The Philadelphia Flyers had won ten straight games at the Wells Fargo Center heading into today’s contest with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That incredible streak is now over. The Bolts battled through adversity, and ultimately managed to drop the Flyers by a score of 6-3. The win moves Tampa’s record to 27-14-4, which ties the team with the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Watching the game, it was easy to see how Philadelphia had managed to win so many games at home over the last few weeks. They fought hard along the boards, took advantage of Lightning miscues, and generated chances all night long. Yes, the Lightning managed to take care of business on the scoreboard. I suppose that’s all that matters. But it’s worth noting that the Flyers absolutely dominated the shot attempts battle. Score effects might have come into play late in the tilt, but the contrast is still pretty stark.
When playing on the road, and especially in a building as crazy as the Wells Fargo Center, it’s vitally important to take the crowd out of the game early on. The Lightning managed to do that on Saturday, as Alex Killorn scored his 11th of the season just 4:33 into the contest. He took advantage of a Flyers turnover and then fired a shot, which deflected off Mark Streit’s stick, past Steve Mason.
The Lightning added to their 1-0 lead at the 5:21 mark of the second period when Teddy Purcell (!) scored his ninth of the season. Yes, folks, he actually shot the puck. The recipient of a nice drop pass from Valtteri Filppula, Purcell skated deep into the Philadelphia zone and fired a bad-angle shot past Mason to double his team’s lead.
Purcell’s goal started an offensive parade that would dominate the second period. Jakub Voracek scored just over one minute later to cut the deficit in half before Ryan Malone scored his fourth of the season, and first of two on the day, to restore the two goal lead. Then all hell broke loose. By the 14:35 mark of the second, Wayne Simmonds and Voracek had each scored a goal to knot things up at three. Just like that, the Lightning’s two goal lead was gone. Defensive breakdowns and bad puck management cost them in Saturday’s second period. Luckily, unlike on Thursday, they were able to rebound.
If there’s one thing fans have learned about the Jon Cooper-led Tampa Bay Lightning, it’s that no amount of adversity is too much to deal with. After allowing the Flyers to tie the game at three, it would have been easy for the Bolts to skate around and let Philadelphia run away with things on home ice. They did the exact opposite. In the last five minutes of the second, Valtteri Filppula scored his 18th of the year and Marty St. Louis scored his 20th to give the Lightning a 5-3 lead heading into the intermission. Pretty incredible stuff.
For St. Louis, it was his third goal in three games since being excluded from Team Canada’s Olympic roster by his own General Manager. I’m sure being told ‘no’ was a tough pill to swallow, but St. Louis hasn’t shown any signs of emotional defeat.
After giving up five goals on 17 shots, Steve Mason was replaced by Ray Emery to start the third period. Emery was perfect in the final frame, but his Flyers couldn’t muster up the two goals needed to force extra time. Instead, the Lightning managed to score an empty net marker to seal the deal on the 6-3 victory. It was Ryan Malone’s second goal of the game and fifth of the season.
As much as it was great for the Lightning to beat the Flyers, the win came with a big cost. Sami Salo left the game early on after taking a shot off the ankle, and Victor Hedman left the game in the third period after being hit in the head by Scott Hartnell. Hartnell will almost certainly receive a call from Sheriff Shanahan. I’ll do my best to pass along a status update once I get the information.
Update...
Hedman says no ill effects from Hartnell hit. But Salo seen on crutches.
— Damian Cristodero (@LightningTimes) January 11, 2014One last interesting tidbit: Matt Carle was +6 today, while Radko Gudas was +4. I’m not a big plus-minus guy, but those numbers are pretty staggering.
The team will now head to Columbus, where they’ll take on the Blue Jackets on Monday night.
As always, thanks for reading.