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Wrap: Flyers Hang on in Vancouver, 3-2; Alumni in Red Square |
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WRAPUP: FLYERS HANG ON IN VANCOUVER, 3-2
It wasn't exactly emphatic, but the Philadelphia Flyers earned two desperately needed points on Sunday night as they built a 3-0 lead against the Vancouver Canucks in the second period and then held on to win, 3-2.
Wayne Simmonds (power play), Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn (power play) scored for the Flyers. Shayne Gostisbehere, who later had a defensive zone miscalculation on the second Vancouver goal, assisted on all Philadelphia tallies. Michal Neuvirth stopped 18 of 20 shots, with a few critical saves along the way. He had no chance on the first Vancouver goal and little chance of stopping the second.
Mikael Granlund and Jannik Hansen tallied for the Canucks. Ryan Miller stopped 25 of 28 Philadelphia shots in a losing cause.
Simmonds got the Flyers going quickly. After the team was unable to capitalize on its first power play of the game, Simmonds jammed a Gostisbehere rebound past Miller for a 1-0 lead at 5:45. Philadelphia had a two-defenseman look at the point, with Ivan Provorov (who had the secondary assist) at left point and Gostisbehere on the right.
Shots in the first period were 9-8 in the Flyers' favor.
In the middle stanza, Sean Couturier took a long lead pass from Gostisbehere and carried into the offensive zone up the left side. Seeing an uncovered Voracek joining him, Couturier shot right at Miller's pads, hoping for a rebound. He got it and the puck went right to Voracek for a slam dunk at 1:11.
With the Flyers back on the power play, Schenn extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:38. Received the puck from Gostisbehere high over the middle, Schenn fired through a Simmonds screen (and possible unspotted deflection) past Miller.
The Canucks generated only six shots in the second period but two of them ended up in the net. Granlund's wicked deflection of a Daniel Sedin offering cut the deficit to 3-1 at 3:43. Henrik Sedin received the secondary assist.
The gap narrowed to 3-2 at 12:42. On a rush starting from behind the Vancouver net, the Canucks generated speed up the ice. Nothing looking dangerous on a 3-on-3 rush until Gostisbehere slid to prevent a pass from going across. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tied up the first man but the Flyers now had Bellemare, a way out of the play Gostisbehere and Roman Lyubimov all bunched up either behind the net or net to it. The puck went to an open Hansen, who buried his sixth goal of the season. Bo Horvat and Ben Hutton got the assists.
Philadelphia, which had a 4-for-4 night on the penalty kill, did not take any third period penalties and contained the Canucks to six shots (to eight of their own). Neuvirth took care of the rest when he was tested.
With the Bruins, Islanders and Maple Leafs all winning on Sunday, the Flyers gained no ground in their now-uphill chase of the final Eastern Conference wildcard spot. Instead, they held serve to avoid falling further behind.
The Flyers return home on Wednesday to take on the Washington Capitals in an 8 p.m. nationally televised game at the Wells Fargo Center.
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FLYERS ALUMNI IN RED SQUARE
At 1 p.m. Moscow time (eight hours ahead of eastern U.S. time), the Flyers Alumni team will take on a Russian Legends team on the massive outdoor rink in Red Square. Yesterday, the Alumni paid a visit to a kids' hockey clinic conducted by Alexei Yashin on the same rink.
Yashin, who played for the SKA Alumni team in Saturday's match in St. Petersburg, will be playing again today except on the Flyers side as a guest player. Guest players Bobby Carpenter, Andrei Nikolishin, Alexander Semak and CSKA legend Sergey Gimayev have been along for the entire tour, among others. Andrei Kovalenko was with us in St. Petersburg and will also play in Red Square. Danny Markov will be here today.
Tomorrow, we depart back for the United States.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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