POSTGAME 5: Flyers Blanked by Oilers, 3-0

The Philadelphia Flyers opened their March schedule with a loss to the Edmonton Oilers at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. The Flyers played a solid game in terms of process but hurt their cause by taking five minor penalties and by passing up some open looks at the net or firing wide. Leon Draisaitl had a power play goal and two assists for the Oilers. Connor McDavid had an empty-net goal and an assist.

Draisaitl (37th goal of the season) gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead on a power play goal late in the first period. Kailer Yamamoto (11th) extended the lead to 2-0 lin the latter stages of the second period.McDavid (29th) tacked on an empty net goal in the third period.
Carter Hart stopped 29 of 31 shots in a losing cause. Mikko Koskinen earned a 39-save shutout.
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. A failed 5-on-3 in the first period loomed large. The Oilers went 1-for-5.
TURNING POINT
The Yamamoto goal was close to being goalie interference by Evander Kane and was also close to being kicked in by Kane before Yamamoto got a stick on it to make it a legal goal. The Flyers elected not to challenge.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Scott Laughton was called for tripping Connor McDavid along the side boards in the Flyers zone 31 seconds into the first period. The Flyers held the Oilers to one shot and scoring chance on the kill.
Koskinen absorbed a routine shot by James van Riemsdyk at 3:36. Shots on goal were 2-1 Flyers at this early juncture. Shots were 4-2 Flyers at 7:53 as Nick Seeler put a point shot on net with Laughton and Oskar Lindblom screening.
At mid-period, Hart did a good job tracking point shots for clean saves on back-to-back shifts. At 11:05, he stopped Zack Hyman from close range after McDavid took the puck toward the net.
The Flyers lost a potential scoring chance on the rush when Travis Konecny passed up an open shot from the left slot. Play went the other way. Kailer Yamamoto high-sticked Konecny in the Flyers' corner and the Flyers went on the power play at the 15:00 mark. The Flyers got a 51-second 5-on-3 when Koskinen shot the puck over the glass from the trapezoid behind his net. The Flyers generated several shots but no goals. A couple of lost puck battles behind the Oilers net relieved pressure for Edmonton and cost the Flyers precious time.
Lindblom was called for a neutral zone trip at 17:21, putting the Oilers on their second power play. Draisaitl took a pass across the ice from Darnell Nurse and fired a shot from up high that found the net. Connor McDavid got the secondary assist as the Oilers took a 1-0 lead at 17:41.
In the closing seconds of the first period, Travis Sanheim had plenty of room to tuck the puck home as he went to the net and received a pass from Claude Giroux. Sanheim put it wide of the short side at 19:53.
2) The Flyers did a lot of good things in terms of being aggressive and playing with structure for the majority of the first period. But three golden scoring chances that went awry, the unsuccessful 5-on-3 power play opportunity and the late first period power play goal by Draisaitl put the Flyers in a tough spot. The Oilers entered the game with a perfect 15-0-0 record when leading at the end of the first period.
First period shots on goal were 13-10 Flyers. At 5-on-5, the Flyers had 16 of the 28 shot attempts (57.14 percent team Corsi). First period faceoffs were 10-10. First period scoring chances at 5-on-5 favored the Flyers, 8-4.
3) The Oilers generated a scramble around the Flyers net early in the second period. Hart held for a stoppage at 1:40.
Lindblom was called tripping --- for the second time in the game -- at 2:42. The penalty was called in the offensive zone with Markus Niemeläinen going down. The Flyers survived the kill. Not long after the penalty expired, Gerry Mayhew had a scoring chance from the right slot at the other end. Shots were 5-4 Flyers through 5:35.
The Flyers survived a shift with the fourth line and third defense pairing out against McDavid, who elected to prolong a shift rather than going off for a change. A TV timeout ensued at 6:58.
Konency tripped Nurse near the Edmonton blueline at 8:04. The Oiler went to their fourth power play. McDavid sliced through the D on a great individual effort and later made two separate tape-to-tape passes across the ice but the Flyers survived the kill. As it expired, the Flyers had a prime chance off the rush but missed the net.
Ristolainen landed a good hit on Hyman on the side boards in the Philadelphia zone. Hyman then grabbed hold of Ristolainen's stick, letting go before a referee raised his arm for a penalty.
At 14:47, Giroux took a backhanded Joel Farabee pass from above the right circle. From deep center slot, Giroux snapped a shot on net that Koskinen fought off and held for a stoppage of play.
Edmonton's Yamamoto poked the poke home in a goal-mouth scramble at 15:10 to make it 2-0. Had it gone in off Evander Kane, who kicked at the puck, the goal would have been disallowed. Kane and Draisaitl assisted.
At 18:20, Ristolainen was penalized for high-sticking. Edmonton went to their fifth power play. Attacking shorthanded, Laughton split the D but the chance closed off. The Oilers took 20 seconds of carryover power play time into the third period.
4) Despite Edmonton's 5:40 of power play time in the second period -- to none for the Flyers -- second period shots on goal were 11-11. The Oilers had 18 of 34 shot attempts in the period at 5-on-5.Scoring chances were 10-7 Oilers (4-2) high danger. The only number that truly mattered was the Oilers' 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.
5) The Flyers killed the remainder of the Ristolainen penalty in good shape. With play back at five-on-five Mayhew made a nice centering feed to Patrick Brown in the low center slot. Koskinen made the save. At the six-minute mark, Sanheim joined the attack and found Giroux going to the net. The play was broken up at the last split second. Shots.on goal were 3-2 Flyers through 6:48.
James van Riemsdyk carried the puck wide of the left wide on the rush and tried to make a cross-slot pass to Konecny that did not connect, At the other end, Hart denied McDavid twice; an initial shot and a follow-up attempt. Shots on goal were 6-3 Oilers through 10:17 of the third period.
With about 8:30 left, Keith Yandle committed a bad giveaway. The Flyers recovered with no harm. At 12:15. Hart gloved a Ryan McLeod save for a stoppage.
Zack MacEwen drove to the net, looking for a rebound of a side-angle shot by Lindblom. Koskinen froze the puck for a stoppage before MacEwen could get to it at 15:23.
The Flyers pulled Hart for an extra attacker at 17:41 as Sanheim put a routine shot on net from the left circle for a stoppage of play. The Flyers called timeout. On a designed play off the next faceoff, Atkinson had a scoring chance directly off a Giroux faceoff win. The Flyers then had a scramble near the net. Finally, at 18:20, the Oilers had a 3-on-1, which McDavid finished into the empty net. Draisaitl and Hyman assisted.
Third period shots on goal were 14-10 Flyers.