Wrap: Flyers Fall in Vancouver, 6-2
Coming off one of their worst performances since John Tortorella became head coach in a 6-2 road loss to the Seattle Kraken that may actually have been even worse than the final score indicated, it was a very modest expectation bar to clear to predict that they'd put forth an improved performance on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks.
Philly did manage that much. They controlled the territorial play for the decided majority of Saturday's game. Alas, all it produced was another 6-2 loss: this one at the hands of the team with the NHL's second-worst team goals against average and with an oft-shaky rookie netminder in the net.
Elias Pettersson led the way for Vancouver with a five-point game on three assists and a pair of empty net shorthanded goals. Ex-Islander Anthony Beauvillier had even strength and power play goals for Vancouver.
A deflection goal by Beauvillier (12th goal of the season) gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 14:24 of the first period. Scott Laughton (13th) answered with a deflection goal at 15:56 to send the game to the first intermission tied at 1-1.
In a second period heavily controlled by the Flyers, they nonetheless fell into a 3-1 deficit. Andrei Kuzmenko (24th) made it 2-1 at 1:53 and then Beauvillier had a power play deflection goal at 13:35 for his 13th of the season and second tally of the game. At 17:28, Morgan Frost (PPG, 11th) scored in a scramble around the net to cut the gap to 3-2. For Frost, it was his first power play goal of the 2022-23 season.
Philly made a heavy push in the third period but came away with nothing to show for it. A Phil Di Giuseppe goal (2nd) off a bad rebound restored a two-goal margin for Vancouver. The Flyers had a late power play opportunity, attacking 6-on-4, but Pettersson's 26th and 27th goals of the seasons into the vacant Philadelphia net made the game a 6-2 final.
Carter Hart stopped 17 of 21 shots. He had no chance at saves on either of Beauvillier's two goals or Kuzmenko's back-door tap-in tally. However, the Brock Boeser rebound on the fourth goal was preventable and squirted out of Hart's glove. The Di Giussepe goal put the Flyers in dire straights again, down by two goals. Arturs Silovs earned his first NHL win. He struggled at times with rebound control and looked vulnerable at junctures with room to shoot but he made the stops he had to make and the Flyers shooters were unable to hit the mark on the others. Silovs finished with 35 saves on 37 shots.
Although the Flyers have taken 13 forwards on the current road trip, Tortorella elected to scratch both Olle Lycksell and Kieffer Bellows. He dressed Justin Braun as a seventh defenseman instead. Before the game, Tortorella indicated that he planned to do a lot of line combination juggling during the game. The lines below started the game on their respective first shifts but, true to his word, Tortorella did a lot of line blending and shufflling for the first 30 minutes or so of the game.
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny 13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - Owen Tippett 86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 38 Patrick Brown 25 James van Riemsdyk - [rotating centers] - 57 Wade Allison
9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim 45 Cam York - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen 24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart [33 Samuel Ersson]
Over the latter portion of the game, the primary combinations were Hayes-Laughton-Tippett, JVR-Frost-Konecny, and Deslauriers (or JVR)-Cates-Allison, and Farabee-rotating centers-Brown.
Farabee, who has been struggling for much of the season, Bseemed to be shaken up on a latter second period shift. He stayed in the game but only took two shifts in the third period (16 seconds and 23 seconds in duration; the latter being the one in which DiGiussepe scored the goal that made it a 4-2 lead for Vancouver). It's unclear whether it was performance-driven, relate to shift where went off slowly and in discomfort or perhaps a bit of both. Overall, he skated 10:21 over 14 shifts (fewest shifts among the forwards).
Konecny had good jump throughout the game, coming off two third period goals against the Kraken. He was unable to put one in the net on 13 shot attempts (seven on net) but had several Grade A chances. Konecny assisted on the power play goal that Frost ultimately stashed home on a second effort at the net. Frost played with a boost of energy the rest of the net. Tippett also had noticeable jump, especially in the second and third periods.
Among Flyers forwards, Konecny, Hayes, Laughton and Frost all played 20-plus minutes of ice time. Cates skated 17:59. JVR played 15:17 on 19 shifts (all at 5-on-5). Allison skated 13:38 on 18 shifts including a power play shift. Deslauriers received 12:37 TOI on 17 shifts.
Brown assisted on the Flyers' first goal, which was originally credited to Braun but later changed to Laughton. Brown led Philly with seven credited hits.
The game in Vancouver represented the Flyers' best chance to start scoring goals -- and generate a win -- on the current four-game western road trip. That they mustered only two goals and lost by a four-goal margin (empty netters notwithstanding) to the Canucks is a disappointment. From here, the Flyers will play the Calgary Flames on Monday afternoon, possibly with Samuel Ersson in net for Philly, and then wrap up in Edmonton the next evening.
For more on Saturday's game, see the Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com
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Phantoms Rally Past Pens
Three times on Saturday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (25-19-5) seemed to be in jeopardy of suffering their third straight loss. They trailed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (21-21-6) by a 2-0 score at the second intermission after rebound goals by Drake Caggiula (11th) and Alex Nylander (PPG, 20th). In the third period, after clawing back to tie the game at 2-2, the Phantoms fell behind again on a Valtteri Puustinen power play goal (20th). However, the Phantoms came back to re-tie the game with 7:39 left in regulation. The game to overtime.
In OT, the Phantoms were in deep trouble once again when Tyler Sikura was awarded a penalty shot with 35.5 seconds on the clock after being fouled on a breakaway opportunity. Phantoms goalie Troy Grosenick stepped up big to make a save and ultimately send the game to a shootout.
The Phantoms prevailed via the skills competition, 4-3 (1-0). Grosenick finished with 24 saves on 27 shots in regulation and overtime before going 3-for-3 in the shootout.
Lehigh Valley had a couple of unexpected goal-scoring heroes emerge in the third period. Veteran minor leaguer Alex Kile, recalled from the ECHL earlier this week and a late addition to Saturday's lineup after Cooper Marody came down with the flu, sandwiched his first and second AHL goals of the season around defenseman Egor Zamula's first goal of the season.
Kile's first goal and Zamula's tally were spaced just 16 seconds apart in a third period that saw the Phantoms put forth a 19-shot attack on the W-B/S goalie Taylor Gauthier's net.
Zamula's goal, a slapper from the point through traffic right after the end of a Phantoms' power play cut the gap to 2-1 at 3:05. Artem Anisimov and Garrett Wilson earned assists. On the next shift, a rising shot by Phantoms defenseman struck Pens defenseman Ty Smith. Hayden Hodgson nudged the puck over to Kile, who stashed it home at 3:21.
At 6:34, the Pens reclaimed a 3-2 lead. Setting up shop in the left circle, Puustinen received a Nylander pass and blasted a one-timer past Grosenick. The Phantoms trailed until finding a way to re-tie the game at 12:21. Ronnie Atttard fired a shot on net and Kile claimed the rebound to forge a 3-3 tie. Adam Ginning received the secondary assist.
The Phantoms had two opportunities to win the game in OT. Gauthier denied chances for Elliot Desnoyers and Tyson Foerster. Grosenick then made the game-saving penalty shot stop on Sikura to keep the contest going.
In the first round of the shootout, Bobby Brink put his shot attempt off of the left post but the puck ricocheted just over the goal line. Video review confirmed the puck entirely crossed the line. Foerster was unable to seal the bonus point in Round 2 but Grosenick made three successive stops, including a successful poke check on Sam Houde to end the game.
The Phantoms return to action on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. ET against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Phantoms Lineup on Saturday:
20 Max Willman - 51 Artem Anisimov - 71 Tyson Foerster 17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 23 Bobby Brink 48 Alex Kile - 18 Jackson Cates - 42 Hayden Hodgson 19 Isaac Ratcliffe - 39 Charlie Gerard - 14 Zayde Wisdom
4 Egor Zamula - 47 Louie Belpedio 37 Adam Ginning - 12 Ronnie Attard 44 Kevin Connauton - 3 Adam Karashik
1 Troy Grosenick [35 Pat Nagle]
Scratches: 9 Cal O'Reilly (injury), 13 Ryan Fitzgerald (illness), 15 Jordy Bellerive (injury), 24 Adam Brooks (illness), 25 Coper Marody (illness), 29 Wyatte Wylie (healthy).