STARS HOLD OFF FLYERS, 4-1
Despite yielding only five shots on goal over the final 40 minutes of play, the Philadelphia Flyers were unable to make headway on a 2-1 deficit and fell to the Dallas Stars, 4-1, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. Philly finished with 39-16 shot on goal edge and 64-39 shot attempt advantage.
The Flyers are 0-3-1 in their last four games, while Dallas snapped a five-game losing streak.
"Our process is good but if you look at our overall game tonight, take a look at the scoring chances for and against, we had a pretty dominating performance. Right now we’re having a tough time finishing. It’s like a golfer that’s in regulation but can’t putt," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said.
"At the end of the day right now, we’re having a challenging time as a group finding the back of the net. We’re doing a lot of the right things, traffic, jamming pucks, going hard to the net but we’re having a tough time making the other team pay for their mistakes but as far as our process and how were playing offensively and how we’re playing defensively, you got to like our game."
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Flyers had only five high-danger scoring chances all night to three for Dallas; which matches up pretty closely to the eye test despite the high volume of Philly shots and attempts. The Flyers dominated puck possession but really didn't do much with it, despite the lopsided shot and shot attempt differentials.
Special teams hurt the Flyers on Saturday night, as they went 0-for-4 on the man advantage and gave up a Dallas power play goal -- the third straight unsuccessful penalty kill opportunity for the Flyers in the last two games -- in going 1-for-2.
"I think there again, we could be better on the PK. Last 2 games they score at crucial times where PK couldn’t get the job done. It hurts. You can win games with a PP, and you can lose games with the PK. Tonight on the PK we couldn’t get the job done and it cost us," Sean Couturier said.
Aging veteran power forward Corey Perry, dressing for just the third time this season, scored an insurance goal for Dallas (1st) and assisted on the first two of the game for a three-point night. The red-hot Roope Hintz (6th) scored the first goal, and assisted on Perry's goal early in the third period. Esa Lindell's deflection power play goal with 6:12 left in the first period, scored off a nice setup by Denis Gurianov (1st assist), proved to be the game-winner. Miro Heiskanen tacked on an empty-netter at 18:05 of the third period on Dallas' second shot -- and second goal -- of the period.
Carter Hart had no chance on the first two goals. The third one, scored on just the second shot on goal he saw since the closing seconds of the opening period, wasn't easy but a save was desperately needed there and it wasn't unstoppable. Coming off the boards, Perry shrugged off a weak stick-check attempt by Oskar Lindblom and shot a backhander from the slot that beat Hart. He finished with 12 saves on 15 shots.
"It can be tough when you don’t get many shots and then get a puck right in the middle of the slot. It can be tough to find a way to stay in the game, but I’m a professional and I have to find a way to stay focused for the whole game, no matter what happens; whether I get 60 shots or 5 shots. I still have to find a way to be prepared for each shot," Hart said.
The Flyers outshot the Stars 12-11 in the first, 9-1 in the second, and 18-4 in the third period.
Ben Bishop finished with 38 saves on 39 shots. The lone Flyers goal was a tic-tac-toe passing sequences on a 3-on-3 rush finished off by Sean Couturier (2nd goal) on the game's first shot. Dallas was caught puck watching as Claude Giroux (4th assist) passed to Travis Konecny (5th assist) and Konecny passed cross-ice to Couturier for a perfectly executed back-door goal.
Right after Dallas made it 2-1, Chris Stewart dropped the gloves with gargantuan Dallas defenseman Jamie Oleksiak in a true heavyweight bout. Stewart got the upper band, bloodying Oleksiak's nose and getting a rise from the crowd by tapping his bicep after the bout. However, Dallas controlled the remainder of the first period before being utterly unable to generate shots on net for most of the remainder of the game.
With the exception of point-blank chances in succession for Jakub Voracek and Oskar Lindblom in the second period with Bishop down along the ice, Philly themselves never really came all that close to scoring a second goal despite a very heavy volume. Bishop saw a whole lot of rubber but most of the shots were clear sighted. Still looking for his first point on the season, James van Riemsdyk had nine shots on goal. Giroux, who also has yet to score his first of the season, had seven shots on goal.
Dallas took the early momentum away from the Flyers at the seven-minute mark. Perry and Benn won a puck battle and Benn passed to Hintz. The red-hot Finn took it from there, powering past Matt Niskanen, taking the puck to the net and scoring on his own followup.
The Stars made it, 2-1 at 13:48, as Lindell pinched in and tipped in Gurianov's feed on a bang-bang play. Perry got the secondary assist.
Benn hit a post in the first period and nearly scored in the second period as well, ripping a shot attempt that hit both posts and stayed out. The Flyers did very little with their third power play opportunity of the game. Dallas' second power play was short-circuited by Alexander Radulov taking a needless tripping penalty. Shot attempts in the 2nd period were 17 for the Flyers (9 on net, 6 blocked, 2 missed), 10 for Dallas (1 on net, 2 blocked, 7 missed).
On the Stars second shot since the first period, Corey Perry had a lane to go over the middle off the boards and scored on a simple backhander. Dallas remained frozen on 13 shots for the game through most of the final period until Heiskanen scored his empty netter with 1:55 left. Tyler Seguin assisted on the final goal.
For more about Saturday's game,
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The Flyers will have a complete off-day on Sunday. On Monday, they will host the Las Vegas Golden Knights at the Wells Fargo Center.
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Phantoms Salvage Point Against Springfield
For the second straight weekend, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-1-2) took three out of a possible four points. On Saturday night, one night after a convincing 4-1 win over Binghamton, the Phantoms rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period against the Springfield Thunderbirds. Ultimately, the Phantoms fell, 4-3, after a seven-round shootout.
In his fifth professional game, and after a slew of scoring chances in the first three, 20-year-old rookie center Morgan Frost was finally rewarded with his first AHL goal. Frost, who recorded his first three pro assists on Friday night against Binghamton, finished off a rebound play near the left post to force OT. Frost had eight shots on goal for the night.
Using a stutter-step move in the right circle and then accelerating to go in and score, Frost later scored the lone successful Lehigh Valley attempt in the marathon shootout. Frost earned second-star honors.
Joel Farabee saw his three-game goal streak come to an end but now has a four-game point streak to start his AHL career. Farabee assisted on the Frost goal, starting the sequence. Greg Carey earned the primary helper as he batted a puck on net before Frost scored on the rebound. The helper was Farabee's first as a pro.
The Phantoms got a first-period goal by German Rubtsov (1st), briefly tying the game at 1-1 as he scored from the slot. Isaac Ratcliffe (2nd assist) and Misha Vorobyev (2nd assist) earned the helpers.
Tommy Cross (1st), Daniel Audette (2nd) and Anothony Greco (2nd) scored for Springfield as they took a 3-1 lead to the first intermission. The same score held through two periods. The Audette and Greco goals were scored a mere 36 seconds apart (15:20 and 15:56) after Rubtsov had gotten the game tied. The latter was scored off a counterattack after Carey turned a puck over on the offensive right side boards.
One night after an outstanding game on the power play, the Phantoms went 0-for-6 on the man advantage. The Phantoms were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Philippe Desrosiers stopped 38 of 41 shots in regulation and overtime before going 6-for-7 in the shootout. J-F Berube denied 22 of 25 shots in regulation and OT and went 5-for-7 in the shootout as Kevin Roy ended the skills competition in Springfield's favor in the bottom of the seventh round.
Reassigned to Lehigh Valley on Friday by the Flyers, Connor Bunnaman started Saturday's game centering a line with Farabee. However, over the latter portion of the game, Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon put Frost and Farabee together for the first time (excluding power plays, where both play on the first unit) since the preseason.
Andy Andreoff, very shortly after the Chris Stewart vs. Jamie Oleksiak fight took place in Philadelphia (Stewart had just skated to the penalty box), dropped the gloves with Springfield's Owen Tippett during the first period of Lehigh Valley's game.
Starting on Oct. 25, Lehigh Valley will head out on its first road trip of the season.
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