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Wrapup: Penguins Ice Flyers, 4-1 |
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PENGUINS ICE FLYERS, 4-1
On a frustrating afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia Flyers had trouble finding any semblance of time or space against a relentless Pittsburgh Penguins team. Pittsburgh dominated the second period in particular, riding a three-goal outburst and a well-managed third period to a 4-1 win.
Pittsburgh played a strong and disciplined road game, winning most of the puck races and battles on the boards. Failed clearing attempts and turnovers began to mount for the Flyers, giving the Penguins even greater territorial control.
"I think they skated a little better than us today. I think that was the difference," said Flyers winger Jakub Voracek, who was returning to the lineup after a nine-game absence. "They didn’t give up much opportunity to get to the net and they played a pretty good game today.”
The Flyers wasted a strong 31-save effort by Steve Mason, who stopped a pair of breakaways and numerous other tough chances but got little help in front of him. A scrambled coverage on a delayed penalty, a dangerous turnover and an unlucky carom off the end boards resulted in the three Pittsburgh goals.
"We definitely let a game go, which is a frustrating feeling for everybody. We’ve been playing some really good hockey lately, but this afternoon wasn’t our best game," Mason said.
Mason found out about 20 minutes before warmups that he was starting the game. Michal Neuvirth was originally slated to get the start. According to Flyers' general manager Ron Hextall, Neuvirth "wasn't feeling well and will be re-evaluated tomorrow." The GM said he is not sure at this point if Neuvirth is ill or injured. He missed a scheduled start in Florida last Saturday with what was deemed a stomach virus.
"It’s not something you plan for when you come to the rink, but a lot of things happen. You’d be surprised how many thing go on behind before a game. This time of year, there’s always different factors. It’s not something you think about and are planning for coming to the game. Everybody, especially in our group, handled it well. Mase handled it extremely well and did a great job," said Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol.
The Flyers had three early odd-man rushes but weren't able to turn any of them into shots on goal. Radko Gudas notched the lone Flyers goal on a shot that pinballed home off a Pittsburgh defender to give the Flyers a short-lived 1-0 lead in the second period despite getting outplayed.
Pittsburgh struck back for goals by Trevor Daley, Carl Hagelin and Chris Kunitz to take a commanding 3-1 lead to the second intermission while outshooting the Flyers by a 27-9 margin through the opening 40 minutes. Kris Letang added a late empty net goal. Marc-Andre Fleury (16 saves on 17 shots) scarcely had to work for the win.
Special teams canceled out. The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. It took a Mason stop on a Carl Hagelin shorthanded breakaway, however, to keep the game scoreless late in the first period.
"Maybe it looked like the effort wasn’t there, but it was there," said Flyers captain Claude Giroux.
"The last month and a half I think we have been playing some really good hockey. You are going to have games like tonight where it is not going your way. A lot of frustration on our part. You are going to have games like that. Like I have said before, we aren’t going to win every game for the rest of the season. It is going to be how we are going to respond to this. This year, well the last two months, we have been doing a good job when we get a tough loss we always bounce back."
Just 50 seconds into the game, Schenn hit the post on what looked like a slam dunk on a 3-on-1 rush off a pass from Giroux.
The Flyers got the game's first power play at 4:24.Brian Dumoulin went to the box for a tripping infraction. Fleury made a clean save off an early-advantage Voracek shot from the right side. Wit 21 seconds left in the power play, Fleury denied Schenn in close.
The Penguins took an icing with 13:13 left in the first period. No harm resulted. Mason made his fourth save of the period on a shot by Crosby from just above the left circle. A TV timeout ensued at 7:26.
The Flyers had a 2-on-1 rush after the faceoff on a mishandled puck at the point but the play got broken up in the Pittsburgh end. On the next shift, a Penguins 2-on-1 missed connections with Crosby going to the net.
Radko Gudas took a bad icing with the teams changing lines. That forced Mason to make two tough saves as the Penguins won the draw. First, he stopped a point shot through heavy traffic then he made a clean glove save on a 14-foot shot by Matt Cullen. A TV timeout followed at 11:48.
After Gostisbehere took an icing and Mason made a save on Patric Hörnqvist, Schenn received a roughing minor for a pop at Tom Kuhnhackl at 12:30. Pittsburgh went on its first power play. With a lot of traffic around him, Mason barely squeezed the pads on a Letang point shot.
Radko Gudas was penalized for high sticking in a scrum around the net at 15:44 as Mason made his ninth save of the period. Pittsburgh went back to the power play. A shorthanded 2-on-1 with Giroux and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- moments after the Pens lost the handle on a failed clearing attempt by Giroux--went awry. Mason stopped Kuhnhackl from the left slot with two seconds left in the penalty.
Gudas touched off a series of hits in the Flyers zone, and Bryan Rust then took a needless tripping penalty at 18:03. Ten seconds later, Mason denied the speedy Carl Hagelin on a shorthanded breakaway.
Shots in the first period were 11-4 in the Penguins' favor. Philly did not get a shot on goal over the final 11:07 of the period. Attempts were 23-13 Penguins. The Flyers won 12 of the first 20 faceoffs of the game.
“I just didn’t think we were quite sharp enough. Again, give their team some credit. I thought that they played a good hockey game. We just weren’t sharp and crisp in any one area of our game. You look back in the first period; I think we had three or four 2-on-1s. We were just a little bit off on maybe making a play there, maybe one of those energizes us. As you look, a little bit of indicative of our day, just a little bit off,” Hakstol said
The Penguins killed off the rest of the penalty and then took an icing at the 50-second mark. The Cousins line created some pressure but no shots and the Pens iced the puck again. A third icing followed at the 1:24 mark. Giroux got tossed from the ensuing draw, which Schenn lost cleanly. Pittsburgh iced the puck yet again.
Finally, the Pens paid the price. A Gudas shot from the right point deflected off Letang, through a Simmonds screen and past Fleury for his fourth goal of the season at 1:58. The goal was unassisted.
The Penguins got the goal right back on a delayed penalty at 2:59. Daley got open in the left circle and beat Mason under the crossbar to the short side. Nick Bonino and Eric Fehr got the assists. The goal came on Pittsburgh's 13th shot of the game.
The Flyers went on their third power play play at 5:30 on an Oskar Sundqvist interference minor on a Philadelphia rush through the neutral zone. The Flyers were very sloppy with their puck management, leading to a couple counter attempts for the Pens. Mason stopped a Cullen wraparound attempt as the penalty expired. A TV timeout followed at 7:37.
The Flyers got just their seventh shot of the game at 9:47. Fleury hung on to a long, unscreened center point shot by Cousins on a Flyers' rush. The Penguins came right back to create a scramble near Philly net. Andrew MacDonald took an icing to momentarily relieve pressure as the puck sat near the crease.
Shots for the period were 7-3 Penguins as Mason stopped a side-angle attempt with 8:24 left in the period. The Pens came out the next shift with extended offensive zone time. As Mason picked a Määttä 6:24 mid-slot shot with the glove with 6:24 left in the frame, shot for the game were 20-7 Pens and 9-3 for the period.
The Penguins capitalized on a Ryan White turnover in the corner as Foligno fed the puck to Hagelin in the deep slot and the Swede hammered a shot at 16:56 over Mason's glove hand to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. The goal was Hagelin's ninth of the season.
After Streit mishandled a puck at the left point, Pittsburgh countered and scored to open up a 3-1 lead at 18:25. Kunitz (15th goal of the season) scored on a back-board carom that went in off the back of Mason's leg as it came out into the goalmouth. Crosby and Hörnqvist got the assists.
Giroux had semi-open net with 8 seconds left but flipped it high and wide. However, a hand-pass was called on the play so it would not have counted anyway.
Shots were 16-5 Pens; 27-9 Penguins through two periods.
The Penguins pinned the Flyers in deep but did not generate a shot in the opening minute of the period. The Flyers had the first two shots but both were low-percentage perimeter shots. Mason then denied a Rust breakaway to keep the Flyers alive in the game.
Shots were 31-14 Penguins as Mason made back-to-back saves on Kuhnhackl and Cullen as time ticked down to around 11 minutes left. Mason stopped a Fehr shot from the outer left circle for his 29th save of the game.
Raffl took a cross-checking penalty behind the Pittsburgh net at 9:29. Mason fought off a Crosby shot with 1:12 left on the disadvantage and hung on to the rebound. A post-whistle scrum ensued without penalties but the faceoff came out of the Flyers zone because the Pittsburgh point men came in to join the pushing and shoving. Mason also stopped a right side shot and the defense cleaned up the rebound.
Voracek was moved to the top line right wing spot as time ticked down to the late minutes. With 5:50 left, shots were still 34-14 Pens. Fleury denied a Cousins left circle shot on one of Philly's few clean zone entries. The goalie held on for a stoppage with 4:59 remaining.
Fleury tracked and held onto a Gudas point shot through traffic for a stoppage with 3:33 left. The Flyers continued to struggle to find room and took an icing at 17:33. Pittsburgh controlled the draw and forechecked the clock down to 2:03 with a stoppage at the side of the Flyers net.
Mason was pulled for an extra attacker with two minutes left and the Penguins quickly had a counterattack for a would be tap-in empty netter for Letang with 1:38 left but the defenseman kicked the puck into the net as it eluded his stick. The goal was disallowed but reversed on replay.... right after the referee said the no-goal call was upheld.
Shots in the third period were 8-6 Penguins; 35-17 Penguins for the game.
The Flyers will have an optional 11:30 a.m. practice on Sunday at the Skate Zone on Voorhees and then head out on the road for games in Brooklyn against the Islanders (Monday),Columbus Blue Jackets (Tuesday), Colorado Avalanche (Thursday) and Arizona Coyotes (Saturday).
With the loss on Saturday, the Flyers will need the Florida Panthers to beat the Detroit Red Wings in regulation to stay one point behind the Wings with two games in hand. They also need the Dallas Stars to take care of business at home against the New York Islanders to stay five points out of the higher wildcard seed. The Penguins at least temporarily leapfrogged the Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
"It’s going to be a tough road trip. There’s going to be some tough travel involved so we got to make sure we take care of ourselves. It would be great to start it off with a win in Brooklyn," Mason said.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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