POSTGAME 5: Flyers Win One for the Captain

On a night dedicated to Claude Giroux's 1,000th game for the team, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Nashville Predators, 5-4, in a seesaw affair at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening.

Travis Sanheim (5th goal of the season) scored the lone goal of the first period. In the second period, Nashville got goals from Tanner Jeannot (20th), ex-Flyer Phil Myers (1st goal for the Predators) and Ryan Johansen (PPG, 16th) to tie the score at 1-1 and later at 3-3 after the Flyers received tallies from Cam York (PPG, 2nd) and James van Riemsdyk (14th).
Just 71 seconds into the third period, Filip Forsberg (32nd) gave Nashville their first lead of the game. At 14:28, a would-be Derick Brassard tying goal was disallowed on a high-stick challenge. A 4-on-4 goal by Kevin Hayes (5th) tied the game at 4-4.
Finally, at 18:41, Joel Farabee (12th) put the Flyers ahead to stay after a set-up pass from Hayes.
Giroux logged 17:47 of ice time. He had two shots on goal, three credited hits and went 8-for-8 on faceoffs. After the final buzzer, Giroux skated a victory lap to the cheers of the crowd and then did a curtain call. Giroux was selected as the game's first star.

Carter Hart earned the win with 30 saves on 34 shots. Juuse Saros took the loss, stopping 28 of 33 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play. The Predators also went 1-for-4,
TURNING POINT
The Flyers could have sagged after a would-be tying goal from Brassard was disallowed for a high-sticked puck prior to the goal. Instead, they doubled down their efforts and found a way to win on a tying goal by Hayes and a game-winner from Farabee.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Giroux, unsurprisingly, started the game on the night's first shift. Hart was tested right off the bat by Filip Forsberg on the first shift.
At about the 2:25 mark, Giroux and linemates Travis Konecny, Morgan Frost along with defensemen Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen generated a flurry of chances. Saros made three straight saves.
Zack MacEwen and Michael McCaron dropped the gloves off a faceoff at 7:00. MacEwen got the better of the fight.
A pair of Predators' turnovers led directly to the game's first goal. Kevin Hayes was denied by Saros after a turnover by Nashville's Nick Cousins. Moments later, Ben Harpur gave the puck away to Sanheim, who scored an unassisted goal in front on the backhand at 7:44.

The Flyers got the game's first power play at 7:52 after Roman Josi was called for a neutral zone boarding minor on Konecny. Right off the hop, Cam Atkinson had a golden scoring chance off a Derick Brassard rebound. Saros made an outstanding save.
The Flyers went back to the power play at 7:52 when Mattias Ekholm was called for interference on a shift where the Flyers were buzzing in the Nashville zone. With 1:22 remaining on the 5-on-4, the Flyers' power play was short-circuited by a hooking penalty called against Giroux. During the 4-on-4 segment before a brief Nashville power play, Hart came out aggressively to deny Forsberg 1-on-1.
MacEwen had a chance from in close at 16:00. That was followed a shift later by a Konecny scoring opportunity off a Giroux faceoff wiin. At 18:59,Brassard hit the post after a Predators' turnover.
2) The Flyers -- and the Wells Fargo Center crowd -- were energized right from the outset. The emotion spiked again after the MacEwen fight and the team road the wave for the duration of the first period. Shots on goal were 17-11 Flyers and scoring chances were 12-5 in Philadelphia's favor. Saros limited the damage to a single goal. The Flyers' easily could have had three or four in the opening period.
3) An unpenalized cross-check -- which knocked Konecny to the ice -- led directly to a Tanner Jeannot goal at the 23-second mark of the second period. The goal was assisted by Colton Sissons.
Matt Duchene was called for interference at 1:13. It took the Flyers just nine seconds to cash in on the power play, Rapid puck movement was the key and the puck came out to goal-scorer York in good shooting range from the right hash marks. Konecny and Joel Farabee earned the assists at 1:21.

The Flyers extended the lead to 3-1 at the 3:48 mark of the middle frame. On a lengthy scramble around the Nashville net, Saros made two saves but Philly kept the play alive. Finally, van Riemsdyk deposited the puck in the net. The assists were credited to Atkinson and Brassard.

The Flyers' fourth line got hemmed in the defensive zone and the Predators eventually scored at 5:16, Hart made saves on Josi and Philip Tomasino. Cousins controlled the puck and sent it to ex-Flyer Myers. The defenseman's shot went through MacEwen's shin pads, hit Hart and then went in as the Predatos cut the gap to 3-2.
Skating the puck through the neutral zone at 6:03, Giroux took an accidental high stick from Colton Sissons. The Flyers went to their fourth power play, The Flyers generated decent puck movement but were unable to score.
At 8:26, MacEwen got his skate momentarily tangled with Cousins. A tripping penalty was called. .The Flyers killed it off in good shape.
The Flyers got away with a pair of turnovers and then iced the puck at 13:35. Hayes won the ensuing faceoff and the Flyers exited the defensive zone.
Konecny was called for a double high-sticking minor at 15:08. With 3:03 remaining on the penalties, Johansen was open in the slot to quickly direct a Mikael Granlund feed past Hart to tie the game at 3-3, Josi earned the secondary assist. The Flyers killed off the second minor. Notably, Frost (a penalty killing regular on the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms but not yet a regular part of the NHL rotation) received some time on the PK.
In the final 20 seconds of the period, Saros tracked a Konecny shot (5th shot on goal in the game) through a Giroux re-direct attempt.
4) Second period shots on goal were 11-8 in the Flyers' favor. High danger chances were 3-3. Overall, the Predators had 22 shot attempts in the period,
5) The Predators had the Flyers off-balance and flailing to cash in to take a 4-3 lead at 1:11 of the third period as Forsberg went between his legs with the puck, The assists went to Josi (third helper of the game) and Duchene.
Shots on goal were 6-2 Predators through the first six minutes of the third period.
The Giroux line generated extended pressure -- for roughly a minute, and aided by a Myers giveaway -- but they were unable to tie the game. The puck was deflected out of play at the 7:00 mark.
With 8:28 remaining in the third period, Hart was in pain after moving over to make a save. He remained in the game.
The Giroux line had a very lengthy cycling shift but were unable to get a shot on net but the Flyers kept on pressing as they changed personnel. Finally, at 13:28, Brassard jammed home a van Riemsdyk rebound. However, the goal was disallowed on a challenge by Nashville for Cam Atkinson playing the puck with a high stick to Brassard.
Ekholm was called for hooking at 14:17 but it was canceled out into a 4-on-4 on a holding the stick call against Farabee. During the 4-on-4, at 15:45, Ristolainen wheeled up ice with the puck and fired on the net. The pucke went off Saros, off Hayes' skate and into the net. This one counted.

With 1:55 remaining in regulation, Frost took the puck to the face on a a flip pass in the neutral zone. He stayed in the game.,
At 18:41, the Flyers regained the lead for the first time since the second period -- and scored their 5th goal for the first time in the last 33 games. It started with strong work by Ristolainen. Sanheim then wheeled around the offensive zone Finally, from the right side boards, Hayes threaded a perfect cross-ice feed to Farabee for a a tap-in goal..

Giroux did not get a chance at an empty net goal. The Flyers iced the puck a couple of times and were unable to change lines. However, the team killed off the remaining clock and went over immediately to embrace their captain.