FLYERS- FLAMES WRAPUP: FLYERS FALL AGAIN, 4-1
Couldn't win on the road: That will be the epitaph on the 2014-15 Philadelphia Flyers season. The team, which is 20-9-6 on home ice this season, fell to 9-20-9 in away games with a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday night at the Saddledome.
Goal scoring and penalty killing are the two most glaring factors in the huge disparity between the Flyers' home and road records.
When playing on home ice, the Flyers have scored an average 2.89 goals per game while allowing 2.34 per game. On special teams, they have killed off a respectable 83.3 percent of their penalties while clicking on a robust 26.7 percent of their power plays.
On the road, Philly has mustered just 2.21 goals per game while yielding 3.13 per game. Their road penalty killing percentage of 70.6 is the second-worst in the NHL while their power play success rate is an ordinary 17.7 percent.
Flyers head coach Craig Berube pulled starting goaltender Steve Mason (14 saves on 16 shots) at 17:57 of the second period after the Flames opened up a 2-0 lead on closely spaced goals by defensemen Dennis Wideman (13th goal of the season) and T.J. Brodie (11th goal of the season).
The Wideman goal, which started with Luke Schenn's pass attempt over the middle from the right side boards got picked off by Jiri Hudler, unfolded much like Alex Burrows' game-winning goal in the third period of Tuesday's game in Vancouver. Wideman had an uncontested shot from the right circle and Mason was not able to get squared in time and the puck got past his pads into the net.
The Brodie goal was a point shot scored through a heavy screen with bodies of multiple Calgary and Philadelphia players blocking Mason's line of vision. The goalie did not react until it was too late.
For much of the season, Berube has punted on opportunities to publicly single out Mason's overall play as one of the primary positives for the team this season despite his overall 2.28 goals against average, .925 save percentage and three shutouts. When Mason's stats have been brought up, Berube said he cares only about won-loss records. The coach has said that everyone, Mason included, could be doing more especially on the road to help the team pull out wins in low-scoring games.
The head coach has not been reticent to point out when he has let in a goal the coach thought was stoppable.
After Thursday's game, Berube told the beat reporters covering the game in Calgary that he "didn't like the goals" Mason yielded in addition to simply trying to spark the team with a change in net. In regards to the second goal, Berube was
quoted as saying, "There’s going to be screens. You have to fight through it, find pucks."
Mason's road record for the season fell to 1-12-6, with a 2.64 goals against average and .912 save percentage with two shutouts. The team has scored two or fewer goals in 17 of his 19 road starts. Both of his road shutouts ended in shootout losses after the team was unable to provide him even a single goal of support. At home this season, Mason is 13-5-4 with a 1.97 GAA, .936 save percentage and one shutout.
The Flyers shaved the deficit to 2-1 in the final nine seconds of the middle frame. At the 19:51 mark, team captain Claude Giroux scored a line rush goal off a nice setup by Jakub Voracek, who drew the defense toward him as he handled the puck and then dished to Giroux with the right side of the net open.
Giroux's 19th goal of the season broke a personal 10-game goalless drought. Voracek earned his 49th assist of the season. Nicklas Grossmann (sixth assist) got the secondary helper after starting the rush with a pass to Voracek.
The Flyers never gave themselves a chance at a continued comeback in the third period. After staying out of the box for the first 40 minutes, they took four minor penalties in succession over the first eight-plus minutes of the period. Calgary cashed in twice on the power play to put the game out of reach.
With Ryan White in the box for cross-checking Jiri Hudler, Johnny Gaudreau led the rush up the ice and dished to Sean Monahan, who snapped his 28th goal of the season past Ray Emery from the medium slot at 3: 09.
The Flyers went back on the penalty kill a little more than two minutes later when Grossmann was whistled for tripping Michael Ferland. The Flames gained a 5-on-3 manpower advantage for 44 seconds after Chris VandeVelde was called for holding Wideman.
At the 7:02 mark, with 10 seconds remaining on the Grossmann penalty, the Flames cashed in on the two-man advantage. Gaudreau had a slam-dunk of a goal to reach the 20-goal mark in his rookie NHL season. The New Jersey native, who received a secondary assist on the Brodie goal, completed a three-point night as Calgary's lead grew to 4-1.
The Flyers were not scored upon again in the remaining time on the VandeVelde penalty. Just as his penalty was set to expire, Emery received a penalty for slashing Mikael Backlund. Philadelphia survived that kill but, by the time the penalty expired, the club had spent nearly half the period on the PK and the scoreboard deficit was no longer manageable. Philadelphia went 0-for-2 on their own power plays, one of which came late in the third period.
Emery finished the game with eight saves on 10 shots in 22:03 of relief duty. Winning goaltender Karri Rämo stopped 26 of 27 shots for Calgary.
Calgary, fighting for its life in the Western Conference playoff picture, pulled itself back into playoff position with their win over the Flyers on Thursday. They leapfrogged the idle Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division. Trailing the Flames by one point, the Kings now hold one game in hand.
The Flyers reportedly held a very brief players-only meeting after Thursday's game. They will finish their four-game road trip on Saturday in Edmonton.
Post-game notes:
* Michael Del Zotto returned to the lineup from an upper-body injury. He skated 22:28 of ice time and was credited with three shots on goal.
* The Flyers dressed seven defenseman for the game. Berube scratched veteran forward Vincent Lecavalier.
* Earlier in the day, the Flyers returned defenseman Brandon Manning to the Phantoms. Carlo Colaiacovo remained in the starting lineup after a strong game in Vancouver.
* Faceoffs for the game finished nearly even, with the Flyers winning 31 of 61. Giroux led the way with a 10-for-15 effort.
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SANHEIM'S STAR CONTINUES TO RISE
Calgary Hitmen defenseman Travis Sanheim, the Flyers' first-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, took the opportunity to visit with the NHL team during its trip to Calgary. His Hitmen teammate, Flyers 2014 sixth-round pick Radel Fazleev, was also on hand.
The 18-year-old Sanheim, who was signed to an entry-level contract shortly prior to being reassigned to his junior team, has enjoyed a stellar season in the Western Hockey League.
With only two regular season games remaining, Sanheim leads all WHL defensemen in scoring with 64 points (14 goals, 50 assists) in 65 games played. He is third in scoring among defensemen in all three CHL leagues, trailing only Anthony DeAngelo (Sarnia, OHL) and Chris Bigras (Owen Sound, OHL). Perhaps most impressively, Sanheim has continued to perform at a high level defensively while growing his offensive game.
Sanheim was invited to Team Canada's World Junior Championship camp in December. He did not make the team, which was not a surprise because Hockey Canada generally selects 19-year-old defensemen for the final tourney roster. If healthy next season, Sanheim would stand a very good chance of earning a roster spot and a regular starting role on the Canadians' WJC blueline.
The primary challenge for Sanheim moving forward will be to fill out his tall but still lanky frame a little more without compromising speed. Skating is one of his biggest assets. Sanheim does not possess an exceptionally hard shot from the point but is lethal when joining the rush as a trailer and is both a good breakout passer and a creative passer on the attack in the offensive zone.
Sanheim's defensive awareness is usually solid and he poised enough to make quick recoveries from many of his mistakes. Of course, like most every teenage defensemen, further experience will be beneficial to bring his total game up to NHL standards. Although not a particularly physical player, Sanheim competes.
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READ FAMILY WELCOMES FIRST CHILD
On Tuesday, while the Flyers were in Vancouver to play the Canucks, Matt Read was back in the Delaware Valley to be with wife, Erin, as she delivered the couple's first child. Erin delivered a baby girl named Roen Brittan, who weighed in at four pounds, 10 ounces.
Sometimes, it is easy for us to forget the human side of athletes and celebrities. I do not know Read particularly well. I keep my distance from the players apart from interviewing them as needed in a professional context. I have interviewed Matt periodically over the years, but it has never been a prolonged interview, such as for an in-depth feature story.
However, I can say this: Having witnessed Read many times when he's been around children in the Flyers' locker room -- whether they be youth hockey players, special needs kids who are brought as guests or others -- I have a sense that he is going to enjoy fatherhood. From everything I have seen firshand, he is relaxed, kind and gentle around kids.
I am usually a very private person by nature, and I have been debating myself for several days as to whether to write this portion of today's blog because it is intensely personal. I decided to go ahead and share my thoughts, because I think a lot of readers will be able to relate on different levels.
During the fall of 2013, my not-quite five-year-old son Benjamin (who is now six) accompanied me to a practice in Voorhees. Benji, whose favorite players are goalies ("goalies are powerful," he informed me), was all kinds of excited about the prospect of saying hello to Steve Mason and Ray Emery as we walked downstairs from the press room to the locker room.
That is, until we actually got to the room. He got frightened by all the people milling around, the size of the room, etc. On the brink of tears, he asked me to hold him and soon said he wanted to leave.
A handful of Flyers players -- Jakub Voracek, Zac Rinaldo, Michael Raffl, Braydon Coburn -- said hello to him or mussed Benji's hair as they entered the room and walked past to their lockers. Read took it a step further.
Seeing that my son was petrified, Read stood at his locker and gently said to him, "It's okay, buddy. We're not scary!"
It didn't work. Benjamin simply was not ready for the experience and said he wanted to leave, so we made a quick exit. Nevertheless, as a father, I appreciated Read's effort to soothe my frightened four-year-old.
Matt Read probably doesn't even remember it happening. As I said, he barely knows me. It was a very brief interaction with my son, and he sees a host of other people's kids around the team on a daily basis both at the rink and away from the rink.
Nevertheless, now that he is a father himself, Read is going to learn why such small moments of another person showing compassion for one's own child stick forever in a parent's memory. Whenever I think of Matt Read, it is that fleeting moment that comes to my mind ahead of anything he does on the ice.
For that very same reason, when I found out that Read had taken leave this week to be with Erin during and after the birth of their daughter -- he is expected to return to the lineup on Saturday in Edmonton -- the news struck me in a more profound way than I ever expected. I found that I was genuinely thrilled for him and his wife.
Often, I forget that Benjamin is adopted and is not my biological child. That distinction ceased to matter to me in the slightest a long time ago. He is simply my son and holds my heart unconditionally. The only life experience missing was his actual birth (he was adopted at three days old).
On March 6, 2013, I got to experience the birth of my daughter, Lily Claire. That was an exhilarating experience to which there is simply no comparison. By my wife's request, I was actually the first one to hold my newborn daughter. Currently, I am still in Texas as part of a trip to celebrate her second birthday. I return to the Philadelphia area next week to cover the remainder of the hockey season.
Matt Read is about to discover what an incredible journey parenthood really is, from the first time their tiny little hand grasps your index finger to every day, week, month and year to come.
As a father, he will learn that children change your life in ways even more profound that getting married. He'll feel a full gamut of emotions -- sometimes all at the same time -- and learn things about himself along the way. Most of all, he'll learn how fast your kids grow up. The time really does fly by quickly, and each stage of the child's life is over before you even know it.
As the father of a girl, he will soon learn how special and unique the father-daughter relationship really is. No doubt, Roen will have him wrapped around her little finger. He'll wind up noticing and caring about things than never even registered on his mind before. Take it from someone who just had a Hello Kitty tea party with his two-year old daughter yesterday morning!
In the broader sense, a father has an enormous impact on his daughter's happiness, trust of men and, a little later in life, her world outlook and self-esteem. Of course, raising a boy carries many of the same challenges and a steep learning curve, but there are also differences that become noticeable when you have at least one child of each gender as I do.
Being a dad to a boy is more instinctual. The play is much more physical and the settings more familiar. Hanging out with your young son, while you have to be a caretaker and behave as the "grown up" when necessary, also lets you act like a kid again yourself in a lot of situations. With a daughter, there is a dual learning curve that take place from the get-go. Even some basic caretaking chores have been learned a little differently.
As a professional hockey player, Matt Read will get an all-new perspective on his real support system. He will feel the pangs of being away from his daughter much of the year while Erin handles responsibilities that are much greater than backchecking or communicating with linemates and challenges that are much more important than overcoming a goal-scoring slump. I can somewhat relate to this lifestyle as someone who spends weeks at a time-- sometimes entire months -- away from my kids, missing them more I can put into words and always knowing that they each individually need me to be physically present as well as emotionally accessible.
Most of all, he will learn that as much as the pursuit of team success and personal career success mean, there is nothing more important than family bonds and the things you pass along to your children. This perspective deepens tenfold in the years after one becomes a parent and you realize that everything you put in -- good and bad -- is going to have a profound effect and yet there are also many things that are beyond your control.
Congratulations to Matt and Erin Read. You are embarking on the most incredible journey of your lives, both individually and together. Here is hoping that baby Roen brings you lots of joy, shared laughter and learing, and immense pride. May she always enjoys good health and a lifetime of happiness and security in every possible way.
Oh, and one final thing: Enjoy the sleep in the days right after her birth, while she is asleep far more often than she's awake. That does not last for very long. Nor will the time when you can put her in one place and she'll stay right there.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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