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Wrap: Flyers Top Canucks, 4-1, Sweep Road Trip |
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WRAP: FLYERS TOP CANUCKS, 4-1, SWEEP ROAD TRIP
For the first time during the 2017-18 season, the Philadelphia Flyers have won three straight games. On Thursday night, the Flyers earned a 4-1 road win over the Vancouver Canucks. Philly swept its 3-in-4 road trip through western Canada and split its season series with the Canucks.
Shayne Gostisbehere (power play, 4th goal of the season), Michael Raffl (5th), Claude Giroux (power play, 12th), and Wayne Simmonds (empty net, 10th). Jakub Voracek (two power play and one even-strength assist, 28th, 29th and 30th overall), Giroux (power play assist, 20th), Gostisbehere (power play assist, 18th) and Valtteri Filppula (8th) collected assists.
Brian Elliott stepped up big again, especially in a sloppy first period for the Flyers. He went on to stop 36 of 37 shots to earn the win. The victory was the 200th of his NHL career.
Raffl has scored in three straight games. He has four goals and six points in the last six games. All seven of Raffl's points this season have come over the team's last eight games.
Brock Boeser (14th goal of the season) tallied the lone Canucks' goal, assisted by Sven Baertschi (10th assist), Michael Del Zotto (9th). Jacob Markström stopped 23 of 26 shots in a losing cause. The Canucks were missing Bo Horvat from the lineup, and will be for as much as six weeks to come. The 22-year-old center was diagnosed with a foot fracture.
Philly went 2-for-6 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Henrik Sedin nearly scored in the opening 15 seconds of the game but the play was broken up at the last moment. After a turnover by Ivan Provorov in the neutral zone, Mikael Granlund twice missed the net from point blank range between the circles.
Jordan Weal lost the puck in the neutral zone and then took a slashing penalty on Alexander Burmistrov. Vancouver got the game's first power play at 2:34. Elliott came up with an early point shot through a heavy screen. Granlund, was denied wide open on the doorstep. Boeser was stopped from the left circle. The Flyers survived the penalty.
Shots were 6-0 in Vancouver's favor through five minutes. At 5:50, Elliott denied a backhanded jam-in try by Loui Eriksson near the left post. On the next shift, a turnover by Sean Couturier on a flubbed pass in the offensive zone created a counterattack for Vancouver. Elliott stopped a side-angle shot from Baertschi to keep the game scoreless with his ninth save.
At 7:16, Markström finally saw a shot. Going to the net, Michael Raffl received a feed off the rush from Jakub Voracek, and directed it on net. The goalie reacted fast for the save.
The turnover by Travis Konecny, trying to do a little too much in an attempted offensive zone entry off a lead pass by Nolan Patrick, came back the other way. A scramble ensued neared the Flyers' net.
Couturier was hooked down to the ice below the right circle by Alexander Edler. The Flyers went on their first power play at 10:35. Wayne Simmonds and Couturier had cracks at a Shayne Gostisbehere rebound early in the advantage. Couturier deflected a puck wide. Gostisbehere fired a right-circle one-timer far wide of the right post. The second unit generated three separate rebound scrambles -- the first two off Provorov point shots, the last one off a Patrick wrister from the left circle as the power play expired -- but could not find the net. The barrage brought shots for the period to 9-9.
The Flyers went right back to the power play at 13:56. Couturier was high sticked in the defensive zone by Daniel Sedin. This time the Flyers cashed in quickly. Philly scored on a deflection off the stick of Sam Gagner (and possibly a double-deflection that also went off Edler) of a Gostisbehere center point shot. Voracek and Giroux got the assists the Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 14:08.
On the next shift, Filppula took a pass from Raffl out of the corner and had a bang-bang chance from near the blue paint. Markström made the save.
With 4:39 left in the first period, Scott Laughton missed a neutral zone check and his head went into the leg or knee of an official. He was very woozy and had trouble getting up after the play. Trainer Jim McCrossin helped Laughton off the ice.
The Canucks came out with a very heavy assault in close as play resumed. Hägg came up with a vital shot block in close by Brendan Gaunce.
Travis Sanheim gave a puck away as he fumbled it in the neutral zone. The line of the Sedin twins and Eriksson flurried in the Flyers' zone with a three-shot barrage.
Philly got its third power play at 17:59 on an Edler glancing high stick on Simmonds below the Vancouver goal line. The second unit started the advantage and could not get set up at all in 45 seconds. The first unit came out. The only semi-decent chance was a Couturier opportunity from the hash marks off a Giroux pass, but the puck was fired high and wide of the net.
First period shots were 15-12 in Vancouvers' favor. Laughton was back on the Flyers' bench to start the second period.
The Flyers took a 2-0 lead at the 45 second mark of the middle stanza. On a broken play, Voracek regained the puck and backhanded it toward the net over the middle. Raffl got a stick on it and the puck slowly re-directed into the net.
The Sedin line pressed another attack against the pairing of Sanheim and Mark Alt but the Flyers kept everything to the outside. Shots were 3-2 Canucks through 5:45. With 13:15 left, Raffl shot the puck from the right circle on a slow developing 2-on-1 rush with Voracek. Markström made the save.
On the next shift, Alt broke up a play in the neutral zone. Sanheim's center point shot off a Simmonds feed gave Markström some trouble. At the other end of the ice, Sanheim broke up Jake Virtanen. The net came off its moorings.
Philly got its fourth power play at 8:41 as Baertschi was called for interference. Simmonds took a cross-check from Chris Tanev. With 50 seconds left in the power play, Giroux hammered a one-timer from the left circle off a Gostisbehere feather pass for a 3-0 lead. The assists went to Gostisbehere and Voracek at 9:52.
The Canucks got their second power play at 10:06 as Taylor Leier was called for slashing in the defensive zone. The Canucks had trouble getting set up early. Hägg boxed out a man to give Elliott a chance to see a point shot. No rebound was allowed.
Vancouver was flagged for too many men on the ice and the Flyers got their fifth power play at 14:22. The second unit started and generated moderate pressure. After the power play ended, back-to-back scoring chances for Vancouver's Gagner (right circle) and Boeser (center slot) were fired wide of the net with open shooting lanes.
Couturier, who had multiple good looks at the net up to that point but was having trouble putting shot attempts on net, missed the net again on a chance from the high slot.
In the final half-minute, Michael Del Zotto had a pair of good chances. Finally, the Canucks got the puck back to the net and Boeser finished in close for his 14th goal of the season with 19.4 seconds left. The Flyers challenged the goal, as Baertschi's stick was hooked on Elliott's right arm. Although Philly lost a goal against Boston for lesser contact by Wayne Simmonds, this one stood. Baertsci and Del Zotto received assists as the Canucks cut the gap to 3-1.
Second period shots ended up 13-5 in Vancouver's favor (28-17 overall for the Canucks).
Couturier found room over the middle and snapped a tough shot on net on the first shift of the third period. At the other end of the ice, Henrik Sedin kicked a puck at the net. It stayed out but would not have counted had it gone in. However, there was a jam-in attempt of the puck near the left post and that one would have counted.
Weal had a great scoring chance as Gagner collided with a teammate and space opened up in the Vancouver zone.
At the other end, Patrick blocked shot attempts by Boeser and Nikolay Goldin to save the team a heap of trouble. When play moved back to the Canucks' zone, Sanheim fired a shot that nearly handcuffed Markström. With 15:15 left, Elliott came up with a save on Gaunce for a stoppage of play.
With 11:05 left, Raffl won a battle on the right boards and got the puck to Voracek in the circle. Markström made the save. Two shifts later, Simmonds forced a neutral zone turnover and Giroux went in 2-on-1 with Couturier. Giroux's attempted pass across was telegraphed and broken up.
The Flyers nearly made it 4-1 but got their 6th power play as Voracek turnstiled Edler at the blueline and drew a slashing penalty as he moved in and set up a scoring chance for Filppula with 6:40 remaining. With 19 seconds left, Provorov blocked a shot out of play as the Canucks attacked on a counter attempt.
A nice little tip-pass by Raffl off the defensive wall created a 2-on-1 chance for Voracek and Filppula and some heavy subsequent pressure by Philadelphia. Markström came up with a Hägg shot.
The Canucks pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with just over two minutes left on the clock. Baertschi narrowly missed a tip-in with Elliott moving the other way. With 1:02 left, after Raffl pressured the puck and Filppula forced a turnover, Simmonds moved in for his second empty netter of the road trip. Filppula earned the lone assist.
The Flyers will fly back to Philadelphia on Saturday. They return to practice on Sunday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, beginning preparations to host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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