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Wrapup: Flyers Surge Past Avs, 4-2 |
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WRAPUP: FLYERS SURGE PAST AVS, 4-2
Overcoming fatigued legs early in the game, the Philadelphia Flyers battled back to erase a pair of one-goal deficits to surge past the Colorado Avalanche with two goals within a minute in the third period and then added an empty net goal to seal the victory.
The Avalanche dominated the first 24 minutes of the game. Colorado's first goal seemed to wake up the Flyers, however. Philadelphia was significantly the better team over the final 36 minutes.
Philadelphia got goals by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Radko Gudas, Claude Giroux (game-winner) and Ryan White (empty net). Shayne Gostisbehere, Andrew MacDonald, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Bellemare and Gudas chipped in assists.
Steve Mason was once again brilliant in goal, stopped 32 of 34 shots. He single-handedly kept the Flyers in the game early. Semyon Varlamov was also excellent stopping 41 of 44 shots.
Playing without injured leading scorers Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado got goals from Nick Holden and John Mitchell. Mikhail Grigorenko, Mikkel Boedker, Andreas Martinsen and Francois Beauchemin earned an assist apiece.
Mason got up gingerly after making a right pad save late in the third period. He gutted it through the rest of the game, including a left pad save. He seemed OK after the game, telling reporters that he didn't want a day off and felt fine in terms of energy.
Special teams were a non-factor. The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
Early in the game, it was all Avs. Colorado had played just twice over the previous seven nights while the Flyers were playing for the fourth time in six nights. The Flyers got outskated during most of the opening stanza.
Mark Streit snapped an unscreened center point shot on net in the opening 11 seconds of of play. Shots were 3-1 Colorado through the opening five minutes before Varlamov had to make tough save on a right circle shot on a pinching Shayne Gostisbehere.
John Mitchell went to the penalty box for hooking at 5:51 to give the Flyers the game's first power play. Mason had to deny a pair of chances on a shorthanded 3-on-2 led by Erik Johnson and Gabriel Landeskog before Shawn Matthias hit the crossbar.
At 10:05, Jakub Voracek carried the puck up ice from his own zone and tried to fool Varlamov with a quick snap shot from high in the offensive zone. Varlamov snared it with his glove. Mason hung on to a Mikko Rantanen wrist shot from the high slot at 11:07. Shots were 6-6 at this point.
With 8:03 left, Landeskog barreled into Mason in a puck battle near the crease. The puck went into the net but the play was immediately whistled dead. There was not penalty called. The referee believed Landeskog had been pushed, although that was not the case.
The Flyers were guilty of a couple of unforced turnovers as time moved down to about about 5:30 left in the period. There were some anxious moments around the net but the Flyers came up with a couple of shot blocks, two on net and a long rebound that bounced to safety.
With 3:15 left, Brayden Schenn took a careless icing. The Avs won the ensuing draw and Mason had to be sharp to deny a shot deflected on net by Mikkel Boedker. Colorado pushed the play down low after control With 2:50 left, the Flyers finally got their seventh shot as Nick Cousins got a right circle shot on net off the rush.
With 2:23 left, Voracek took an offensive zone holding-the-stick penalty. Colorado's first power play unit had extensive offensive zone time -- including a lengthy stretch during which penalty killer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare played without a stick -- but a clutch shot block by Chris VandeVelde and a late clear enabled the Flyers to survive.
Shots in the first period were 15-7 in Colorado's favor.
Mason denied a late-developing rush at 1:01 of the second period with a save on Johnson. At 2:56, Mason made a point blank save on Cody McLeod and then hung on to his follow-up attempt.
Colorado took at 1-0 lead at 3:05 on a short side goal. Grigorenko put a side-angle spin-o-rama at the net after a carom off the wall and it went off Holden's skate into the net (5th goal). Grigorenko and Boedker got the assists.
The Avs went right back to the attack right after the goal. At the four-minute mark,shots were 5-1 Colorado. Philly then finally got going and was the better team the rest of the period.
Simmonds had a great scoring chance on a rebound chance in front but missed the net. Moments later, Gostisbehere hit the post from the right circle. With 10:30 left, Simmonds had another great chance, this time off the rush, but was not able to find the net.
With 8:55 left, Raffl and Simmonds had a 2-on-1 rush. Raffl elected to shoot but Varlamov easily blockered it aside.
The Flyers tied the game at 12: 36. Gostisbehere hammered a right point shot that Bellemare (sixth goal) deflected home. Andrew MacDonald got the secodary assist.
With 5:26 left, Francois Beauchemin tripped up Simmonds behind the Colorado net. The Flyers went to their second power play. The Flyers generated three shots. The second unit had a good late chance as Ryan White got to a rebound but tucked it wide.
A significant scrum involving all the players on the ice -- but no fights -- broke out after the buzzer at the end of the second period. Couturier and Comeau got offsetting roughing minors to set up four-on-four play to start the third period.
Shots were 19-10 Flyers; 26-25 Flyers through two periods.
With 16 seconds of four-on-four time left, Gudas snapped off a right point shot just before Cousins could get in front of Varlamov for a screen or deflection. A Matthias backhander in close went off the side of the net. At the other end of the ice, the Cousins line asserted itself and Varlamov had to be sharp to stop a Read deflection.
Schenn hit the crossbar from the top of the left circle with 15:04 left, and the Giroux line went on to have a dominant shift.
Colorado took a 2-1 lead at 6:13. Mitchell went to the net, where Gostisbehere failed to cancel out his stick. He took a feed from Andreas Martinsen and, from the goal mouth, scored a go-ahead goal. Beauchemin got the secondary assist.
Varlamov made spectacular back-to-back saves with a loose puck in front, denying Brandon Manning and Sam Gagner at 8:54. On the next shift, Schultz seemed to have an open chance mid-slot off a Couturier feed but it got blocked in front.
With 7:47 left, the Avalanche benefited from a suspect icing call. Raffl seemed to have beaten Tyson Barrie in a race to the dot.
The Flyers got the game tied at 2-2 at the 14:17 mark. Gudas fired a snap shot from center point through a Voracek screen and the puck bulleted into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season; all in March. Couturier and Voracek got the assists.
Right off the ensuing center ice faceoff, Jarome Iginla gained the Philadelphia blueline and snapped off a quick shot. Mason held on.
The Flyers top line gained the offensive off the line rush. Simmonds put a shot on net off a Schenn backhanded pass. Varlamov came way out and made the stop but left out a big rebound. Giroux knocked down the bouncing puck to his stick, went to an open area and scored from the right side into the open portion of the net. Giroux's 21st goal of the year, scored at 14:36, was assisted by Simmonds and Schenn.
Mason got up awkwardly after a right pad save with about three minutes left. He played the rest of the game in seeming discomfort, but was still able to hang in until the final buzzer.
With Varlamov pulled for an extra attacker, the Avs pressed very heavily. Finally, the Flyers worked the puck out. Whilte was tripped up as he broke in on an empty net. A goal was awarded. White's 11th of the season (empty net) was assisted by Bellemare and Gudas.
Shots in the third period were 18-9 Flyers; 44-34 Flyers for the game.
The Flyers will conclude their road trip on Saturday night in Glendale against the Arizona Coyotes. With the Detroit Red Wings barely hanging on the beat the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, the teams stayed put in the standings. The Flyers also closed within two points of the higher wildcard seed New York Islanders (who hold a game in hand). They are within one point of the Boston Bruins (currently in third place in the Northeast Division, but in danger of falling to wildcard position) and with three points of the Pittsburgh Penguins for third in the Metro.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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