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Wrap: Flyers Rally for One Point in 6-5 OT Loss to Tampa

November 17, 2018, 5:11 PM ET [491 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wrapup: Flyers Rally Yields One Point in 6-5 OT Loss to Tampa Bay

Dominant but scoreless early in the game, seemingly dead-to-rights before the third period was halfway through, the Philadelphia Flyers rallied back from a 5-1 deficit in the third period to force overtime with the Tampa Bay Lightning in a wild game at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. Ultimately, Tampa prevailed in OT, winning 6-5.

The Flyers finished their five-game homestand at 2-2-1. They are at statistical .500 through 20 games of the 2018-19 regular season: 9-9-2. Tampa improved to 14-5-1.

Philadelphia played an excellent first period, outshooting and outchancing Tampa by a huge margin (18-7 in shots, 26-19 in shot attempts) but going to the locker room in a scoreless deadlock. In the second period, Philly continued to generate chances and doubled up Tampa on shots (16-8) but the Lightning were the more opportunistic team. In the third period, the Flyers didn't generate much of anything for nearly half a period and fell into a cavernous 5-1 hole after Tampa scored on both ends of a 5-on-3/ 5-on-4 power play.

The Flyers then responded with two more power play tallies of their own to drawn back within 5-3. They scored twice at even strength to force OT before a defensive miscue led to the winning goal by Anthony Cirelli at 1:47.

Losing goaltender Cal Pickard stopped just 20 of 26 shots. Louis Domingue turned back 40 of 45. Philadelphia finished 1-for-4 on the penalty kill and 3-for-5 on the power play.

At 6:02 of the second period, a Scott Laughton delay of game penalty was turned into a power play goal by Tampa. After Domingue stopped a puck behind the net and Tampa rushed up the ice. Gourde passed bacl to Adam Erne, who scored on a rising shot from the right dot. Tampa now had a 1-0 lead despite a 22-9 shot disadvantage.

Midway through the second period, the Scott Laughton line had a strong forechecking shift, hemming Tampa in deep. That was followed by a good shift by the Couturier line with a chance for Ivan Provorov set up by Giroux. Shots were 26-10 in the Flyers favor at this point. However, Tampa's 11th shot -- a Cedric Paquette goal to the short side against Pickard, built a 2-0 Bolts lead.

The Flyers got one goal back at 14:33 of the middle frame. A Shayne Gostisbehere slap shot from the middle slot was partially muted but went right to James van Riemsdyk. JVR swept the puck home for the first goal of his second stint as a Flyer. Claude Giroux earned his 700th career point with his secondary assist on the goal.

It didn't take Tampa long to restore their two-goal lead, however. Tampa countered off a Radko Gudas turnover on a pass in the neutral zone intended for Wayne Simmonds. In the Flyers' zone, Brayden Point went to the net against the bigger and stronger Provorov and won the battle. Ryan Callahan got him the puck on the tape and Point had a tap-in goal.

The Flyers generated very little in the way of chances early in the third period. Tampa then put a seeming stranglehold on the game. Travis Konecny was called on an offensive zone interference and then Giroux was called for slashing Point's stick on what otherwise would have been a shorthanded chance. Tampa then scored on both their 5-on-3 (Tyler Johnson) and 5-on-4 (Point) to open a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead at 9:08 of the third period.

The next six-and-a-half minutes were hectic and cathartic. Konecny sniped a power play goal from the right circle to cut the gap to 5-2. On the Flyers' next power play, a left circle faceoff rapidly turned into a chance in front and a goal by Sean Couturier after it bounced to him and he swept it home for an unassssted goal.. A gorgeous give-and-go between Giroux and Konecny brought the Flyers back within a goal. Wayne Simmonds, from the ice, cleaned up a Robert Hägg rebound to tie the game at 5-5 at the 16:28 mark of the third period.

After the tying goal by Simmonds, Dale Weise had a breakaway opportunity and the Couturier line had a great chance off the rush to bring the Flyers' shot total to 45 through regulation. In OT, Simmonds was beaten defensively by Anthony Cirelli coming out from behind the net and Cirelli snapped a shot over Pickard to end the game.
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