Six successful penalty kills over the final 27 minutes of the game, including extensive 5-on-3 time with only three available defensemen, 24 blocked shots and a spectacular goaltending performance by 20-year-old Carter Hart were enough for the Philadelphia Flyers to hang on to win a 2-1 decision over the Nashville Predators at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night.
The Flyers, now 14-15-4 through 33 games, have won back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game winning streak from Nov. 5 to 10. The Predators (22-12-2) suffered their first regulation loss to an Eastern Conference opponent this season, falling to 10-1-1.
"It’s awesome to leave the ice and have the fans cheering, and then obviously when it was finished, the start of the third period was the same thing. You could feel the emotion, obviously in the crowd that carries over to the bench. You see the guys that are sacrificing themselves to save the shots and it was a tremendous effort," Flyers interim head coach Scott Gordon said.
Jakub Voracek (9th) and Claude Giroux (12th) scored for the Flyers. Sean Couturier (12th assist), Radko Gudas (7th assist) and Travis Konecny (12th assist) collected an assist apiece. Robert Hà¤gg (20:59 TOI, three hits, five blocks including several key penalty killing blocks) and Travis Sanheim (21:58 TOI, five blocks) combined for 10 of the team's 24 blocks.
"it’s huge," Konecny said of all of the blocked shots, including one of his own that left him smarting as he left the ice. "It’s funny, you guys probably don’t get to see it, but our bench is so vocal, and everyone is sticking together and being positive when something happens like that, we’re all up on the bench rooting everybody on. It’s definitely contagious, you want to get out there you want put yourself in front of the pucks for everybody."
Playing his second game in the NHL, Hart was outstanding in the net. He stepped up to make one clutch save after another, especially during the seemingly endless penalty killing stretches in the latter half of the game. He finished with 31 saves on 32 shots. Hart had no chance on the lone Nashville goal.
"I was just trying to worry about stopping the puck. Not trying to worry about what’s going on out there, obviously you’re looking for guys that are on their one timers or on their natural side, but I thought we did a really good job of keeping their shots to the outside. Even on the 5 on 3, got a lot of big blocks from Sanny, from Hagger, he had a ton of blocks tonight. Even G at the end there had a nice big block there, and I think that was the difference maker tonight- our PK was on fire tonight and guys were sacrificing their bodies, for the better of the team and that’s why we came out on top," Hart said.
"I could feel it in warmups, I wasn’t as anxious [as on Tuesday]. I had a good chat with my sports psychiatrist last night. I was a bit overwhelmed on Tuesday and had to bring things back to reality. Playing against Nashville, obviously there’s guys on their team that are really good players and players that you’ve watched growing up, but they’re the same as you and me. They’ll bleed when you cut them and all that, so that’s kind of the chat I had with Johnny and I felt a lot more relaxed out there tonight. I just did my job, and like I said, everybody else did a really good job tonight of sacrificing their bodies and competing in all areas of the ice."
Nick Bonino (6th goal of the season) tallied the lone Predators goal, briefly tying the game in the second period. Calle Jà¤rnkrok (5th assist) and Ryan Ellis (13th assist) earned the helpers on a night where the Flyers kept the Predators' main weapons off the board.
Pekka Rinne took the loss in goal. He stopped 29 of 31 Flyers shots.
Philly went 0-for-4 on the power play and 6-for-6 in what was a poorly officiated game. The Flyers' Shayne Gostisbehere hit the crossbar on the power play shortly before the Predators scored at 5-on-5 to tie the game.
"I think our power play was a lot better tonight, we like to get one, we can’t get frustrated we gotta keep pressing and when we do the right things, good things are going to happen," Giroux said.
At 13:09 of the second period, Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov became incensed by a high-sticking call that went against him after he'd also taken a stick on the play. Inexcusably, Provorov shoved linesman Ryan Daisy -- a potential category 2 physical abuse of an official penalty (which carries an automatic 10-game suspension that can only be adjusted up or down by the NHL Commissioner and is not an infraction that the Department of Player Safety reviews). Provorov was lost to the Flyers for 12 minutes.
Before the game became a penalty parade, the Flyers played a structured and solid first period. They were rewarded at 5:10 as a Gudas point shot rebounded in front to Couturier. The center then made a nice pass to an open Voracek near the right post for a slam-dunk and a 1-0 lead.
Philly was unable to capitalize on back-to-back power plays early in the second period. After Gostisbehere hit the crossbar and play moved back to full strength, an Ellis shot bounced off the back of Jà¤rnkrok's pants and over to Bonino, who was open to claim the loose puck and score at 4:04. On the next shift, Scott Laughton was unable to score on a breakaway opportunity.
At 8:33 of the middle frame, the Flyers scored what proved to be the game-winning goal. Konecny forced a turnover right near the red line and poked the puck to Giroux. The Flyers' captain then led a 2-on-1 and fired a shot that beat Rinne to the long side.
The Flyers nursed the narrow lead for the rest of the game, through six penalty kills, and a harrowing late 6-on-4 and final 6-on-5 that saw time expire with a blocked shot and then a shot that went off the crossbar with Hart diving across. Dating back to Nov. 23, the Flyers have killed 33 of their last 38 penalties.
"It can be a pretty good boost. That’s what happened, that five-on-three. That was a tough game, I mean, there was a lot of calls. I was just shaking my head. It was a tough one for refs I would say tonight. Like I said, we won, at the end of the game, obviously it’s better for us. Penalty kills did a great job, like you said. I think that’s how you win games these days," Voracek said.
Among other calls that had the Philadelphia bench barking at the officials, players were incensed by a non-call on an apparent boarding of Sean Couturier in the latter stages of the third period. It was ruled that Couturier turned into the hit.
The Flyers will practice on Friday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees at 11:30 a.m. ET. On Saturday afternoon, they will host the Columbus Blue Jackets. The following day, the Flyers are at Madison Square Garden to play their final game before the NHL's three-day Christmas break.