WRAPUP: FLYERS BLITZ BLUES IN CLIMACTIC COMEBACK
Neither Steve Mason nor Matt Read were listed among the official three stars of the game, but both players were game-changers for the Flyers in a 3-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night.
For the second straight game, the Flyers were blanked for two periods and entered the third period trailing. Unlike Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames, the Flyers took a regulation victory away from their meeting with the powerhouse Blues.
Read made pivotal plays on a game-tying goal by Michael Del Zotto at 9:47 of the third period and the game-winning tally by Wayne Simmonds at 11:37 before Michael Raffl sealed the two-goal win with an empty net goal at 18:47. Mason kept the Flyers in striking distance of the Blues throughout the game, turning back 28 of 29 shots fired on his net. He made numerous excellent saves, including several point-blank stops on Patrik Berglund on a single shift.
Jaden Schwartz scored a counter-attacking goal from left hash marks off a feed from Vladimir Tarasenko at 12:52 of the first period, as the Blues capitalized on a neutral zone turnover by Flyers defenseman Mark Streit. Mason slammed the door the rest of the way. Losing goaltender Brian Elliott stopped 28 of 30 shots for the Blues.
Entering the game, St. Louis boasted a 28-4-2 record when scoring first, 19-3-1 when leading after the first period and 25-1-2 when leading after two periods. The Flyers easily could have given in to frustration after coming up empty for nearly 50 minutes, including a 16-shot barrage in a wide-open second period that saw Mason make 14 saves. Instead, Philly showed resiliency and kept on pushing until the floodgates opened.
On Del Zotto's ninth goal of the season, Read made it possible by beating two St. Louis players in the left corner and passing the puck accurately to Del Zotto above the circles. Del Zotto moved laterally and then ripped a heavy slap shot that went in off the post past a screened Elliott. The puck may also have slightly deflected off St. Louis defenseman on its way to the net.
Nearly two minutes later, Read started the goal sequence with a nice play in the defensive zone. He then tipped the puck past top St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and started a counterattacking opportunity. With no help nearby, Read wisely held onto the puck in the offensive zone until he found Streit joining the rush. With Simmonds going to the net, Streit fired a low shot that Simmonds expertly tipped past a helpless Elliott.
The goal, Simmonds' team-leading 26th of the season, stood as his fifth game-winner and 13th even-strength goal of the season. Neither Jakub Voracek nor Claude Giroux recorded a point in the game. Voracek had one shot on goal and three attempts that missed the net. Giroux's lone shot attempt got blocked but he won 9 of 15 faceoffs and played a good all-around game.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who assisted on Raffl's center-ice empty net goal, had four shots on goal and won 6 of 10 faceoffs. Defenseman Luke Schenn was credited with five hits, four blocked shots and assists on the first and final goals in 21:45 of ice time.
The Flyers are now four points behind the Boston Bruins for the final wildcard playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Boston lost 4-3 at home via shootout to the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. The Flyers and Bruins will clash head-to-head in Boston on Saturday afternoon. Boston still holds two games in hand over the Flyers and a tiebreaker advantage (29 regulation/overtime wins compared to Philly's 25).
As such, Saturday's game is a virtual must-win for the Flyers, with a regulation win being highly preferable. For Boston, a win on Saturday would mean a more comfortable cushion but even a regulation loss would not be disastrous. The Flyers are 0-4-1 in their last five games against the Bruins overall.
The Flyers, who are 19-8-6 on home ice but just 9-17-6 on the road this season, have 17 games remaining on their schedule. Eight are at home and nine are on the road. In order for the final week of the season -- featuring a four-game homestand -- to mean anything, the Flyers are going to have find a way to win consistently during a stretch of nine of 13 games on the road.
Additionally, Philly will have to continue to beat top-notch competition as well as performing better against teams likely to miss the playoffs. In short, there is plenty of work for the Flyers to do even if come up big on Saturday. . *********
GOSTISBEHERE SHUT DOWN FOR SEASON. OR IS HE?
There appears to have been massive communication breakdown between Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall and Lehigh Valley Phantoms coach Terry Murray and rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere or something got lost in the medical team communication between the parent and farm clubs.
On Thursday, Murray told the Allentown Morning Call's beat writer for the Phantoms, veteran journalist Gary Blockus, that Gostisbehere was going to be shut down for the remainder of the 2014-15 season as he continues his rehabilitation from November surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Gostibehere had been attempting to return this season, but reportedly still has atrophy in his left quadriceps and is not progressing quickly enough to realistically return this season.
Terry Murray told Blockus, ""He will not be playing a game. We're shutting him down. He's shut down. He's done."
Added Gostisbehere, "That is correct. It was decided a week ago or so. I was a little disappointed because originally when I got hurt, they told me there was a chance I'd come back this season. But I took it in stride. It's better for me in the long run."
Hextall told reporters in Philadelphia last night that Murray and Gostisbehere were both mistaken, and no decision has been made yet on whether the young defenseman can attempt to play this season. Hextall claimed he had no idea where Murray (and Gostisbehere) were getting their information but conceded that the possibility of shutting the rookie down for the season has been discussed. A few weeks ago, Hextall conceded that Gostisbehere's timetable to return was running behind schedule.
Teams around the NHL -- the Flyers are hardly the only culprits -- increasingly feel a need to try to control every morsel of information, and to make the general manager the only one allowed to definitively make comments on the status on an injured player or other state-of-the-organization matters. Clearly, Hextall wasn't ready to go to public yet.
It seems highly unlikely that both Murray (a habitual straight shooter of the old school who is also not one to make such a definitive statement unless a decision has already been made) and the player (who gave specifics about when the decision was made) were coming out of left field in their comments to the Morning Call. However, it that was somehow the case, the Flyers need to figure out why one segment of the organization was on a completely different page than the parent club.
When all is said and done, this situation will most likely play out exactly how Murray and Gostisbehere described it: the player will continue to rehab diligently but his target date for return will be the start of next season. In the meantime, there will be a lot of speculation about what is really going on with one of the organization's top NHL prospects.