Wrap: Flyers Slog Through 4-0 Loss to the Jets
In the final road goal of the 2021-22 season, the Philadelphia Flyers were blanked by the Winnipeg Jets, 4-0, at the Canada Life Centre on Wednesday night. As has been the case all season, special teams proved costly. The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Winnipeg went 2-for-5.
The Flyers, who were shut out for the seventh time this season, finished with an 11-25-5 away record. The team is 0-40-1 in games in which it has trailed -- at any point of the game -- by two goals; the only team in the NHL without a single win this season in such games.
A power play goal by Pierre-Luc Dubois (28th of the season) gave the Jets a quick 1-0 lead in the first period. A 5-on-3 power play tally by Nikolaj Ehlers (28th) made it 2-0 at 7:33 of the second period and Blake Wheeler (15th) established a 3-0 lead at 15:15. Kyle Connor (46th) added an empty-net goal at 19:22 of the open period.
Felix Sandström was not particularly sharp in goal for the Flyers. He stopped 23 of 26 shots in a losing cause. For Winnipeg Eric Comrie stopped all 34 shots he faced in notching his first career NHL shutout.
It wasn't all bad for the Flyers. The trio of Noah Cates, Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett played another strong game together. They combined for 15 shot attempts including a combined 9 on goal. Tippett fired five shots on goal. Frost had three on goal (plus one attempt that was blocked and another from the bottom of the left circle that went wide. Cates checked diligently and had one on goal (plus one that was blocked, and three fired wide of the net).
The line also combined for seven bonafide scoring chances: four for Tippett, two for Frost (one that missed the net) and one for Cates.
Frost's best chance came off the rush, as he eluded a stick checking attempt and fired off a shot on Comrie. The sequence started with a good head-man pass by Cates on the defensive zone exit.
Cates with a nice outlet pass, Frost does a good job of taking the ice and firing the puck while in transition, was the right play. pic.twitter.com/M6pFAQVaox
— Christopher Maher (@_ChrisMaher) April 28, 2022
Tippett's most eye-catching play of the game started with work by Cates and Frost on an offensive zone entry. After receiving the puck on the left side, Tippett wheeled around the attack zone until he found a good shooting lane for himself.
Nice play by Tippett here, smooth skating & nice shot. Confidence will be key for him next year. pic.twitter.com/4KA8FasbZD
— Christopher Maher (@_ChrisMaher) April 28, 2022
Cates was unable to put a shot on goal until the third period. He then had an opportunity in close after taking a pass from Frost.
In addition to the work of the Flyers' third line, rookie Bobby Brink made a couple of good setup plays and had a good chance at his own first NHL goal. Travis Konecny and James van Riemsdyk also had a couple scoring opportunities of their own.
Unfortunately, the 2021-22 Flyers are a team that has struggled mightily to finish chances with any regularity. They will go into Friday's season finale averaging 2.57 goals per game: ranked 30th in the NHL. It's tied for the fourth lowest-scoring season in franchise history, with only three early-history seasons (2.29 in 1968-69, 2.34 in the inaugural 1967-68 campaign and 2.56 in 1971-72) being lower.
The NHL only started officially tracking team power play stats in 1977-78. However, Pete Anson hand-compiled team power play and penalty kill stats for every season in team history. The Flyers' 11.9 success rate (28-for-236) in 2021-22 unofficially represents the worst power play season in franchise history. The 1967-68 squad went 33-for-269 for a 12.3 percent success rate.
The Flyers exited Wednesday's game with a dismal 87.6 Special Teams Index number (75.8 percent power play plus 11.9 percent penalty kill). That combined special teams number ranks dead last in the 32-team NHL. Individually, the Flyers' penalty kill ranks 26th and the power play is 32nd.
The Flyers will not practice on Thursday. On Friday, they will hold a morning skate at the Wells Fargo Center and then host the Ottawa Senators in the evening in the final game of the highly disappointing 2021-22 season.
For a full recap and analysis of Wednesday's game, see the Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
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Phantoms Suffer Blowout Loss to Cleveland
One night after head coach Ian Laperriere called out an unidentified small group of players for "giving up on their teammates" in a dreadful 5-0 home loss to the Springfield Thunderbirds on Tuesday, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms absorbed a 6-1 shellacking from the Cleveland Monsters at the PPL Center on Wednesday.
The Phantoms were outplayed by Cleveland in all three periods but took a 1-1 deadlock to the first intermission after Adam Johnson (5th goal of the season) knotted the score on the rebound of a Max Willman shot. Over the final 40 minutes, the Phantoms were outscored, 5-0, and outshot by a combined 32-14. Lehigh Valley did generate significant pressure in the first half of the second period but was plagued by getting shot attempts blocked or missing the net.
Goaltender Pat Nagle was abandoned as he was bombarded with 42 shots for the game. The Phantoms were only able to dress 10 forwards and seven defensemen in this game. The Phantoms mixed and matched various defensemen into shifts up front. Tanner Laczynski and Maksim Sushko were among the injury-related absences. L