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Wrap: Flyers Drop 4-1 Decision in Edmonton; Rookies Deliver for Phantoms |
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Continued power play woes and a combination of failed clears, turnovers and an opportunistic opponent doomed the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night. The Flyers dropped to 1-2-1 on their current five-game road trip and have won just four of their last 14 games overall (4-7-3).
The Oilers, who were playing in the second end of a road/home back-to-back and for the third time in four nights, were a tired team but the Flyers did not take advantage. Ken Hitchcock's team played a methodical game and basically waited to capitalize on Flyers mistakes. Edmonton generated only 22 shots on goal for the game, but made them count.
Special teams were a big reason for the outcome. The Flyers looked awful in going 0-for-5 on the power play, including a failed four-minute power play with the score 1-0 in the second period and a fruitless late-game opportunity. Philly was 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Connor McDavid scored even strength and empty-net goals (18th and 19th) as well as one assist for a three-point game. Alex Chiasson (14th) and Adam Larsson (1st) also scored for the Oilers. Mikko Koskinen stopped 31 of 32 shots to earn the win in net.
Jakub Voracek scored the lone goal for the Flyers (9th) on a tally that was initially credited as a deflection goal by Sean Couturier. Claude Giroux earned the lone assist.
The Flyers got off to a good start for about 10 minutes. They kept Edmonton on the defensive for much of the first half of the opening period, especially in one notable shift in which the Couturier line kept McDavid's hemmed in deep for a prolonged period of time.
A coverage gaffe in the defensive zone -- Andrew MacDonald and Ivan Provorov in the same corner with no coverage in front -- after a couple of failed clears came back to haunt the Flyers. Alex Chiasson was left alone in the slot to take a feed from Leon Draisaitl and snap a glove-side shot past Anthony Stolarz for a 1-0 Edmonton lead at 12:37 of the first period.
As the first period progressed, the Flyers had some issues with turnovers on low-percentage passes. However, the team did a solid job of killing off a penalty with Claude Giroux in the box for slashing and outshot the Oilers, 9-7, for the opening 20 minutes.
The second period was an atrocious one for the Flyers, despite a 10-8 shot edge. The Flyers had four shots on goal during an early second period four-minute power play on a Drake Caggiula high-sticking double minor. However, none were especially dangerous: mostly perimeter or point shots that were unscreened.
At 12:37 of the second period -- the exact same time as the Chiasson goal in the first period -- a Shayne Gostisbehere turnover to the ever-dangerous McDavid and a bank shot by the Oilers captain from the behind the net off goaltender Stolarz gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead.
The Oilers then scored again at 14:08 to build a commanding 3-0 lead despite the sparsity of Edmonton shots. On the latter goal, the Flyers once again failed to get the puck out of their own zone. Adaam Larsson scored from above the right circle on a shot that went through layers of traffic past Stolarz.
Dave Hakstol changed pretty much every line combination to start the third period. Michael Raffl moved up to play on Couturier's line. Wayne Simmonds moved down to Scott Laughton line. Giroux and Nolan Patrick were on the same line. Travis Sanheim skated with Ivan Provorov. Shayne Gostisbehere was with Robert Hägg. Radko Gudas was with Andrew MacDonald.
Giroux came within a whisker of getting the Flyers on the board, hitting the inside of the post. On the next shift, Voracek's shot from up high cut the gap to 3-1 at 10:03. There was still time to make a push but Edmonton slammed the door in the last seven minutes (although the Flyers had a 13-7 shot edge for the period).
A golden power play opportunity late in the game went by the wayside with nary a Flyers scoring chance as their man advantage woes continued. Connor McDavid later added an empty net goal to ice the win at 4-1.
The Flyers, now 12-14-4, finish the road trip on Saturday in Vancouver.
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Rookies Lift Phantoms to 4-1 Win vs.Belleville
Three goals by Lehigh Valley Phantoms rookies, a special teams advantage and a strong goaltending performance lifted the Flyers' AHL affiliate to a 4-1 home win over the Belleville Senators at the PPL Center on Friday night.
In a rematch of goaltending opponents from last year's World Junior Championships, Phantoms goaltender Carter Hart (25 saves on 26 shots) outdueled counterpart Filip Gustavsson (22 saves on 26 shots) to earn the victory.
The Phantoms won the special teams battle on this night, going 2-for-6 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Veteran Greg Carey opened the scoring with a power play goal (13th) from the slot at 11:36 of the first period. The lead grew to 2-0 at 7:22 of the second period as the recently hot Connor Bunnaman got set up in his office near the net and scored a power play goal (5th). Veteran defenseman T.J. Brennan and vet forward Chris Conner assisted on both goals.
Hart had no chance to stop a point-blank tip-in by Chase Balisy at 11:31 of the second period off an cross-ice feed by Adam Tambellini. However, Phantoms rookie Carsen Twarynski (2nd goal of the season) got the goal back five minutes later. Reese Willcox and Tyrell Goulbourne earned the assists.
Belleville made a mini-push in the third period but Hart calmly turned aside all 11 shots he faced. He was square to the shooters and good with rebound control. Midway through the period, Twarynski scored on a breakaway to open a three-goal lead.
The Phantoms put forth a gutsy performance, especially in light of how shorthanded the team is due to injuries and callups. None among German Rubtsov (out for the season), Phil Varone (NHL recall), Alex Lyon (NHL recall), Mikhail Vorobyev (upper-body injury) or David Kase (AHL suspension plus an undisclosed injury) are available right now for Scott Gordon's team.
With the win, the Phantoms improved to 15-8-2. On Saturday, Lehigh Valley will visit the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. Gordon has a choice to make in either turning to Hart to make back-to-back starts or entrusting Saturday's game to Branden Komm.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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