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Wrapup: Flyers Settle for a Point in 4-3 OT Loss in Arizona, LV Wins |
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Wrapup: Flyers Settle for a Point in 4-3 OT Loss in Arizona
The Philadelphia Flyers overcame sloppy early play and a 3-1 deficit to earn a road point against the the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night in Glendale but ultimately went down to a 4-3 defeat on a delayed penalty overtime goal by Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
The Flyers received goals from Michael Raffl, Wayne Simmonds and Matt Read. Steve Mason stopped 31 of 35 shots in a losing causing. Shane Doan scored a disputed power play goal for Arizona, who also got goals from Martin Hanzal and Brad Richardson (shorthanded) in regulation. Mike Smith stopped 27 of 30 shots.
Philadelphia got off to a terrible start, quickly taking a pair of too many men on the ice penalties; the second of which was a rather chintzy call, but which was even out late in the third period when Philly blatantly got away with six skaters on the ice for several seconds with no one near the bench. Upon taking a third early penalty (a Nick Cousins high stick on Hanzal), the Flyers paid the price.
Christian Dvorak won a right circle faceoff and went to the net, brushing into Mason in the crease a split second before Doan scored from the other side of the crease. Under NHL Rule 69, the goal should have been disallowed, because 1) incidental contact inside the crease initiated by an attacking player is instructed to be ruled as no-goal, 2) even if a player is pushed or forced into the crease -- Dvorak was bumped by Ivan Provorov -- the Rule Book instructs that the attacking team player still must make a reasonable effort to avoid contact with the goaltender and, in any event, to vacate the crease as soon as possible. This was not a case where Dvorak was drilled into the goaltender by a defender. The contact was avoidable.
Dave Hakstol, who was irate at the second too-many-men penalty, challenged the good goal ruling on the basis of goaltender interference but the on-ice officiating crew -- who had a rough game all night -- upheld the goal. It was frustrating from a Flyers standpoint but the bigger issue was all the early penalties and getting outworked around the net.
The Flyers got the goal back at 12:31 of the first period. Raffl deflected home a Nick Schultz shot past Smith. Philadelphia believed it took a 2-1 lead just 1:29 after the Raffl goal but out-of-position referee TJ Luxmore did not see, from behind the goal line, a Boyd Gordon shot deflected off Smith and was brought back over the goal line. Unfortunately, because the puck itself was never visible on the video replay, Luxmore's delayed no-goal ruling was upheld due to inconclusive replays.
Very shortly after play resumed, at 14:17, the Flyers paid for multiple breakdowns. Schultz got caught up ice, rookie Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun had a huge swatch of open ice to jump into the rush, and the Philadelphia backcheck was lackluster. Finally, an unmarked Hanzal forced the puck over the goal line after Mason made an initial save on Chychryn but left the puck uncovered near his pad.
The Flyers, who are thus far scoreless on the power play (apart from a correctly disallowed goal in the opener in LA), opened the second period on the man advantage. A bad pass by Shayne Gostisbehere in the neutral zone turned into a Richardson breakaway, and Richardson went it to beat Mason to the blocker side at the 17-second mark.
Thereafter, Philadelphia settled in and went on to get the better of the play for the majority of the game, especially at even strength. However, they first had to dig out of the 3-1 hole.
Simmonds got a goal back at 6:16 as he grabbed a Claude Giroux rebound in the slot and ripped it past Smith to cut the gap to 3-2. Smith made numerous excellent saves to preserve the lead until, at 4:36 of the third period, Read took a pass in stride from Travis Konecny, turnstiled a flat-footed Chychrun and beat Smith for his first goal of the season.
Read, who had several good scoring opportunities in LA on Friday and prior to his goal in this game, has quietly been one of Philly's most active forwards in the first two games of the season. He would later have a prime opportunity in overtime spectacularly denied by Smith.
The Coyotes had a scare when highly touted rookie defenseman Chychrun slid awkwardly into the end boards, jamming his foot into the bottom of the boards after being bumped by Dale Weise. The cause was a very late whistle on an icing. Rather than blowing the whistle at the dot, the whistle was not blown until the jostling players were near the icing line. Fortunately, after being helped off the ice and then hobbling under his own power up the tunnel, Chychrun returned to the game.
The Flyers dominated most of overtime, keeping the Coyotes pinned deep in their own end, unable to gain possession. However, when play finally swung the other way, the Flyers forwards were out out of gas. On a delayed penalty, Hanzal worked a back-door pass to a wide open Ekman-Larsson at point blank range, and the Swedish defenseman made no mistake.
A frustrated Voracek was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and then given a 10-minute misconduct followed by a game misconduct penalty as he went ballistic following Ekman-Larsson's game-winning goal. Voracek contended that his stick had been grabbed away by Hanzal earlier in the sequence.
The Flyers are back in action on Tuesday, finishing their season-opening three-game road trip in Chicago.
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Phantoms Double Springfield, 4-2
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms earned a 4-2 opening night victory against the Springfield Thunderbirds at the PPL Center on Saturday night. Danick Martel led the way with shorhanded and even strength goals. Mark Zengerle and TJ Brennan (power play) also scored for the Phantoms, while Travis Sanheim, Samuel Morin and Radel Fazleev all earned an assist apiece and Brennan had a two-point game.
Anthony Stolarz earned the win in goal for the Phantoms, turning back 31 of 33 shots.
The Phantoms return to action on Friday, hosting the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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