Giroux Leads Late Charge in 4-3 Shootout Win
Two late third period 6-on-5 goals by Flyers captain Claude Giroux in a span of 22 seconds rescued the team from an impending regulation loss, and the team then survived an overtime penalty kill and a blown 2-0 lead in the shootout to defeat the New Jersey Devils, 4-3 (3-2), at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening. James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek earned the assists on both Giroux goals.
With his two goals, Giroux recorded his 849th and 850th career points to pass Flyers Hall of Fame left winger Brian Propp for third all-time in the franchise scoring list. Giroux also converted his first-round shootout attempt on Sunday. Sean Couturier and Kevin Hayes were the other two Flyers to score in the shootout.
The Devils saw a nine-game pointless streak end but their winless streak grew to 10 straight games. The Flyers and Devils will rematch on Tuesday and Thursday at the Prudential Center in Newark, and then return to the Wells Fargo Center to play each other yet again on Saturday.
New Jersey tallied one goal apiece in each of the three regulation periods: Mike McLeod (8th goal of the season) in the first, Miles Wood (16th) in the second and Pavel Zacha (11th) in the third. Philadelphia's lone goal until the two late-game Giroux tallies was notched on a deflection by Couturier (14th) in the first period.
The Flyers got off to a terrible start in the first period; yielding an open scoring chance for McLeod from the right slot in the opening 10 seconds, a Zacha breakaway at 1:35 and then a McLeod goal off a Nathan Bastian pass on a 3-on-1 (with Phil Myers trapped on the wrong side of the puck in the neutral zone) at 4:56. All things considered, the damage could have been worse, however.
As the first period moved along, the Flyers gained some equilibrium and then strung three good shifts in a row together -- which didn't happen much all game for either team. In the first shift, the forechecking of Wade Allison and Scott Laughton hemmed the Devils in their own zone. On the next shift, Joel Farabee had a scoring chance off the rush on a feed from Kevin Hayes. Couturier won the ensuing right circle faceoff to Ivan Provorov, who passed to Myers. Myers' shot double deflected, with Couturier getting the last touch to be credited with the goal at 11:45.
Philadelphia ended up with a 16-8 shot edge in the first period. Much of the shot total came on shots from the outside, but at least the puck possession edge turned in Philly's favor after their brutal start to the frame.
The Flyers really didn't get much going in a largely uneventful second period, despite an 11-9 shot on goal advantage (60 percent all-situation Corsi). More telling was the meager three high-danger chances the Flyers generated through 40 minutes. They went into the third period trailing, 2-1, on Wood's goal at 7:03 of the middle stanza.
On the play, defensemen Samuel Morin and Myers both went to Bastian -- who nonetheless worked his way past them -- and no one picked up Wood. Driving the net, Wood took a pass from Bastian and directed it into the net. Brian Elliott had little to zero chance of stopping it.
The third period saw the Flyers hold an 8-7 shot advantage but nary a scoring chance of note after from a failed early 3-on-1 opportunity until Giroux scored his goals with 1:26 and 1:04 respectively remaining on the clock during Philadelphia's desperation 6-on-5 push. Before that happened, the deficit grew to 3-1 at 9:16 as Zacha scored from the right slot on a slow-developing play after Jesper Bratt pulled up in the right circle and then found his teammate open.
In overtime, the Flyers had to get through a two-minute 4-on-3 kill after Ivan Provorov was called for tripping Jack Hughes at the 1:01 mark. Elliott had to make a half-dozen saves in OT to nurse the game to a shootout. In the ensuing skills competition:
1st round: Giroux scored a five-hole goal. Jack Hughes shot went off Elliott's glove and wide.
2nd round: Couturier scored five hole. Elliott was beaten glove side by Yegor Sharangovich.
3rd round: Travis Konecny denied by Mackenzie Blackwood. Jesper Bratt outmaneuvered Elliott and scored to the tie the shootout at 2-2.
4th round: Scott Laughton couldn't beat Blackwood over the pads. Jesper Boqvist failed on his attempt.
5th round: Neither Ivan Provorov nor Pavel Zacha converted their attempts.
6th round: Kevin Hayes scored on a forehand to backhand move. Nico Hischier wasn't quite able to squeeze a shot through Elliott's pads.
Elliott finished the game with 29 saves on 32 shots in regulation and overtime. He went 4-for-6 in the shootout. Blackwood stopped 33 of 36 shots through 65 minutes before going 3-for-6 against the Flyers' shootout attempts.
The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the penalty kill; a Devils' too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty in the final minute of the second period represented the lone Philadelphia man advantage opportunity. New Jersey was 0-for-3 on the power play.
With the defense pair of Morin (11:26 TOI, 16 shifts) and Myers struggling in coverages and Robert Hà¤gg (18:32 TOI with 2:41 of it on the PK, 26 shifts) turning over the puck a few times, Alain Vigneault extended the ice times of the rest of the blueline. Even with a OT penalty taking him off for two minutes, Provorov logged 29:01 of ice time across 33 shifts (+3, one assist, 3 shots on goal on 7 attempts, 3 blocks, 1 giveaway). Travis Sanheim tied a career-high for ice with 25:38 skated across 32 shifts (+1, four shots on goal on five attempts, 1 giveaway, two blocks, one hit). Justin Braun skated 21:33 including 3:19 of the Flyers' total six shorthanded minutes, with three shots on goal in 28 shifts.
Sunday's game represented third time since the 2009-10 season that the Flyers have scored two 6-on-5 goals in the same game (via either a delayed penalty or late-game pulled goalie situation) . The other two were April 2, 2017 at NYR and Oct. 30, 2017 vs. ARI. This is the first time in that timeframe that the same Philadelphia player has scored both goals and the first time the Flyers have ultimately won the game.
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Mini-Preview: Phantoms @ Binghamton
Playing each other for the third straight time in four nights, the Lehigh Phantoms (14-4-3) are on the road on Monday to play the Binghamton Devils (5-13-6). The game will be held at the Barnabas Hockey House inside the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.
This game is the rescheduled version of the March 10 game that was initially suspended after one period with the score tied at 1-1. The game was suspended because a starting player in the Binghamton lineup tested positive for COVID-19. Originally, the remaining 40 minutes of the game were scheduled to be played on April 26. However, the American Hockey League subsequently decided to play a new 60-minute game from scratch and simply count the team and individual stats from the first period on March 10 toward the season totals.
Phantoms rookie right winger Tyson Foerster has been scorching hot offensively on either side of a 16-day, four-game schedule pause due to several Phantoms entering COVID-19 protocol. He racked up three separate two-goal games (plus a pair of shootout goals) in a five game span and also scored in the Phantoms' 3-2 home regulation win over the Devils on Saturday.
Lehigh Valley was still missing multiple forwards in Saturday's game variously due to COVID-19 protocols, injury or NHL/Taxi Squad recalls. Among the unavailable players were rookie power forward Zayde Wisdom, team goal-scoring leader Ryan Fitzgerald (10 goals in 20 GP), Garrett Wilson, David Kase, Wade Allison (NHL recall) and Tanner Laczynski (NHL recall, injured).
Isaac Ratcliffe turned a blocked shot and a breakaway in the first period of Saturday's game into his first goal of the season (15 GP). Ralph Cuddemi notched the other Lehigh Valley goal in Saturday's game.
Felix Sandström, who was subsequently called up to Flyers' Taxi Squad on Sunday along rookie defenseman Egor Zamula, played his best game in the American Hockey in Saturday's victory. Zamula also had an excellent game on Saturday. Linus Högberg and Mason Millman were returned on Sunday to the Phantoms from the Taxi Squad.
Zane McIntyre (9-1-2, 2.18 GAA, .926 SV%, 1 SO) has been excellent in goal for Lehigh Valley this season. He is the likely starter on Monday. Gilles Senn, who started in net for the Devils in the Phantoms' 4-2 win in Newark on Friday night, has appeared in 13 of Binghamton's 24 games to date (2-8-2, 3.62 GAA, .897 SV%).
The Phantoms bring a 16.3 percent success rate on the power play (20th across the AHL) into Monday's game. The Lehigh Valley penalty kill, which had been top-ranked in the league until yielding six opposing PPGs over the two games immediately following the 16-day pause, went 3-for-3 on Saturday to improve back up to 82.4 percent on the season (11th ranked).