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Wrap: Flyers Gut Out Vital 2-1 Win in Colorado |
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WRAP: FLYERS GUT OUT 2-1 WIN IN COLORADO
The Philadelphia Flyers took a very important step toward earning a playoff spot as they gutted out a 2-1 regulation win against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Wednesday night. It took two goaltenders to combine for 27 saves, 34 blocked shots, three penalty kills and a scary final few minutes of the third period but the Flyers hung on for a vital win.
Coming into the game, it was vital for the Flyers to play from ahead before they ran out of gas, and then to keep the shifts short. The Flyers were playing their third road game in four nights, across three time zones. It was the second half of a back-to-back, against a rested Avalanche team that has been very good on home ice this season. Add the altitude factor in Denver, and it figured to be a gut check game all the way around.
For two-plus periods, the Flyers followed the necessary script. They grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period and took it intermission. Flyers captain Claude Giroux led the way, along with 21-year-old defenseman Ivan Provorov.
Giroux carried the puck into the offensive zone and then fed the puck back to the point. The puck was worked D-to-D and then Shayne Gostisbehere (47th assist of the season) fed the puck over to Giroux in his favorite shooting spot from the left circle. Giroux hammered a one-timer upstairs over Colorado goalie Andrew Hammond for his 27th goal of the season and a 1-0 Flyers lead at 10:24. Provorov (22nd assist) got the secondary helper.
At 18:12, the Flyers took a 2-0 edge. Jordan Weal (13th assist) twisted and turned along the left boards and then fed out to Provorov at the left point. Just off the bench on a line change, Provorov stepped into a full-windup slap shot and blasted the puck through a Jakub Voracek screen low to the glove side and into the net for his 15th goal of season. The secondary assist went to Andrew MacDonald (14th).
Just back into the Flyers lineup for the first time since exiting with a lower-body injury (suspected to be a groin pull) the team's Feb. 18 game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Michal Neuvirth was very sharp in goal early. He authored several tough saves and tracked the puck well in making nine saves in the first period. First period shots were 11-9 in the Flyers' favor.
The Flyers spent much of the early second period on the penalty kill. First, the team had to kill off 1:32 of carryover time from a Sean Couturier hooking penalty late in the opening stanza. Then the team had to successfully navigate a Jori Lehterä tripping minor at the 3:13 mark.
Finally, at the 5:36 mark, the Avalanche narrowed their deficit to 2-1. It was something of a broken play around the net, but worked out well for Colorado in a scramble in front as Matt Nieto (14th goal of the season) stashed home a loose puck near the left side of the blue paint after an initially blocked attempt went over to him. Neuvirth had little to no chance of preventing this one. The assists went to Dominic Toninato (2nd) and Eric Johnson (16th).
Neuvirth made a great lateral save across the crease shortly thereafter to protect the one-goal lead. Nothing seemed unusual at the time. However, at a TV timeout at the 8:07 mark of the second period, Neuvirth left the game. He was replaced by Petr Mrazek.
The Flyers had a few chances to extend the lead in the middle frame. They were unable to capitalize on a Patrik Nemeth holding penalty near the middle stages of the period. Later, Oskar Lindblom appeared to have Nolan Patrick sat up in point blank range from the right slot with lots of net staring at him but the play was not finished off.
With time ticking down to the final few seconds of the period, the Avalanche gained the offensive zone. Radko Gudas took a hooking penalty with less than second left on the clock and the Avalanche went into the third period with a full two-minute power play and a fresh sheet of ice with which to work.
Second period shots were 13-7 in the Flyers favor (24-16 Philly through two periods).
The Flyers stepped up with a strong penalty kill to open the third period, including a couple of saves by Mrazek on Mikko Rantanen and Nail Yakupov. Otherwise, there were plenty of sticks and bodies taking away the lanes for Colorado, and the Avs had a hard time getting set up.
Shortly thereafter, Carl Söderberg was called for a defensive-zone interference penalty as Scott Laughton attempted to come in on a forecheck. The Flyers power play was unable to extend the lead.
For much of the third period, the Flyers kept their shifts very short and did a good job of getting pucks in deep. Despite obviously tiring legs, the Flyers held a shot advantage through the first half of the period.
However, with about four minutes left in the game the type of shift unfolded that Philly could least afford to have happen short of Colorado scoring or the Flyers taking a penalty. The Avalanche hemmed the Flyers in on a long shift in the defensive zone with multiple failed chances to clear the defensive zone and dead-tired players caught on the ice for an inordinately long period of time. MacDonald (2:10), Gostisbehere (1:36), Lehterä (1:31), Matt Read (1:31) and Konecny (2:33) were unable to get a line change. A Read icing momentarily relieved the pressure but forced the same players to stay on the ice until Lehterä won a defensive zone faceoff and the Flyers were able to get a partial change.
Provorov made a great one-on-one defensive play against the deadly Nathan MacKinnon on a rush up the right side. However, the Avalanche kept puck possession and began to pressure again.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar pulled Hammond for a 6-on-5 attack with 1:38 left in the game. Colorado attacked in waves as the Flyers tried to keep play to the perimeter and block shots until they could get a clear. Finally with 3.8 seconds left, the Flyers took an icing.
Gabriel Landeskog won a right circle faceoff against Giroux for a final shot opportunity by MacKinnon. Time expired. Third period shots were 12-9 in Colorado's favor (33-28 Flyers for the game).
Although he did not get credited with the win, because the Flyers were leading 2-1 at the time Neuvirth left the game and then held the lead the rest of the way, the relief goaltending of Mrazek was a big part of the win. His 17 saves on 17 shots earned him the Ric Flair robe from his teammates.
The Flyers' cause was also immeasurably helped by the season-high 34 shot attempts the Flyers' blocked, with a slew of them coming in the third period. MacDonald led the way with seven blocks. Provorov added five blocks and five credited hits to his two-point offensive night. Weal and Gostisbehere also had five blocks apiece while Gudas had four.
With neither Semyon Varlamov nor Jonathan Bernier available in goal for Colorado, Hammond did a solid-enough job to give his team a chance to come away on most nights with at least one point. It just wasn't to be for the Avalanche on this night. Hammond finished with 31 saves on 33 shots in a losing cause.
Valterri Filppula, who suffered an upper-body injury in Tuesday's game in Dallas, was unable to play in Denver. As a result, Lehterä shifted from left wing to center and Dale Weise (7:36 TOI across 13 shifts) got back into the lineup on the fourth line.
Wednesday's game was the Flyers' final inter-conference game of the 2017-18 season. Three of the Flyers' final four regular season games will be on home ice (19-13-6 record to date).
Standings Impact
Now 4-0-3 in their last seven games, Flyers victory gives the team 92 points and 37 ROW with four games left to play. The team will now have its final three-day schedule break of the regular season while awaiting a Sunday afternoon home game against a very tough opponent: the Boston Bruins.
The Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins were idle on Wednesday. As a result, the Flyers moved one point ahead of the Blue Jackets into third place in the Metro Division. The two teams are re-tied in ROW (37-37) in the event of a dead heat in points. The Blue Jackets, who now have one game in hand, will continue their western Canada road trip on Thursday with a game against the Calgary Flames. Oddly, Calgary has been a much better road team (20-14-6) than home side (15-18-4) this season. Of late, though, the Flames haven't been winning very many at all. The club has dropped six in a row in regulation and has lost seven of its last 10 overall.
The Flyers and the second-place Penguins are now tied with 92 points apiece. However, the Penguins hold a game in hand over the Flyers as well having already clinched the tiebreaker by virtue of a 41-37 ROW edge (mathematically, the Flyers could only tie it) and having taken eight points in the head-to-head season series to just two for the Flyers. Thus, for the Flyers to have home-ice advantage in the first round, they'd have to beat out Pittsburgh on points. The Penguins host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
From a Flyers' standpoint, a worst-case scenario for Thursday would be another three-point game between the Penguins and Devils (as happened last Friday in Newark). New Jersey has two games in hand on the Flyers and trails Philly by four points (and 37-35 ROW). Thus, these are the possible scenarios after the Devils play Pittsburgh:
1) If the Devils win in regulation, New Jersey would be back within two points and 37-36 ROW of the Flyers with one game still in hand (Saturday at home against the New York Islanders). However, the Flyers would still be tied in points with the Penguins with both teams having four games left to play. The Penguins' remaining games are as follows: vs. Montreal on Saturday, vs. Washington on Sunday, at Columbus on April 5, vs. Ottawa on April 6. After hosting Boston on Sunday, the Flyers are in Brooklyn next Tuesday to play the Islanders, host Carolina on Thursday and then host the Rangers on April 7.
2) If the Devils win in OT, New Jersey would be back within two points and 37-36 ROW of the Flyers while the Penguins would also move one point ahead of the Flyers again.
3) A Devils shootout win would also get New Jersey back within two points of the Flyers and put the Penguins ahead of Philly by one point. The only difference is that the Flyers would maintain a 37-35 ROW edge in the event of a points tie.
4) A Penguins regulation win would put the Penguins two points ahead of the Flyers again, with close to a stranglehold on first-round home ice as long as neither the Flyers nor Blue Jackets pass them in points. However, there would also be a benefit to the Flyers from this outcome. It would keep the Devils four points and two ROW behind the Flyers while also burning off one of New Jersey's games in hand. To pass the Flyers in the standings, it would take New Jersey producing five more points than the Flyers -- mathematically possible but not likely -- with New Jersey having five games left and Philly having four. The Devils remaining games after hosting Pittsburgh and Islanders will be in Montreal on Sunday, at home against the Rangers next Tuesday, at home against Toronto next Thursday and at Washington on April 7.
5) A Penguins OT or shootout win would have identical impact: either which way, the Penguins would move two ahead of the Flyers and the Devils would narrow the gap behind the Flyers to three points plus a two ROW tiebreaker disadvantage.
The Florida Panthers suffered a huge setback on Wednesday, sustaining a 4-3 regulation road loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Although the Panthers still hold three games in hand on the Flyers, Philly has a seven-point lead (and 37-36 ROW edge) over Florida. With seven games left to play, it is still mathematically possible for the Panthers to knock the Flyers out of the playoffs and grab a wildcard spot. However, the Panthers have a brutally tough remaining schedule.
Florida's remaining games are as follows: at Ottawa on Thursday, at Boston on Saturday afternoon (third game of a road three-in-four for the Panthers), vs. Carolina next Monday, vs. Nashville next Tuesday, vs. Boston next Thursday, at Buffalo on April 7, at Boston on April 8.
As long as the Flyers finish at least in third place in the Metro, Atlantic Division club Florida's final record becomes irrelevant to Philly even if the team were to somehow pass the Flyers in points. However, the Panthers' playoff push took a major puncture wound with Wednesday's loss, at least in terms of posing a threat to the Flyers.
Even if the Flyers drop back into a wildcard spot, the probable main competition at this point is to stay above New Jersey for the upper wildcard and play the Metro Division winner (likely Washington) in the first round rather than drawing the Atlantic Division winner (Tampa Bay or possibly Boston).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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