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Wrap: Flyers Get One Point in 4-3 SO Loss in Anaheim, WJC Medal Round |
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WRAPUP: FLYERS SETTLE FOR ONE POINT IN 4-3 SHOOTOUT LOSS IN ANAHEIM
Wrapping a disappointing four-game road trip bookending the National Hockey League's holiday break, the Philadelphia Flyers settled for one point in a wild, and extremely entertaining, 4-3 shootout loss to the host Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night.
Strange things happened right from the outset. Wayne Simmonds, looking to spark his struggling team, dropped the gloves with Anaheim's Kevin Bieksa at 1:35 of the opening period. Although Simmonds' sweater was tied down, he lost both his jersey and his undershirt in the fight. In fact, the tie-down strap itself was the only part of the upper portion of his uniform that remained on his body.
The Flyers, who battled back from deficits of 1-0 and 3-1, outshot the Ducks by 55-25 margin overall including a whopping 24-5 margin in the second period. Anaheim goaltender John Gibson had a wildly uneven game, and was even briefly pulled in the second period (for 3:48) in favor of Jonathan Bernier. Gibson's rebound control was atrocious and sometimes costly but he fought for every save and his quick lateral movement stole several would-be goals from Philadelphia when he seemed to be caught out of position.
Gibson stopped 51 of 54 shots in regulation and overtime before going 4-for-5 in the shootout. All of the Anaheim offensive output during the hockey game was provided by veteran forward Ryan Kesler, who notched a hat trick on his 13th, 14th and 15th goals of the season.
At the other end of the ice, Steve Mason also had a strange night in stopping 22 of 25 shots in regulation and overtime before going 3-for-5 in the skills competition.
Mason benefited from a pair of Anaheim shots off the goal post. He had no chance of stopping either of Kesler's two goals in the first period, which were the direct result of coverage breakdowns by the defense that ended up with Kesler wide open in point blank range for tap-in and close-range rebound goals. Kesler's third goal, scored at 1:09 of the second period, was a leaky one, however. Mason, who was moving to his left, was beaten by a changeup through through the five hole from the top of the circle. He was not screened by defender Michael Del Zotto on the play.
Thereafter, although Mason did not have to make a lot of saves in terms of quantity, he had to stop at least a half dozen high-difficulty chances, including odd-man rushes, a shorthanded bid and an overtime breakaway and 2-on-1. By the end of the night, he'd redeemed himself for the iffy one that got past him and gave the Flyers every opportunity to win.
Travis Konecny, one game after sitting out as a healthy scratch, followed up his own shot off a Wayne Simmonds feed to knot the score at 1-1 shortly after the first Kessel goal. The goal, Konecny's fifth of the season, ended a 22-game goal drought for the 19-year-old rookie.
In the second period, Sean Couturier cashed in a gifted opportunity to cut a 3-1 deficit to one goal. Brayden Schenn then knotted the score by potting a power play rebound. Gibson, who appeared to argue on the bench with Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle after being briefly removed from the game, was not beaten again for the rest of the net.
The Flyers lived to ultimately rue their failure to cash in on a four-minute power play opportunity in the third period (on a careless Logan Shaw high stick that cut Del Zotto). Philly finished 1-for-5 on the power play but were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill against the Ducks' power play, which entered the game ranked second in the NHL. The Flyers also won a respectable 48 percent of their faceoffs (led by Couturier's 11-for-17 game) against the top faceoff team in the NHL. The Ducks entered the night having won 56 percent of faceoffs.
In the shootout, Rickard Rakell led off for Anaheim with a nearly unstoppable top-shelf goal. Gibson denied former Team USA World Junior Championships teammate Shayne Gostisbehere in the bottom of the first round.
In the top end of round two, Mason stoned Ondrej Kase's five-hole attempt. Giroux, who had a subpar game overall by his standards (the trio of Kesler, Andrew Cogliano and Jakob Silfverberg had the Giroux line on the defensive for much of the game), was unable to finish his attempt in the bottom of the second round.
In round three, Mason denied Cam Fowler. Jakub Voracek then prolonged the shootout with a move to the backhand and a flip under the crossbar.
Silfverberg shot wide of the net in round four. With a chance to win the shootout, Simmonds had Gibson beaten. Simmonds said afterwards that the puck hopped on him. As a result, Simmonds was not quite able to elevate the puck over Gibson's desperately outstretched pad.
In round four, Corey Perry skated straight in and beat Mason over the blocker. The shootout ended when Couturier's backhand attempt near the right post was stuffed by Gibson.
The Flyers' 55 shots in regulation and overtime tied a franchise record for shots in a road game , accomplished twice before: March 1, 2007 at BOS (a 4-3 overtime win) and Feb. 21, 2012 at WPG (a 5-4 comeback win in overtime). Setting dubious history it was the most shots, the Flyers have ever had in a road loss. The 2/21/12 game at WPG was the last time the Flyers had 55 shots in any game; road or home.
The Flyers are idle on Monday and Tuesday nights. On Wednesday, the New York Rangers come to the Wells Fargo Center for a nationally televised clash between arch-rival clubs.
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WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: QUARTERFINALS PREVIEW
The single-elimination medal round of the 2016-17 World Junior Championships gets underway on Monday in Montreal. The four quarterfinal matches are as follows:
Russia vs Denmark (1 p.m. ET): Flyers prospects Mikhail Vorobyov and German Rubtsov will both be in the Russian lineup. Vorobyov racked up six assists in four preliminary round games while skating on the top line. The 18-year-old Rubtsov, playing wing and assigned to a mostly defensive role with limited ice time, has not recorded a point.
Sweden vs. Slovakia (3:30 p.m. ET): Goalie Felix Sandström (3-0-0, 1.33 GAA, .939 SV% in the preliminary round) will be in goal for the Swedes and defenseman David Bernhardt (3 assists, plus-eight) will be in the starting lineup. For Slovakia, Flyers prospect goaltender Matej Tomek (0-2-0, 3.50 GAA, .913 SV%) outplayed teammate Adam Huska (1-1-0, 3.50 GAA, .897 SV%) in the preliminary round.
USA vs. Switzerland (5:30 p.m. ET): Tanner Laczynski, playing a bottom-six role for the Americans, notched one goal (against Tomek and the Slovaks) and one assist in the preliminary round.
Canada vs. Czech Republic (8:00 p.m. ET): Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers is out for Monday's game and doubtful for the rest of the medal round as the result of a concussion suffered on a high hit by Team USA's Luke Kunin in the second period of Saturday's preliminary round game (won 3-1 by USA). Goaltender Carter Hart, apart from one iffy goal on a low-shot night in Canada's opener, otherwise played reasonably well in going 2-0-0 in the preliminaries (2.50 GAA, .881 save percentage). Hart stopped all 10 shots he faced as Canada got outshot by Latvia in the first period of their preliminary round game before later giving up to two goals in a 10-2 blowout win. For Team Czech Republic, Flyers prospect David Kase was Player of the Game in his team's opener and, subsequently, scored a goal and an assist late in a 5-2 loss to Sweden on Saturday.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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