FLYERS-PENGUINS WRAPUP: PHILLY EARNS QUALITY ROAD WIN
There is some about playing the Pittsburgh Penguins that seems to bring out the best in the Philadelphia Flyers. On Wednesday night, the Flyers shrugged off an early deficit and churned out a strong 60-minute effort en route to a 4-1 road win.
The Flyers have now won seven games in a row against their cross-state archrival, and enjoy an 11-1-1 record in their first 13 matches at the Consol Energy Center (13-2-1 including the three games played in the building during the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals). The 2014-15 season series between the teams concludes on Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.
Brayden Schenn notched even strength and power play goals to give Philadelphia leads of 2-1 (second period) and 3-1 (opening minute of the third period) en route to the win. Vincent Lecavalier scored a late first period goal to send the teams to intermission tied at 1-1. Later, defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo scored his first goal as a Flyer to provide a little extra cushion in the third period.
Earning just his second road win of the season, Steve Mason turned back 24 of 25 shots. Only a pinballing rebound goal by Sidney Crosby on the game's third shot got past Mason after Pittsburgh won an offensive zone faceoff. Mason raised his season save percentage to .928 and lowered his goals against average to 2.22 while improving his overall record to 16-17-11.
Losing goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury did not play poorly, apart from some rebound-control issues that the Flyers capitalized on for two of their goals. Overall, Fleury stopped 27 of 31 shots.
With Pittsburgh playing with just five defensemen and missing three of their four best blueliners with Kris Letang (concussion), Christian Ehrhoff (upper body) and Olli Mà¤à¤ttठ(shoulder surgery) sidelined, the Flyers did a good job at winning puck battles and forcing the Penguins to work hard to get out of their own zone. Defensively, the Flyers had good back pressure and tight coverages, forcing the Penguins to take mostly perimeter shots that Mason saw.
The Penguins were also playing without Evgeni Malkin. The star center was a late scratch for undisclosed reasons.
On special teams, the Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. A pivotal moment in the game came when Schenn re-directed home a perfectly placed puck sent to him by Jakub Voracek during the third period carryover time on Philly's final power play. The goal deflated the Penguins after four previous strong penalty kills.
Although it really had no bearing on the outcome, the game was not particularly well-officiated. Pittsburgh's Steve Downie got called for a couple of iffy-at-best penalties in the second period that seemed mostly to be reputation penalties. Meanwhile, an offsetting embellishment call on the Flyers' Zac Rinaldo when he got slashed behind the leg by Pittsburgh's Chris Kunitz in the third period was a brutal call that appeared to be based solely on the officials' mistrust of the controversial Flyers winger.
The first two goals of the game were scored off faceoff wins. After Crosby won a draw and scored moments later after the puck bounced right to him in good scoring position, Lecavalier ended a 27-game goalless stretch with a rebound goal of his own after winning a faceoff. Schenn's go-ahead goal, the game winner, was scored in the slot. Colaliacovo's goal was a rebound goal.
With the win, the Flyers ended a nine-game winless drought on the road. This game was a "freebie" for the Penguins in that they had a game in hand on both the Islanders and Washington Capitals. No ground was lost or gained, but a valuable opportunity was squandered.
The Flyers and Penguins will both be off the next two nights before weekend back-to-back road matinees culminating in Sunday's rematch at the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers play the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Saturday, while the Penguins head to Ohio to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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FLYERS PROSPECT PLAYOFF UPDATES
* QMJHL: Flyer 2013 first-round pick Samuel Morin scored a goal in Rimouski's series-clinching 4-2 win over Victoriaville on Wednesday night. The Oceanic swept the four-game series to move on to the second round. Morin had four points one goal, three assist), four penalty minutes, 10 shots on goal and a plus-four rating in the series.
* QMJHL: Flyers 2014 second-round pick Nicolas-Aube Kubel was held without a point as Rouyn-Noranda evened its series with Aube-Kubel's Val-d'Or club with a 2-1 win on Wednesday night. Aube-Kubel had four shots on goal and was credited with five hits. It's been an uneven series for the Flyers' draftee, as he has had taken several bad penalties in the series and was minus-three in Game Two (the entire Foreurs team had a rough night) but still has four points (one goal, three assists) thus far.
* QMJHL: Recently signed overager forward Danick Martel collected three points (one goal, two assists) as his Blainville-Boisbriand Armada evened up its first-round series with Gatineau at two games apiece with a 4-1 win on Wednesday night. Martel registered four shots on goal and went 11-for-22 on faceoffs. For the series to date, Martel has six points (three goals including two power play tallies, three assists), 17 shots, eight penalty minutes and a minus-two rating.
* WHL: One night after racking up a five-point night (end-to-end rush goal, four assists, two power play points, even plus-minus) in Calgary's wild 8-7 overtime win over Kootenay, Flyers 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim collected a goal and an assist in the Hitmen's 7-2 win over the Ice on Wednesday. Calgary took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Teammate Radel Fazleev, the Flyers 2014 sixth-round pick, was arguably the Hitmen's most dangerous forward in the first two games of the series, racking up four assists including several excellent setups, has been quieter the last two games.
* WHL: Recently signed 2013 third-round pick Tyrell Goulbourne has missed the last two games as a result of an injury sustained when he got jumped by Maxwell James in the second game of the Kelowna Rockets' series with the Tri-City Americans. Kelowna completed a series sweep on Wednesday with a 5-4 overtime win that saw the Rockets outshoot the Americans by a 71-30 count. Goulbourne had a game-one assist in the series, and was plus-one in that tilt.
* J20 SUPERELIT (Sweden): Follow Brynà¤s IF Gà¤vle's elimination by SkellefteॠAIK in the Swedish Hockey League playoffs, Flyers 2015 fifth-round draft pick Oskar Lindblom joined BIF's J20 team for the SuperElit playoffs. He dressed in two games, recording four points (one goal, three assists), nine shots, zero penalty minutes and a plus-two rating. However, it was not enough to stave off elimination by HV71 Jönköping's J20 team. Lindblom's season is over.
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FLYERS ALUMNI UPDATES FROM FlyersAlumni.org
* Bernie Parent turns 70 years old tomorrow. Look for a special tribute to the legendary goaltender on the Flyers Alumni official site.
* Come out to support the Flyers Alumni Team and support some worthy causes in these upcoming games in April: 1) April 4, the Rink at Lehigh Valley in Whitehall, PA - 2:00 p.m. (benefits You Too Animal Rescue), 2) April 12, NE Philadelphia Skate Zone - 1:30 p.m. (benefits NHS Human Services' "Put Hunger in the Penalty Box" Campaign), 3) April 25, Voorhees NJ Skate Zone - 1:10 p.m.