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Wrap: Fast Start, Top Line, Big PK & Elliott Key 3-1 Win vs. Chicago

November 10, 2017, 4:08 AM ET [209 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
WRAP: FAST START, TOP LINE, BIG PK AND ELLIOTT KEY 3-1 WIN OVER CHICAGO

Coming off a four-day layoff, the Philadelphia Flyers were determined to get off to a strong start against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. Philly did just that, rolling out to a 2-0 lead in the game's first 12:08 then building a 3-0 lead early in the second period on the way to a 3-1 victory.

With the win, the Flyers raised their season record to 8-6-2 through 16 games and 4-2-2 at home. The Blackhawks dropped to 7-7-2 overall and 3-4-1 on the road.

"From our standpoint, I thought our team did a good job tonight being ready to play. Coming off of a little bit of a break, I thought there was a real mindset to make sure we were ready to go. Sharp at the start of the hockey game and those guys went out and they made some plays, those were big goals for our hockey team," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.

The Flyers were dominant for the first 30 minutes of the game, breaking out of their zone with relative ease and attacking with speed to generate controlled offensive zone entries. Later, they had to withstand a push-back from Chicago. After a broken play wound up in the Blackhawks cutting the deficit to 3-1, the Flyers had to kill a 5-on-3 for 1:44 with two of their key penalty killers (Radko Gudas and Ivan Provorov) in the box. The Flyers got through the kill and then carried their two-goal lead the rest of the way.

Philadelphia's top line trio of Claude Giroux (9th goal of the season, 10th and 11th assists), Jakub Voracek (4th goal of the season, 16th and 17th assists) and Sean Couturier (10th goal of the season) account for all of the Flyers' goal scoring.

“I have played with Coots before last year for forty games and I have played with G for a long time before. So, we understand each other and kind of fill up the lanes and we swing away. That is what we are doing. We try to keep the puck in the offensive zone. We try to get a cycle going and that is why we play the way we do," Voracek said.

Playing the 155th game of his NHL career, Shayne Gostisbehere assisted on Voracek's goal for his 14th helper of the season. Gostisbehere recorded the 100th point of his career on the play. In so doing, he set a new franchise mark among defensemen who began their NHL career in Philadelphia to reach 100 points, beating the previous record held by Behn Wilson (163 games).

Gostisbehere is the fourth-fastest from the start of his Flyers career, trailing Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Howe (122 games), Garry Galley (142 games) and the late Bob "the Count" Dailey (146 games). Howe, Galley and Dailey all began their NHL careers with other franchises.

Brian Elliott (38 saves on 39 shots) was excellent in goal for the Flyers in this game. He tracked the puck very well, was on top of his angles and controlled his rebounds. The one goal he yielded was iffy but he more than made up for it with his performance before and afterwards.

"I felt good out there," Elliott said. "I thought we did a good job defensively. That allowed me to lock in on the puck. We took away lanes. Took away passes. That’s what you have to do with a team like that, move it around."

Corey Crawford, who played a phenomenal game last Wednesday in shutting out the Flyers and had a 2 2/3 game shutout string broken in the third period of his last outing, entered the game with the NHL's top goaltending stats. He was human on this night, but stopped 28 of 31 Flyers shots and kept the game from getting completely out of hand before his team got going.

Connor Murphy, the son of Flyers' assistant coach Gord Murphy, tallied his first goal in a Blackhawks uniform for the lone Chicago score. Lance Bouma and Jan Rutta earned assists. Struggling for goals in recent games, the Blackhawks tried to stack their top line by putting Patrick Kane with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp. The team's best player was Brandon Saad, who had eight shots on goal among 13 attempts (two got blocked, three missed the net).

"I thought we played the way we wanted to play until we got the 3-0 lead and then we got a little bit sloppy," Couturier said. "Elliott made some huge saves for us and, obviously, the two-man kill was huge for us."

The Chicago top line was blanked -- the ever-dangerous Kane has just two points (zero goals, two assists) in his last six games -- as the Flyers top line pretty much had its way for two periods. Toews also had a rough night in the faceoff circle, going 6-for-20 (30 percent).

The Flyers dominated in faceoffs in general, winning 49 of 73 draws (67 percent). Giroux (8-for-10), Couturier (8-for-12), Jori Lehterä (7-for-8), Scott Laughton (9-for-13), and Valtteri Filppula (11-for-19) all won healthy percentages of their faceoffs.

An unsung hero for the Flyers in this game was rookie defenseman Robert Hägg. The Swede did yeoman work against Toews and company at 5-on-5 along with Ivan Provorov. Hägg stepped up especially big during the 5-on-3 penalty kill and the waning seconds of the game. Overall, Hägg logged 20:52 of ice time, had one shot on goal (one was blocked, two missed the net), five credited hits, zero charged giveaway and one credited takeaway.

"I think Provy and Hagger did a great job against their top line, frustrating them I think. When you’re frustrating their top line it’s kind of like cutting a head off of a snake and the rest of the team will fold. I think we did a lot of good things out there. Limiting time and space because they are a skilled team and that’s what they like, the time and space. I think it was a great job by our team," Gostisbehere said.

Fellow rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim (16:18 TOI), three shots on goal on four attempts had an outstanding first period and a solid remainder of the game. He is still looking for his first NHL goal but has been robbed twice by Crawford -- once in last week's game in Chicago and again in this tilt.

Overall shot attempts for the game were 69-52 in the Blackhawks' favor, but this largely skewed to after the Flyers built the 3-0 lead. The Flyers blocked 16 shots, and Chicago missed the net 14 times. Chicago blocked 10 Flyers shots, and Philly missed the net 11 times. The Hawks led the Flyers in credited hits with 21 to Philly's 19. Tommy Wingels led all players with seven.

The Flyers' regular season home winning streak against Chicago is now 14 games. The Hawks' lone regular season win in the Wells Fargo Center came on Nov. 9, 1996, in their first-ever visit to the Wells Fargo Center (then CoreStates Center). Chicago's only win in Philadelphia since that time was Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.

1ST PERIOD

The Flyers got the game's first shot at 1:08. Taking a pass from Filppula off an offensive zone carry-in, Gostisbehere snapped an unscreened routine shot on net from above the right circle. Crawford got it cleanly for a stoppage.

Gostisbehere lost the puck up the right defensive boards and Lance Bouma ended up with a chance in close to Elliott. A scrum ensued after the whistle at 2:35. Voracek and Wingels received coincidental roughing penalties to set up 4-on-4 play for two minutes.

Shut out last the teams played, the Flyers solved Crawford to take a 1-0 lead as Couturier initially appeared to chip the puck in the zone to Voracek on the right boards. Finding an open Giroux in the left circle, Voracek made an accurate pass across and Giroux buried home a one-timer at 4:58. The lone assist went to Voracek, as scorers ruled Couturier didn't get a stick on the puck as it bounced around the neutral zone. Couturier confirmed afterwards that he didn't get a touch of the puck.

Giroux, sporting the postgame Ric Flair-inspired "Nature Boy" robe as Flyers' player of the game, said that he just wanted to make sure he got rid of the puck

“He’s a pretty good goalie so I was just trying to shoot as hard as I can and try to beat him. It could be my first goal against him. He’s been owning me so it’s good to get one against him," Giroux said.

The Laughton line set up a strong puck-cycling shift. Leier had a wraparound try that Crawford for a stoppage and TV timeout at 6:17. Shots were 5-5 at this point.

Elliott had to make a tough save on a Chicago rush where there was no coverage on the right side. At 10:06, Sanheim joined a rush and set up Filppula at point blank range near the right post but the puck was tucked wide. Sanheim was then denied in close on a follow-up try.

The top line had a near-miss chance off a Brandon Manning rebound and then scored on their next foray. On the scoring play, Voracek took a cross-ice feed from Gostisbehere and wired in a shot for a 2-0 lead at 12:08. Giroux got the secondary assist.

Konency had two chances below the dots -- first off the rush and then near the right post -- but Crawford kept the game at 2-0 with a cover and stoppage at 14:28. Shots were 12-10 Flyers.

Chicago got the game's first power play at 15:04. Sanheim went off for interference. Leier stripped a Chicago player of the puck, made a nice move at the blueline and went in for a great backhanded shorthanded goal bid that was denied. Radko Gudas won a battle on the walls late in the kill and cleared the puck down the ice.

The Couturier line had another dominant shift in the final minute of the period. Provorov had a good look at the net from the middle slot but his shot went over the net.

First period shots were 16-12 in the Flyers' favor.

2ND PERIOD

Elliott sprawled across the crease for a save in the opening minute. On the next shift, Dale Weise beat Crawford with a shot but drew iron. Moments later, a Gudas shot hit Jori Lehterä in the foot. He remained in the game.

Shortly past the 3:00 mark, Brandon Manning did an excellent job near the net to break up a scoring chance. One shift later, the Flyers top line struck for the third time in the game. Couturier crashed the net, received a feed from Giroux and pounced the puck home. Voracek hot the secondary assist at 3:51.

“I was the middle guy and I tried to create a passing lane to G from Jake and after that I just had my stick on the ice, went to the net and G found me," Couturier said.

Elliott cut off the angle and flashed the leather on a clean glove save off a Brandon Saad slapper from the top of the left circle. A TV timeout ensued at 6:48.

At 8:27, Jan Ruutu moved from right to center point and fired a shot through traffic on goal. Elliott made the save with no rebound. At 11:15, Couturier trailed a play, took a Voracek pass in the mid-slot and fired a shot on net. Crawford got it for a TV timeout stoppage. Second period shots were 7-5 Chicago at this point.

The Blackhawks got back within 3-1 at 16:13. A Murphy shot partially blocked by Gudas went back to Murphy in the left circle and he beat Elliott to the short side. The assists went to Bouma and Rutta.

Gudas received a tripping penalty on a play where it was actually a hit that knocked down his check. It became a 1:44 length 5-on-3 as Provorov accidentally flipped a puck over the glass from the defensive zone. The penalty killers and Elliott stepped up big and got the Flyers through the disadvantage.

“It felt a little sloppy [before tonight]," Manning admitted. "We’ve worked on it the last few days. Obviously with Amac out and Provy and Gudy our go-to guys, Hagger did a good job there and we kept them to the outside. Fortunately for us it worked out.”

Saad found open ice and went in alone on Elliott with Gudas in close pursuit. Moving left, he was unable to elevate a shot over the goalie's pads.

Second period shots were 11-5 in Chicago's favor (23-21 overall for the Blackhawks).

3RD PERIOD

Hägg continued a game-long battle with Jonathan Toews on the first shift of the period. Late in the shift, Provorov was able to tie up Saad just enough at the net to give Elliott a chance to save a near tip-in goal.

Gudas got caught up on a turnover in the offensive zone. Sanheim was the lone D back to defend a 2-on-1 rush led by Kane. Sanheim slid to try to take away a pass and Elliott stopped Kane's left circle shot. The Flyers then iced the puck.

Philly got its first power play at 3:27 as Toews was called for a slash on Voracek's hand in the Chicago end. The Flyers got little established. Toews exited the box and had a look from the left circle.

The Blackhawks continued to pressure in the Flyers zone over the next five or six minutes. The Laughton line restored some order with a good shift that was followed on the next shift by a Lehterä chance on the right side off the rush.

Toews dug a puck off the right half wall, cut in and forced Elliott to make a good save with 8:30 left in the period. On the next shift, the Artem Anisimov line pinned Philly in deep.

Konecny was called for tripping a pinching Cody Franson. Elliott made a save for the whistle at 14:01. With 1:04 left in the kill, Elliott cleanly stopped a right circle one-timer from Anisimov. Laughton stole a puck in the neutral zone, found some soft ice to rag off some time and then cleared down the ice. The Flyers won a late battle and Couturier cleared the zone.

With play back at even strength, the Flyers had a 3-on-1 counterrush. Konency wasn't able to finish it off. Wingels, at 16:29, got called for high-sticking on what looked to be the follow-through of a shot. On the power play, Gostisbehere had to get back to break up a shorthanded chance. The second unit came out and Crawford came way out to glove a Sanheim blast from above the circles off a pass-out.

Chicago pulled Crawford for a 6-on-5 in the final 90 seconds. Konecny missed the empty net from the red line. The Flyers took an icing with 46.2 seconds left, and Chicago used its timeout. Couturier broke up a play at the defensive blueline. Hägg tied up a man and used his skate effectively to kill off all but the final second of the game.

Third period shots were 16-10 Chicago (39-31 Chicago overall).
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