The Philadelphia Flyers put forth a valiant performance but lost to the New York Rangers, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center. Philly controlled most of the opening and final periods. Ultimately, the Rangers got a favorable bounce that broke a 1-1 deadlock in the third period.
The Flyers played a fast-paced first period and controlled the decided majority of the play and scoring chances. However, the game went to intermission scoreless.
The tables turned in the second period, as the Rangers established a heavy territorial edge at both 5-on-5 on 4-on-4. During a 4-on-4, Alexis Lafreniere (17th goal of the season) wristed home a shot through the five-hole from the left circle for a 1-0 Rangers lead at 11:56. The assists went to Vincent Trocheck and K'Andre Miller.
Hard work down low by Scott Laughton and a quick pass out to Tyson Foerster (11th goal of the season) in the low slot enabled Philly to tie the game at 2:36 of the third period. The assists went to Laughton and Travis Sanheim.
The Rangers took a 2-1 lead on a pinballing goal at 6:31. Barclay Goodrow tipped a Braden Schneider shot and then the puck went in off Matt Rempe's knee for his first NHL goal. The assists went Goodrow and Schneider.
Samuel Ersson played well in stopping 22 of 24 shots. He took a hard-luck loss. Igor Sheshterkin was excellent in the Rangers' net, turning back 40 of 41 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Rangers were 0-for-5.
All-Star winger Travis Konecny, who left practice early on Friday, missed the game and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Tyson Foerster returned to the lineup from a lower-body injury.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 71 Tyson Foerster
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 89 Cam Atkinson
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - (rotation)
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
18 Marc Staal- 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula
33 Samuel Ersson
[40 Cal Petersen]
TURNING POINT
The Flyers were doing an excellent job of killing a high-sticking double minor on Hathaway. In fact, Philly came close to a shorthanded goal on a Laughton shot that drew iron. The turning point actually came when Artemi Panarin took a hooking penalty in restraining Atkinson during a Flyers shorthanded attack. New York dominated the 4-on-4, as a strategy to largely use checking-oriented forwards backfired on Philly. Lafreniere scored to break the 0-0 deadlock and the Flyers largely remained hemmed in their own end of the ice.
The Flyers came out with a heavy attack early in the third period, finally resulting in Foerster's tying goal. Ultimately, Rempe's heavy screen and the fortunate bounce of the already deflected puck off his huge frame determined the final outcome.
POSTGAME 5
1) The Flyers had each of the game's first three shots on goal and the first scoring chance.At the 3:00 mark, the expected heavyweight fight between Delauriers and Matt Rempe took place. They went toe-to-toe in an epic bout with Deslauriers eventually coming out on top.
At 4:00, the Rangers had their first scoring chance, as Braden Schneider was stopped from 15 feet. At 6:48, Sheshterkin robbed Foerster right from the doorstep.
Philly went to the power play at 7:42 as Lafreniere was called for hooking. Farabee was called for a questionable interference penalty at 8:03. The teams skated 4-on-4 until the Rangers had a brief power play.
Erik Gustafsson was called for high sticking at 10:48. The Flyers went back to the power play. Shots on goal at this point were 12-4 Flyers. Farabee had a left circle shot on net off a rush. Nothing further developed.
The Flyers had a 3-on-2 rush opportunity. On a broken sequence intended for Sanheim, Frost backhanded a shot at the net from eight feet. At the 17:53 mark, Farabee had a chance from the left circle. Foerster was denied on a wrister from the left dot at 18:21.
Philly iced the puck at 18:37, Couturier won the ensuing defensive right circle draw and the Flyers worked the puck out of the defensive zone.
2) First period shots on goal were 17-9 Flyers. Shot attempts were 27-23 Flyers. Scoring chances were 18-9 Flyers per Natural Stat Trick. High-danger scoring chances were 6-2 Flyers (three for Foerster). Faceoffs were 14-5 Flyers (led by Poehling's 4-for-4 and Couturier's 4-for-5).
3) Farabee high-sticked Lafreniere along the defensive half boards, sending the Rangers to the power play at 51 seconds of the second period. The Flyers killed it off in good shape.
At a stoppage after a scramble in the Flyers' zone, Barclay Goodrow shoved the much smaller Frost twice. Nick Seeler responded by essentially challenging Goodrow to go with him instead. Things settled down quickly thereafter. Through six minutes, shots on goal were 4-0 Rangers.
At 8:47, Hathaway was called for a high-sticking double minor on a play along the side boards with K'Andre Miller. The play was reviewed to see if Hathaway was following through on a clearing attempt but the penalty stood. Laughton hit the post on a shorthanded foray. With 1:40 left on the penalty clock (11:07 of the period) Ersson stopped Lafreniere from the doorstep.
On a shorthanded rush by the Flyers, at 11:37, Panarin grabbed hold of the puck. The teams skated 4-on-4 for 1:10. New York's Lafreniere scored at 11:54 for a 1-0 lead. The Rangers continued to pressure over the remaining 4-on-4 time, and Philly generated nothing on their brief power play.
4) Second period shots on goal were 10-4 Rangers (23-19 Flyers overall, led by five from Tippett). Shot attempts were 23-16 Rangers (47-44 Rangers overall). Scoring chances were 11-3 Rangers (21-20 Rangers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 7-0 Rangers (9-7 Rangers overall). Faceoffs were 10-8 Flyers (24-13 Flyers overall, led by Couturier's 10-for-12).
5) Cates created a scramble near the Rangers' net on the first shift of the third period. The Flyers had a golden chance on the next shift. Frost passed to Tippett, whose shot produced a juicy rebound into the low right slot but Atkinson couldn't corral it. Foerster tied the game at 2:36.
Through five minutes, shots on goal were 6-1 Flyers. At 5:51, the Flyers generated an offensive zone faceoff. Poehling won the ensuing left circle draw but the Flyers were unable to generate a forecheck. Goodrow scored at 6:31.
At 8:58, Couturier was called for a high-sticking minor on Adam Fox behind the New York net. Sanheim had a shorthanded breakaway and was stuffed by Sheshterkin on a backhander. At the other end, Ersson turned aside a sharp angle shot from Lafreniere.
At 11:33, Frost cleanly won an offensive faceoff back to Zamula. The defenseman's point shot was stopped and held for a stoppage. At 14:30, Frost made a nice defensive play with a clean takeaway and then made a seeing-eye pass that started a counterattacking chance for Philly. York missed the net.
Couturier was high-sticked by Miller at 15:57, creating a vital power play for Philly. Frost missed on a great look at the net. Tippett put a 40-footer on net. The Flyers pulled Ersson with 2:18 on the clock at 15 seconds left of the power play. Philly called timeout.
Sheshterkin missed on an empty net shot attempt. At 18:57, New York iced the puck. Couturier had one final scoring chance for the Flyers but he wasn't able to pot a sharp rebound.
Third period shots on goal were 18-5 Flyers (41-24 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 29-8 Flyers (65-37 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 11-3 Flyers (26-15 Flyers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 4-2 Flyers (10-9 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 14-9 Flyers (24-13 Flyers 38-22 Flyers overall).
