Wrapup: Black Friday Comeback Bid Falls One Goal Short
In the end, the Philadelphia Flyers dug themselves too deep of a hole to grab at least one point from their Black Friday matinee against the New York Rangers, dropping a 3-2 decision in regulation. With the loss, the Flyers fell to 9-10-3 on the season.
The Flyers, who entered the third period trailing 3-0, peppered Henrik Lundqvist with 42 shots on the afternoon, finding the net on a bounce in off Chris VandeVelde's skate early in the third period after Andrew MacDonald put the puck in front on his own chip-in behind the net and, with 2:06 left in the third period, on a Brayden Schenn deflection of a Shayne Gostisbehere point shot (officially credited to Gostisbehere even hours after the game but which seemed to be tipped in by Schenn).
Philadephia goalie Steve Mason (20 saves on 23 shots) had a game very much like his two recent losses to Tampa Bay: none of the goals he gave up were soft or his fault but the team really could have used a tough but not impossible save on the second New York goal.
On the first New York goal, Scott Laughton turned the puck over to J.T. Miller behind the Philadelphia net, and Radko Gudas abandoned covering his side of the slot to try to help out on the other side. That left Derek Stepan all alone in point blank range. No goaltender was stopping that one.
On the second goal, Matt Puempel took a pass from Jimmy Vesey and went in one-on-one with Mason as Puempel shrugged off ineffective stick checking by MacDonald. Puempel chipped a 19-foot shot past Mason to the glove side. By no means was this an easy chance but it was not completely unstoppable.
At 12:33 of the second period, after Mark Streit carelessly turned the puck over in his own zone to Nick Holden inside the right point, Kevin Hayes parked in the slot and deflected home Holden's shot to build a 3-0 lead. The deficit proved too much to overcome.
The Flyers did not receive a power play the entire game. They went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. At 8:58 of the first period, Travis Konecny answered the bell on behalf of teammate Brandon Manning, fighting Brandon Pirri. Konecny did the right thing but was tagged with instigation and an automatic 10-minute misconduct while Pirri received an additional boarding minor for the initial hit.
Jakub Voracek, mired in a point slump, was the Flyers most active and effective forward despite not recording a point. He recorded a half-dozen shots on goal in eight attempts. Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch for the Flyers for the third consecutive game. Roman Lyubimov and Nick Schultz were the other coach's decision scratches for Philadelphia.
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Phantoms Down Binghamton, 4-3
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms improved their November record to a gaudy 10-1-0 with a 4-3 regulation home win at the PPL Center on Friday against the Binghamton Senators.
Jordan Weal, who recently returned from injury, tallied twice for his fifth and sixth goals of the season. Mark Zengerle (fifth) and Taylor Leier (fifth) scored one apiece for Scott Gordon's club, while defenseman T.J. Brennan recorded a pair of assists. One game after notching his first pro shutout, Alex Lyon turned back 32 of 35 Binghamton shots to earn the win.
With the victory, the Phantoms (12-4-1) moved within one point of the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins for first place in the tough Atlantic Division with one game in hand. The Phantoms are right back in action on Saturday, hosting Hartford.