from scoring and can pretty confidently be projected as at least a top-nine candidate. Moreover, he may even be NHL-ready next season.
Lindblom does a lot of little things well. He battles for pucks, cover defensively and is strong enough to win muscle battles for positioning. Lindblom's skating is no longer a concern, either. He'll never be a speed demon, but he gets where he needs to go and takes good routes. He's developed a pretty good power stride that has been increasingly noticeable the last two seasons.
2) Speaking of strong seasons, it can hard to pump the brakes on enthusiasm for the upside of 18-year-old goalie prospect Carter Hart. While it is true that his junior team, the Western Hockey League's Everett Silvertips, play a system that limits opposing scoring chances, Hart has been nothing short of dominant in net.
Currently, Hart is riding a three-game shutout streak that is the longest in team history. While that is very impressive in its own right, it has been Hart's body of work overall this season that truly stands out. His gaudy numbers in goal (14-3-3 record, 1.59 GAA, .939 save percentage, four shutouts) accurately reflect his own play as well as the support around him.
Hart is almost never caught out of position and reads plays develop on a very advanced level for a goalie his age. He fights for second saves when he needs to. When he does need to make a spectacular save he can do so, but consistent positional saves -- a huge key to sustained success -- are his biggest strength. He bounces back immediately after stoppable goals (which have been few in number) and he's calm under pressure, which most frequently is in on display when Everett is on the PK.
Hart is not one of those gargantuan-framed goalies. By today's standards, the 6-foot-1 (sometimes now listed at 6-foot-2) goalie has unexceptional size. Frankly, though,who cares? He's big enough and his economy of motion means that fewer pucks sneak through moving parts -- a common developmental hurdle for the larger-framed guys. Hart absolutely should have been a first-round pick in the 2016 Draft and that's why the Flyers -- who already had above-average depth in goalie prospects (Anthony Stolarz, Alex Lyon and Felix Sandström) -- could not pass on the opportunity to select Hart when he was still on the board with the 48th pick last year.
It is almost scary how good Hart looks at this age. Like all goalies, there is going to be a learning curve and adversity once he gets to the pro level. For Steve Mason, for instance, winning the Calder Trophy as a 20-year-old NHL goalie was probably the worst thing that ever happened to him. When the adversity hit in year two, he was unprepared to handle it and it took a good four years to get fully back on track.
Thankfully, Ron Hextall's emphasis on a cautious development philosophy,bodes well for Philadelphia not rushing Hart along before he's truly prepared in every aspect. The system depth also works to his benefit, because there is absolutely no reason to fast-track him. It's tempting, though.
3) The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are in action on Friday night, hosting the arch-rival Hershey Bears in what promises to be a good tilt at the PPL Center in Allentown. The game is the front end of a home-and-home set that shifts venues to Hershey on Saturday.
The Phantoms (13-5-1) are currently just one point ahead of Hershey (11-4-4) in the Atlantic Division. Lehigh Valley is one point behind Wilkes Barre/Scranton (13-4-2) for first place in the division. On Nov. 13, the Phantoms scratched out a 3-1 road win in Hershey after the Bears grabbed a 3-2 home decision over the Phantoms on Oct. 30.
4) Over on the Flyers Alumni Association's official website, we are counting down the days to the upcoming 50th Anniversary Game on January 14 at the Wells Fargo Center as the Flyers Alumni team takes on the Pittsburgh Penguins Alumni. There is also a big announcement coming next week that diehard Flyers fans from every era of team history won't want to miss.
I have seen the Penguins roster thus far for the Alumni Game. In the interest of not disappointing anyone when the final rosters are announced -- the Philly side is basically set but the Pittsburgh side is still being worked on -- Mario Lemieux apparently elected not to take part in the event. Regardless, it will still be a tremendous weekend for the fans and for the participants themselves.
On the Flyers Alumni site, a host of Flyers Alumni representing the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, give their thoughts on
what it means to be a Flyer. It is remarkable how any other generational differences that may exist melt away quickly when it comes to their experiences, gratitude and allegiance to the Flyers organization and especially to the fans.
5) On Wednesday, the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony was held in Philadelphia. The 1996 World Cup of Hockey team was collectively inducted into the Hall while Mark Howe (already an inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the U.S. Hockey Hall and the Flyers Hall) was honored with the Lester Patrick Award for service to the game in the United States.
Jay Greenberg wrote
an excellent article putting Howe's honor in context and also obtaining candid commentary from the recipient on honoring the legacy of his late father, the legendary Gordie "Mr. Hockey" Howe, through his own contributions to the sport.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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