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Wrapup: Point Taken, Point Lost in 3-2 Shootout Loss in Columbus |
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WRAPUP: POINT TAKEN, POINT LOST BY FLYERS IN 3-2 SO LOSS IN COLUMBUS
Trailing 2-0 in the third period, a resilient Philadelphia Flyers team rallied for two goals to force overtime before losing by a 3-2 final in a six-round shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Saturday. With one game remaining before a five-night break over Christmas week, the Flyers have taken at least one point in 13 of their last 17 games (9-4-4). The club is is 7-2-2 over the past 11 games.
Outstanding goaltending carried the day at both ends of the ice.
Steve Mason singlehandedly kept the Flyers in the game during a first period in which the club was significantly outplayed, and continued to make vital saves on tough opportunities throughout the night en route to stopping 35 of 37 shots during the hockey game. In the postgame skills competition, Mason provided his team two straight opportunities to claim a second point if they had scored in the bottom of the fourth or fifth rounds. The goalkeeper finished with four shootout saves on six attempts.
Winning goaltender Joonas Korpisalo was not nearly as busy as Mason early in the game but was frequently tested as the game moved along. Playing in the absence of the injured Sergei Bobrovsky, the rookie netminder stopped 30 of 32 shots -- including a 10-bell save when the Flyers had a golden opportunity to go ahead late in the third period -- and then went 5-for-6 in the shootout.
Brandon Saad scored a first-period goal from near the crease simultaneous to the expiration of a Columbus power play. Ryan Murray made it 2-0 late in the second period with a power play goal scored from the high slot through a very heavy screen by ex-Flyer Scott Hartnell.
Both Flyers goals during their third-period comeback were unstoppable shots for any goaltender.
Scott Laughton skated to open ice in the right circle and roofed a perfectly placed water bottle flipper just under the crossbar. The game-tying goal was scored by Jakub Voracek on a perfectly placed shot from the left wing.
The goalies took over again after Philadelphia drew even. Mason was forced to deny Matt Calvert on a breakaway to keep the game knotted at 2-2. Voracek was robbed by Korpisalo from point blank range near the right post with a chance to potentially win the game for the Flyers.
Through 65 minutes, Columbus held a 37-32 shot advantage (16-9, 10-10, 8-12, 3-1) largely due to a huge differential in blocked shots. Final shot attempts were 67-59 in the Flyers' favor but Columbus players blocked 22 Philadelphia shot attempts while the Flyers mustered only nine blocks of Blue Jackets shot attempts. Both teams missed the net 13 times apiece.
When John Tortorella coached the New York Rangers, the Flyers often struggled to get shots through on his team and, two coaching stops later, little has changed. Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas alone had a half-dozen shot attempts blocked. Calvert led the Blue Jackets with four blocks, and 11 of the Blue Jackets' 18 skaters blocked at least one Flyers' shot attempt.
In the shootout, Cam Atkinson scored in the top of the first round for Columbus and the Flyers Wayne Simmonds prolonged it with a lucky conversion in the bottom of the third round. In between those goals, Claude Giroux (first round) and Voracek (second round) were unable to score for Philly, while Mason denied Ryan Johansen and Alexander Wennberg in rounds two and three.
The Flyers had two separate chances to win the shootout in the fourth and fifth rounds after Mason denied Nick Foligno and Saad, but neither Laughton nor Matt Read could solve Korpisalo. Brandon Dubinsky scored in the top of the sixth round, putting the Flyers in their second must-score situation. Columbus won when Brayden Schenn failed to convert his attempt.
For the Flyers, it was particularly galling for Dubinsky to be the player that got credited with the winning goal. Dubinsky is a player who has frequently raised Philadelphia players' ire ever since his days with the New York Rangers, and elevated the enmity even higher on Saturday.
With 1:14 remaining in the first period, Dubinsky led with his knee to deliver a dangerous hit on Voracek; a play reminiscent of the way oft-suspended former NHLer Bryan Marchment used to take out opponents. Simmonds reacted immediately, making a beeline to fight Dubinsky. Although the resulting minor penalties for kneeing and instigation offset, the Flyers lost Simmonds for 10 additional minutes due to the automatic misconduct penalty that accompanies an instigation call. Voracek was OK after the hit.
The Blue Jackets held a 1-0 lead at the time of the Dubinsky kneeing incident. Simultaneous with the expiration of a Laughton hooking penalty, Saad scored at the 14:01 mark on the Blue Jackets' 13th shot of the first period.
On the play, a fronting Gudas was unable to block a Dubinsky pass from the right circle from getting to Saad. Stationed a short stride outside the blue paint near the inside of the right post, Saad had time and space to pull the puck to his forehand, getting inside stick position before the righhanded Gudas could recover. Saad found the net from close range. The goal was officially recorded as an even strength tally.
The Flyers, who officially went 5-for-6 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play had the game's first two power plays but could not put any of three shots on goal past Korpisalo.
Late in the second period, the Flyers were having a strong PK -- largely spent in the offensive zone -- until Columbus struck to extend its lead to 2-0 on a high-sticking double minor incurred by R.J. Umberger when he carelessly cut David Clarkson at the 15:13 mark. The Flyers killed off the first half of the penalty in excellent shape but couldn't get through the rest unscathed.
Michael Del Zotto had his pocket picked by Foligno behind the Flyers' net and Murray found open space to pinch down to the high slot to take a pass from Foligno. Meanwhile, Hartnell took advantage of being fronted by Luke Schenn to legally set up shop just outside the crease and completely obscure Mason's vision. Schenn was unable to block the Murray shot and created another screening layer in front of the goalie, who had the seat of Hartnell's pants right in his face. The Murray shot sailed into the back of the net at 18:09.
Early in the third period, Laughton used a good burst of speed to carry the mail up the ice and snap off a good shot attempt on Korpisalo. The center, who skated a team-low 8:15 of ice time, made an even better play on his next shift and got rewarded for it.
At the 5:32 mark of the third period, the second-year pro circled the offensive zone with control of the puck and then unleased a wrist shot from the right circle. The shot sailed under the crossbar, flipped Korpisalo's water bottle on top of the net, and brought the Flyers back to within a goal. Read and Nick Schultz received the assists.
The Flyers got the game tied at 14:19. Shayne Gostisbehere navigated tight quarters as he exited the defensive zone and passed the puck ahead. Voracek and Sean Couturier then worked a nicely executed give-and-give. Playing his third game since being switched from his accustomed right wing position to the left side, Voracek snapped off a shot from the left circle that beat Korpisalo to the long side.
Both goaltenders had to step up to get the game to overtime. The Blue Jackets survived an overtime icing -- Tortorella called timeout to give his troops a 30-second rest -- and forced Mason to make three additional saves.
Philadelphia remains the team with the NHL's worst record in shootouts since it was foisted on the league in 2005 as a way to end tied games after 65 minutes of hockey. For the 2015-16 season, the Flyers fell to a 1-3 in the skills competition.
NOTES
* Gudas hobbled off after blocking a shot in the second period but eventually returned to the game. He skated 20:52 of ice time. The burly Czech defenseman and Brayden Schenn shared the team lead with four credited hits.
* Sam Gagner, who reported being fully recovered from a concussion well over a week ago, is no longer on the injured reserve list. He was listed as a healthy scratch.
*Simmonds has received instigation penalties in two of the last three games. On Tuesday, Simmonds was penalized for an immediate responsive fight in defense of Michael Raffl after the Austrian forward was kneed by Carolina's Brad Malone. An emotional player, Simmonds is wired to instinctly defend teammates -- and did right by Raffl and Voracek -- but will have be very careful from now on. As spelled out in the NHL Rule Book (Rule 46.21), if Simmonds receives a third instigation penalty at any point over the remainder of the 2015-16 season, he will incur an automatic game misconduct in that match plus a two-game suspension from the NHL.
* Over the first two seasons of his NHL career, Read was 5-for-9 in shootouts. However, over the last three seasons, he's gone 1-for-13. Read has not converted a shootout attempt successfully since the 2013-14 season.
* Flyers coach Dave Hakstol had been using a trio of Gostisbehere with Giroux and Voracek during overtimes -- with considerable success -- but in this game had Del Zotto skate with Giroux and Voracek and used Gostisbehre with Couturier and Read.
* In a previous shootout loss, Hakstol tabbed defenseman Evgeny Medvedev to (unsuccesfully) take the third-round shot. This time,the Flyers coach bypassed both Medvedev and Gostisbehere in favor of forwards Laughton, Read and Brayden Schenn in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds of the shootout.
* Del Zotto led all Flyers in ice time with 25:24 of ice time. He had two shots on goal on seven attempts (three got blocked, two missed the net) and was credited with two blocks and one hit. Couturier led all Philadelphia forwards with 22:57 of ice time, including 5:10 worth of penalty killing time.
* Voracek has two goals and five points in the three games since being switched to left wing at even strength. While the position switch is not necessarily one that will last for the long haul, he has clicked with Couturier and Simmonds.
* The Flyers were not charged with a single giveaway during the game. Columbus was charged with seven, including three charged to Boone Jenner.
* Referees Mike Leggo and Tim Kowal had a rough night. Several blatant infractions both ways got overlooked, while some of the penalties that were called should not have been. In particular, Matt Read received a third period goaltender interference penalty for making contact with Korpisalo as Read cut in front of the crease, got sent airborn by a defender and Read's knee made contact with Korpisalo's mask. Read had no chance of avoiding the contact, which came about as a direct result of being forced into the goalie by a defender. In fact, no penalty was signaled on the play initially and one only came about after Korpisalo was dazed from the collision.
* The Flyers will hold an 11:30 a.m. practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Sunday. The St. Louis Blues come to town on Moday for a 7 p.m. game at the Wells Fargo Center. Thereafter, the Flyers will have a five-night break in the schedule, overlapping a league-wide break from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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