WRAP: FLYERS FAIL AGAIN TO CLOSE OUT DEVILS, DROP 5-4 SHOOTOUT

In each of their final two meetings of the 2017-18 season series, the Philadelphia Flyers carried leads into the third period against the New Jersey Devils. Last time, New Jersey won in regulation. On Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center, New Jersey scored with 1:21 left in regulation and went on to get the shootout bonus point from a 5-4 final.

The Flyers held a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. They led 3-1 and, very briefly, 4-2 within the second period before taking a 4-3 edge to the locker room. The Flyers were not able to seal the deal in the third, and paid the price by coughing up a point in the standings.

"We talked about it before the third. Make sure that we play the game we want to play and we did. We played pretty solid. Neuvy made some big saves for us and then they were able to get a loose puck. It’s frustrating, but same time we got to know that we played a pretty solid game. We just got to keep going here," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said.

Philly played a very strong first period overall, although they got away with sloppy play in the last five minutes. There was also a lot of special teams play in the opening 20 minutes. The second period was loosely played on both sides, with scoring chances galore and considerable chippiness. The checking tightened in the third period and New Jersey started to break through in the latter half of the period.

"I thought the start of the game was really good for us. I thought we had energy, we were sharp mentally and there’s just points and times in the game where a little bit of fatigue sneaks in both mentally and physically But there’s challenges in every portion of the schedule and that was our challenge tonight," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.

Travis Konecny (14th goal of the season), Scott Laughton (9th), Radko Gudas (2nd) and Giroux (power play, 19th) scored for the Flyers. Giroux (47th assist of the season), Shayne Gostisbehere (33rd and 34th assist), Michael Raffl (8th assist), Andrew MacDonald (9th assist), Jori Lehterä (4th assist), Dale Weise (3rd assist) and Jakub Voracek (54th assist) collected assists.

Michal Neuvirth had an uneven game in net. He let in a terrible first goal on a short-side shot as New Jersey briefly equalized the game at 1-1 early in the second period. Thereafter, while there were some adventurous plays, Neuvirth also authored numerous tough saves. He finished with 32 saves on 36 shots in regulation and OT, and stopped one of two shootout attempts. Kyle Palmieri was denied on a shootout try before Drew Stafford scored in the second round.

“I feel like we should have won that game but it is what it is. It is tough to swallow right now but we got to put this one behind us and keep moving forward," Neuvirth said.

Taylor Hall (22nd and 23rd goals of the season), John Moore (7th goal) and Nico Hischier (10th goal) scored in regulation. Stafford scored the winning shootout goal. Sami Vatanen (15th assist), Travis Zajac (4th and 5th assists), Jesper Bratt (20th and 21st assists) and Hischier (24th assist) earned assists.

"Late in the game in that last ten minutes, Neuvy makes two or three huge saves that should have been goals and kind of bailed us out there. We can’t give up those chances late in the game like that, especially this situation. But thought it was an OK game. It was back and forth, a little sloppy here and there, but I think we needed to get those two points,' Laughton said.

Keith Kinkaid had a few adventures of his own but no soft goals and came up with his share of big saves to prevent the Flyers from pulling away. He finished with 31 saves on 35 shots in regulation and overtime and then went 3-for-3 in the shootout, stopping Jordan Weal, Konecny and Voracek.

The Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play. They were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

1ST PERIOD SYNPOSIS

Voracek cut in for a scoring chance in the opening minute. Kinkaid made the save. On the Flyers' second chance, they scored for a 1-0 lead at 1:54. Konecny took a backhanded breakout pass from Giroux, and sped through the neutral zone. From the right circle, he fired a shot that beat Kinkaid cleanly. The assists went to Giroux and Gostisbehere.

Raffl took a passout in front for a bang-bang chance at 2:56. Kinkaid made the stop. On the next shift, Nolan Patrick narrowly missed potting a Simmonds rebound.

The Flyers got the game's first power play at 4:34 on a Jersey bench minor for too many men on the ice (served by Miles Wood). A Gostisbehere shot up high was blocked by Kyle Palmieri for a near 2-on-1 rush for New Jersey. The second power play unit went offside. New Jersey's Blake Coleman fired a side angle shot on net with three seconds left on a rather easy kill.

Shots were 6-3 Flyers at a TV timeout at the 7:03 mark. At 7:38, Philly took an icing. Taylor Hall hit the post on the ensuing shift.

Philly went to their first penalty kill at 10:11 after Wayne Simmonds was called for a high stick on Nico Hischier in the offensive zone. Provorov aggressively joined the rush on a turnover forced by Giroux in the neutral zone and was denied by Kinkaid before hustling quickly back the other way. Hischier narrowly missed the net on a shot with Neuvirth seemingly screened and slow to react.

Stefan Noesen went to the net and bowled over Neuvirth in the crease. The Flyers went to their second power play at 12:49. Neuvirth was OK. Couturier nearly scored off a rush but ran out of angle to tuck the puck home. Simmonds and Couturier had opportunities on a Gostisbehere rebound. Couturier was then called for tripping at 13:31, negating the the rest of the power play.

New Jersey eventually had a 42-second power play. Philly killed it in good shape.

A dribbling puck in the neutral zone got through to Couturier. He took it in from the left side and hard to the net, trying to jam it inside the left post unsuccessfully. Moments later, he set up Giroux for a chance from the slot. Kinkaid came up big again.

Raffl deflected a Gostisbehere shot just wide of the net with Kinkaid helpless if it had been on net. At the other end, Jersey gained the zone off the rush. After passout in front, Hall had a point blank chance that hit Neuvirth's hip, fluttered up and stayed out of the net.

First period shots were 13-9 Flyers. Jersey went 14-for-23 on faceoffs. Credited hits were 9-8 Flyers (led by three for Robert Hägg).

2ND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Jordan Weal's perimeter attempt at 1:12 was the first shot (and shot attempt) of the period. It was an easy save for Kinkaid. At 2:10, Neuvirth stopped a similar left side shot by Hischier.

At 2:48, Konecny took a Giroux pass in stride and fired a heavy shot on from the bottom of the right circle. Kinkaid was tested but came up with a clean stop.

Hall scored a short-side goal from a very sharp angle at 4:06 to tie the game at 1-1. Vatanen got the lone assist.

The Flyers responded fast. Weal won a battle in the right corner and went out with the puck to MacDonald at the puck. The puck was tucked back in deep to Raffl. Laughton, in front of the net, took the centering feed and put it off Kinkaid and into the net to restore a 2-1 lead at 4:49.

Gostisbehere had a golden scoring chance on the next shift but wasn't able to find the net. On the next foray, Voracek collected an offensive zone turnover forced by Patrick's forechecking. At 6:34 he Flyers' winger was grabbed chin-high and spun around as he wheeled in front but no penalty was called.

Wood came in and hit Konecny up high. At 7:40. Taking exception, Gostisbehere cross-checked Wood up near his head. Wood went back at him. Both got minor penalties. Wood screamed at Gostisbehere from the penalty box.

The Devils, understandably, continued to test Neuvirth to the short side.

Weise stole a pass in the defensive zone and the Flyers went the other way. From the right circle, Lehterä fed out to Gudas at the point. With Weise in front and accidental help off a New Jersey stick, Gudas found the net for a 3-1 lead at 10:36.

New Jersey got its third power play at 11:04 after Couturier and got their feet tangled behind the Flyers net. Couturier got the gate for tripping. Neuvirth, out of his net, made a big save on . Manning slashed Wood on the foot and Manning gave him the stick, too, on a play that was called for off-side. The Devils screamed for a 2-man advantage but didn't get a call.

Philly killed of the rest of the Couturier penalty. However, after it expired, Moore got the puck at the point and had time and space to take a full windup slapshot. It found the net through traffic. The assists at 13:17 went to Zajac and Bratt as the Devils got back within 3-2.

Simmonds looked for a call on a rush down the right wing but the officials looked on impassively after he went to the ice.

On a similar sequence to his earlier goal, Konecny took a stretch pass from Couturier and sped up the right wing. This time, Kinkaid had the angle on Konecny's right circle shot and made the save at 14:58. Shots were 10-9 Devils.

The Flyers went back to the power play at 15:10 after Zajac cross-checked Weal in the right corner of the New Jersey zone. A pair of failed clearing opportunities eventually came back to haunt the Devils as Philly moved the puck around the zone. From the left circle, Giroux fired the puck at the net and it went in off Ben Lovejoy's stick before Simmonds could tip it in front. The assists went to Voracek and Gostisbehere as the Flyers took a very short-lived 4-2 lead at 15:59.

New Jersey scored almost immediately off the next faceoff, generating a 2-on-1 off a Provorov turnover in the neutral zone. Hischier took a feed from Bratt and found the net at 16:09 from the right slot. Neuvirth had very little chance at stopping this one. Bratt got the lone assist.

The Patrick line created a scramble near the New Jersey net in the final minute. The Giroux line attacked furiously until the period expired.

Second period shots were 13-12 Flyers (26-21 Flyers overall) . The Flyers went 14-for-24 on faceoffs (24-23 Devils overall). Credited hits were 11-6 Flyers (20-14 Flyers overall, led by four for Hägg and three for Simmonds).

3RD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Hall, who crashed heavily into the end boards on his 2nd period goal, returned to the game in the third period.

The Patrick line pressured early. Then Gudas got caught napping in the neutral zone. Wood went in directly on the net but was denied in tight by Neuvirth.

Gudas and Manning both ended up way out of position and New Jersey's Stefan Noesen had a backhand chance in front at 3:04.

Gostisbehere took an accidental stick up high from Nick Lappin at 3:26 on an attempted steal of the puck near the Flyers' right circle. Lappin came away with the puck but was called for a minor penalty. The first unit had decent puck movement but couldn't get a shot through. Weal moved in front for a backhanded chance. Provorov missed the net late in the power play.

Neuvirth made a great glove save on Noesen on a chance from the slot. The Couturier line initially seemed to have a counter chance but it fizzled out.

At 8:14, Neuvirth stopped a chance near the net for Coleman. Shots were 7-4 Devils at a TV timeout at the 8:54 mark.

Simmonds had a crack near the net at a Gostisbehere shot that hit traffic in front. Kinkaid smothered it. On the next shift, Konecny tipped a point shot on net.

The checking tightened a bit over the next several minutes. Shots were 8-6 in New Jersey's favor as Simmonds fired a partially blocked shot out of play at 12:41.

Lappin came in to try to hit Hägg along the left board but ended up taking a seat on the ice as Hägg caught him with his backside. At the other end, Vatanen hammered Konecny into the boards.

Konecny chipped a puck out up high in the defensive zone and sped away on a 2-on-1 with Couturier. Taking the puck to the net, Konecny was slowed down illegally by Wood, who got a hooking penalty at 16:10. The Flyers had some skittish moments with the puck and did not generate much. A near New Jersey icing was canceled out by Wood as the penalty expired.

The Flyers net came off its moorings with 1:29 left. New Jersey got a right circle faceoff, pulling Kinkaid for a 6-on-5 attack. New Jersey's Zajac won the draw, and got the puck at the net. Hischier fired a shot. The puck went to Hall, who scored to tie the game at 4-4 at 18:39.

New Jersey nearly scored again on the next shift as a Zajac shot rebounded in the slot but the puck bounded away. The Devils continued to attack until the buzzer.

Third period shots were 12-7 Devils (33-33 overall).

OVERTIME SYNOPSIS

Neuvirth gloved a Hall shot cleanly from the bottom of the right circle at the 16-second mark. The goalie then gloved another shot but, with tired teammates on the ice at the end of a shift, elected to put it in play. The team got its line change without incident, however.

Giroux had a crack in the New Jersey end but fired over the net. The puck bounced out up high in the zone.

On the next shift, Simmonds missed the net. No harm resulted the other way.

Konecny and Couturier had extended offensive zone possession. Next shift, Voracek tipped a Giroux feed on net and Kinkaid made a very tough save.

With 39.8 seconds left, Kinkaid stopped Provorov on a pinch. The Devils called timeout before a defensive right circle faceoff. With 24.4 seconds left, a rush with Voracek and Giroux went offside.

Moore skated a big circle around the offensive zone, pursued by Gostisbehere. With no open man or good shooting lane, he simply let time expire.

OT shots were 3-2 New Jersey (36-35 Devils overall).

SHOOTOUT SYNOPSIS

Top of 1st round: Weal made lots of stutter steps and shoulder fakes.

Bottom of 1st round: Palmieri tried a backhander near the left post and found no room.

Top of 2nd: Konecny's glove side wrister was knocked away by Kinkaid.

Bottom on 2nd round: Stafford found the five-hole and scored on a wrist-shot.

Top of 3rd round: Voracek's right circle wrist shot try was knocked aside. Jersey got the win.


STANDINGS IMPACT

By virtue of failing to close out the game and then losing via shootout, the third-place Flyers lead over the Devils in the Metropolitan Division standings was cut to two points. New Jersey holds one game in hand but Philadelphia retains its 27-24 ROW tiebreaker advantage.

The Flyers also slipped to two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metro standings after Pittsburgh defeated Ottawa in regulation, 6-3. The Penguins extended their ROW tiebreaker edge over the Flyers to 30-27. The Flyers hold one game in hand.

A 7-3 blowout win by the Carolina Hurricanes over the LA Kings enabled the lower wildcard seeded Canes to inch within three points of the Flyers for third place and stay one point behind the Devils. The Flyers and Hurricanes have both played 57 games. Philly holds a 27-24 ROW edge in case of a standings tie with the Hurricanes.

The Washington Capitals dropped a 4-3 overtime verdict to the Winnipeg Jets. The Flyers remain five points behind the Metro Division leaders, while the Penguins cut their gap to three points. The Caps hold a game in hand over the Flyers and a 29-27 ROW edge.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, the Flyers' next opponents, defeated the New York Islanders in regulation, 4-1. Columbus stays one point behind Carolina for the final wildcard spot and cut their gap behind the Flyers to four points. The Blue Jackets hold one game in hand on the Flyers but Philly has a 27-24 ROW edge in case of a tie.

The Islanders, who have lost seven of their last 10 games, slipped to three points below the playoff cutoff and six points behind the Flyers. Philly holds one game in hand and a 27-24 ROW edge.

Self-proclaimed trade deadline sellers New York Rangers lost 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. The Blueshirts are four points below the playoff cutoff, and seven points behind the Flyers. New York and Philly have both played 57 games. The Flyers hold a 27-24 ROW edge.

The Flyers will take a day off on Wednesday after playing four times in six nights with considerable travel in between the games. They will practice in Voorhees on Thursday. On Friday, the team is in Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets.


*****************************

ELLIOTT TO MISS 5-TO-6 WEEKS

The Flyers announced on Tuesday that number one goaltender Brian Elliott will miss the next five to six weeks after undergoing core muscle surgery earlier in the day. Ellliott, who had been dealing with a nagging injury and had recently come off a stint on injured reserve, got hurt again during a shootout in Arizona on Saturday.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall spoke with the media prior to warmups before Tuesday's game against the Devils at the Wells Fargo Center. A transcript follows.


Is that time table of 5 or 6 (weeks) time to come back to the lineup?

That’s to play.


So you would expect him to be playing by, hopefully, the end of next month?

That’s the expectation, yes.

Was that a re-aggravation for what he was out for around the all-star break?

It was related. Something that we knew would have to be done at some point, you can never determine of the foresight to see when, so we knew at some point would have to be corrected.

Was there a thought that maybe you could wait on it within these last three days? Maybe you could wait?

No, not since it happened in the game. We were kind of hoping that, but no such luck.

Given how he’s played this year for you guys, how does this injury affect this team?

Well, it’s certainly not what you want, one of your players and obviously an important player for us to this point gets hurt. What it does is give someone else an opportunity. We believe in Michal Neuvirth. We signed him because we believed in him. He showed at times that he’s a very good goalie. Hopefully, Neuvy can take the assignment and do a good job for us. Alex Lyon played very well lately in Leigh Valley and obviously at some point here he’s probably going to have to give us some minutes, so we believe in both guys and we will get through it.

So it doesn’t sound like you’re going to look outside for help over Michal and Alex?

Well, I can’t say I will go with the 23 guys on our roster right now. I don’t know what is going to come up. I’ll repeat what I always say. If we can make our team better at any position, you know we will look at it.

That said, Ron, does this change how you are approaching the deadline? If you had healthy goalies that will make a difference?

The deadline is almost two weeks away. I guess things can change between now and then. But we like our team, we like what we’ve done. In saying that, we’ve got to keep going here, we’ve got to keep pushing. Neuvy is very capable. Again, he’s played some real good games for us this year. Some other ones that haven’t been that great, too. But if he can get on a roll here and get some consistency and do a good job for us, we will be fine.

Do you need to see Alex play [more games in the NHL] before the deadline? Are you confident that you can do that?

You know what, there are types of things... I guess, in a perfect world, [I would] say yeah that would be a perfect world. But points are pretty important right now, we gotta fight for every one, so you know we will see how it plays out. We’ve seen enough of Alex at the minor league level, a couple pre-season games. He’s done a pretty good job. You know, up here, I think he’s been OK. He can play a little better than he’s played for us up here, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he will when he’s called upon.

We’ve talked to you about the deadline in the past, to improve your team you would probably look for the future before or after the goalie injury, if you were to bring in another goalie is the opposite kind of true? You could want somebody that doesn’t bring a lot of term?

That’s fair to say.

Does Michal’s injury history -- and it’s a lengthy one -- does that give you pause as far as you know committed to Michal and Alex here, for the duration of Elliott’s injury? Does that enter the equation?

Is it a part? I guess if you think about it, we always do. When we’re signing him, we’re thinking about it, but I think whenever you get down on two goalies and you’re down to one, I think you’re a little bit nervous no matter what. Obviously Alex has proved capable at the American League level. Here, he hasn’t proved it. Should get a chance. There’s a great example, Vegas. They get two guys down, three guys down and everyone is like oh Vegas is done, you know what, they’re not done. What are they, second in the league? So it can be done, with a fourth guy, so we’re pretty confident Neuvy is a guy that can carry out for the short-term future.

When you acquired Dustin Tokarski, you were getting a guy that has had a little NHL experience. Is Dustin a viable option if you need a guy to come up?

As you mention he has experience; he has playoff experience. Way back then we felt like we had to when we found out Stolie was going to be out long term. We wanted to add another layer of depth to our goaltending position and we did. Dustin’s been good up there, would I be comfortable letting him come down and play some games for us, yes.

I don’t have to tell you that core muscle injuries and surgeries are various in their recovery time, based on the person. What level of confidence do you have that 5-6 is realistic?

I have a high level of confidence. First of all, I believe in our training staff and believe in our doctors, and I believe in the player. The player probably most important, I know Brian Elliott, he’s a warrior. He’s going to do everything he can to get back as soon as possible. It won’t be the work or the pain threshold that keeps him out longer than he should be. If something comes up, something comes up. He’s going to be battling to get back.

With [Anthony Stolarz], what’s the recovery like with him?

Stolie is coming along. The problem with projecting his due date so to speak, is that it’s sort of going to be on a day to day ramp up, ramp up, ramp up. Let me say this, we’re hopeful that he will be healthy to play games in March. Again, don’t hold me to any date or anything because we don’t know. It’s sort of a progression thing, but we’re hoping he will play games in March.

Is that something where he would would start in the ECHL?

I can’t even comment right now, we will see where we’re at at the time.

You’ve had goalie injuries in the last couple years. Hakstol tends to play not the goalie that’s there 23 out of 25, 23 out of 26 games, that’s happened. Is he going to have to be more careful right now, do you think it’s far enough out in the season?

Did you say Hak or every coach that gets a hot guy and goes with him?

I said Hak.

Oh, okay I thought you said every coach. That’s pretty much how it works. When you look at the wear and tear on a player, especially a goalie, goalies get a lot of wear and tear at practice, so games are a high level, but 25 shots, 30 shots. They get a lot more of that in practice, so it’s more for me, whether a goalie is a mental fatigue, then there’s the physical fatigue in games because practices are much more demanding than games over the course of the year. Sometimes with a goalie, or even a player, sometimes you cut a guy’s practice short, he doesn’t come out early, he doesn’t stay out late, its more managing those types of things when you’re managing the work load. To me, its more the number of games for a goalie is more the mental thing. You gotta manage games, you gotta manage practices well.

Do you believe that some goalies have played one way or the other when they don’t have competition?

Everybody is different, but I know Neuvy, under high pressure has been really good. He won the Calder Cup and he carried them all. The [2016 Washington] series, now that’s years ago, but he’s shown in stints with us, prior that he can take the ball for a while and run.

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