Samuel Ersson came up with some important saves to keep the Flyers in striking distance, but ended up suffering the loss. He stopped 17 of 19 shots. Although shot attempts were not lopsided in Philly's favor, shots on goal were. The Flyers blocked 23 shot attempts, led by Egor Zamula with four.
Mackenzie Blackwood earned his first win of the season. He stopped 38 of 39 shots on goal. The Flyers got blocked 19 times and missed the net seven other times.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play against a Sharks team that entered the game averaging roughly one opposing power play goal for every three opportunities. The Sharks were 1-for-5 on the man-advantage.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
74 Owen Tippett - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
89 Cam Atkinson - 21 Scott Laughton - 71 Tyson Foerster
86 Joel Farabee - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
44 Nick Deslauriers - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula - 37 Louie Belpedio
33 Samuel Ersson
[40 Cal Petersen]
TURNING POINT
The Flyers found themselves struggling much of the night to cope with Anthony Duclair's speed. His goal early in the first period forced the Flyers -- who have yet to win when yielding the first tally of a game -- to play from behind. That's where they stayed all night.
POSTGAME 5
1) The Flyers' fourth line started the game on the first shift, as Tortorella is fond of doing. The early part of the first shift was played in the San Jose end zone but soon swung the other way. The Flyers get hemmed in and were unable to complete a line change. A failed clearing chance up the wall by Cam York prolonged the San Jose possession. Poehling and Hathaway blocked San Jose shot attempts.
Finally, the Flyers got a line change. However, with the Couturier line and the defense pairing of Nick Seeler and Sean Walker on the ice, Duclair and the Sharks struck for the game's first goal.
At the 4:06 mark of the first period, Deslauriers dropped the gloves with Givani Smith. The two received fighting majors.
The Flyers went on the game's first power play at 5:24 as Duclair was called for tripping Foerster. During the ensuing 5-on-4, Foerster had a prime scoring chance from the right slot .
The Flyers pushed back after the Sharks' goal, recording each of the next seven shots on net.
Philly went back to the power play at 15:04. Kyle Burroughs grabbed hold of Brink along the side boards in the Sharks' zone. Just 30 seconds into the power play, Konecny was called for goaltender interference. Behind the play, Konecny and Luke Kunin got into a shoving match. Both players were called for roughing in addition to the initial minor on Konecny. The teams skated at 4-on-4.
With 42.8 seconds on the clock, Jan Rutta clipped Farabee with a high-stick. He received a two-minute minor. The Flyers took 1:17 of power play time into the second period.
2. Shots on goal in the first period were 13-4 Flyers. Shot attempts were 19-16 Flyers. Scoring chances were 7-6 Flyers per Natural Stat Trick with a 3-2 high-danger edge to Philly. Faceoffs were 13-6 San Jose, led by Tomas Hertl going 7-for-9. Couturier, uncharacteristically, was just 1-for-6. For Philly, turnovers were a trouble spot: five charged giveaways plus five takeaways by San Jose. For the Sharks, goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood let out several fat rebounds but the Flyers did not capitalize. Also of note: The Flyers blocked eight shot attempts by San Jose.
3. With 20 seconds of carryover power play time remaining to start the second period, the Flyers took a too many men on the ice penalty. During the Sharks' power play, Seeler blocked a Duclair shot attempt. Couturier grabbed an errant San Jose pass and cleared it down the ice and the Sharks went offside on their next entry attempt. Late in the kill, Ersson denied a Labanc chance in front.
Hertl stickhandled past Seeler, and in on net. Ersson made the save. At the other end, the Couturier line applied some extended pressure. Konecny had a chance in the slot amid a very active individual shift. Second period shots were 5-3 Flyers through 6:10.
At 6:51, Blackwood turned aside a side-angle shot by Sanheim from the right circle. At the other end of the ice, the Herl line had a lengthy possession shift in the Flyers' zone.
As the period -- and game -- near the midpoint, Ersson and the defense had a communication failure behind the net. Zamula was charged with a giveaway but redeemed himself with blocks on Burroughs and Mike Hoffman.
At the 13:03 mark, after the Flyers won two battles down low -- Couturier did yeoman work -- Atkinson was stopped on a one-time from the right slot. It was one of the Flyers' best scoring chances of the game up to that point.
At 14:33, after failing on a neutral zone stick check attempt on Kunin, Zamula took an interference penalty at the defensive blueline. At 15:12, a patient Cates hung onto a puck and drew a tripping penalty on Granlund. Then, with 33 seconds of 4-on-4 time left, Sanheim took a holding penalty on Ferraro. San Jose scored on the ensuing 4-on-3.
Farabee's goal that made it a 2-1 game was very nearly followed by another Flyers tally in the final minute of the second period. Couturier missed the net from a favorable angle.
4. Second period shots on goal were 11-7 Flyers (24-11 Flyers through two periods). Shot attempts were 15-12 Flyers (26-25 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 8-7 Sharks (12-11 Flyers overall) with a 3-3 high-danger split (4-3 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 15-5 Sharks (28-11 San Jose overall, led by Hertl and 12-for-15 and with Couturier 1-for-10). Through two periods, the Flyers were guilty of 17 turnovers (seven in the middle stanza): eight via giveaways, seven via San Jose takeaways.
5. The Couturier line had a good shift to open the third period. On the second shift, Duclair turned on the nets again and nearly scored.
The Flyers went back to the power play at 1:25 on a Granlund holding penalty. The Flyers had a lot of attack zone time and a couple of looks but no payoff. They were now on an 0-for-21 goal less streak on the man advantage. After the penalty expired, the Flyers survived a 3-on-1 with York caught up ice.
As play resumed, the Couturier line applied extensive pressure deep in the Sharks' zone. San Jose eventually iced the puck. On the next shift, it was the Laughton line's turn (with Tippett and Foerster on the wings) to hem the Sharks in their defensive zone. Foerster alone had three retrievables. The Laughton line did it again on their next shift as San Jose continued to be unable to clear the puck.
When the period was halfway through, Hathaway had a one-on-one chance against Blackwood. The goalie got a piece of the shot to knock it away. The Philly fourth line continued to push. Finally, the Sharks cleared. Shots at this point were 11-3 Flyers for the third period.
At 18:34, the Sharks iced the puck. After calling a timeout, the Flyers pulled Ersson for an extra attacker. Hertl won another faceoff cleanly against Couturier but the Sharks iced the puck again as Granlund missed the net from long-distance range. Hertl and Couturier faced off again. Yet again, Hertl won.
The Sharks were thwarted moving up ice. The Flyers' got set up again in the offensive zone but couldn't produce a tip or rebound. With 2.6 seconds on the clock, Blackwood held on to a Farabee shot attempt.
Before the final faceoff, Laughton and Duclair received matching misconducts. The buzzer sounded as Couturier was unable to shoot the puck off the drop and Hertl got it behind the net.
Third period shots on goal were 15-8 Flyers (39-19 Flyers for the game). Shot attempts were 24-16 Flyers (65-53 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 11-9 Flyers (27-27 overall) with a 5-4 Flyers high-danger edge (11-11 split overall). Faceoffs were 8-5 Sharks (36-16 Sharks overall, 69 percent) Hertl was 16-for-22, while Couturier was 6-for-18 and Laughton was 3-for-13.
The Flyers only were guilty of two turnovers in the third period but the 19 they finished with overall -- 10 giveaways plus nine takeaways by the Sharks -- will be one of various areas they'll be unhappy about with this game.
