WRAPUP: GOALS ELUSIVE AGAIN IN 2-1 SO LOSS TO PREDATORS
Over the course of the 2016-17 on the whole, and over the course of their 10-game winning streak in particular, the Philadelphia Flyers have not had any significant problems putting the puck in the net. However, in three of their last four games, the Flyers have scored only one goal (including a 1-0 overtime win in Detroit). They are still 2-1-1 over that span.
Coming off a 3-1 road loss in Dallas, the Flyers played a generally solid home game against the Nashville Predators but settled for one point in a 2-1 loss via shootout. Philly had the better of the play in the first period in particular but the Predators did more of the attacking in the third period and overtime.
“It was a tight game,… said Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol. “There’s a lot of different types of tight games. This was just a tight hard fought game all the way through. Are they tough to win? Absolutely. We came up a little bit short tonight by losing the shootout point.…
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason and company did what they could to make a 1-0 first period lead stand up the rest the rest of the game after a deflected blast by Andrew MacDonald provided the game's first goal at 10:32. Finally, Filip Forsberg's unstoppable deflection of a Matt Irwin point shot knotted the score at 11:46 of the third period.
Mason finished with 30 saves. Monday's game was the 200th regular season appearance of his Flyers' career. He became just the fourth goaltender in franchise history to reach that mark, joining Doug Favell, Bernie Parent and Ron Hextall.
The Flyers mustered only the MacDonald goal on 32 shots against Pekka Rinne, including an unsuccessful 5-on-3 power play in the second period that was 1:24 in duration. The failed 5-on-3 proved costly in the long run.
"We had a a couple of chances, but 5-on-3 you have to score almost every time. You can talk about chances on the back of the net. But it’s on us to make it two nothing hockey," Brayden Schenn said.
After getting outshot 4-1 in OT, during which Mason made a spectacular glove save, Philadelphia went 0-for-3 in the skills competition. Nick Cousins, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek (who had Rinne beaten as he moved left but hit the outside of the net from a sharp angle) were all denied on their shootout attempts. The Predators went 1-for-2, as Ryan Ellis scored in the first round and Ryan Johansen was denied by Mason.
The Flyers have a 10 a.m. practice at the Skate Zone on Tuesday. The Washington Capitals come to town on Wednesday night.
***************
WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS PREP: FLYERS PROSPECT UPDATES
* Flyers goaltending prospect Carter Hart notched a 25-save shutout as Team Canada cruised past Team Finland, 5-0, in a World Junior Championships preparation game at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Monday. Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers also played for Team Canada.
On a humorous note, Hart's concentration on the job at hand was such that he went through his entire pregame stretching and butterflying routine before realizing that he was on the wrong side of the ice. He was on the visitor's (Team Finland) side while his Team Canada teammates were on the opposite side.
* Flyers goalie prospect Matej Tomek, who did not play in live game action all of last season or this season to date for the University of North Dakota, absorbed the loss in Slovakia's 4-3 loss to Sweden in WJC prep action. The Junior Crowns scored two goals in the final two minutes to tie and then win it. Slovakia took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission, with Tomek turning in some of his best work early in the game.
* Flyers forward prospect David Kase, who is currently rehabbing an injury, is flying to North America to join the Czech team.