POSTGAME 5: Oilers Overcome Flyers, 4-2

The Philadelphia Flyers were unable to protect a third-period lead and went down to a 4-2 defeat to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Tuesday evening. Special teams were the Flyers' undoing. Connor McDavid had a three-point outburst in the final stanza as Edmonton turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 win. The Flyers finished their western road trip with a 1-3-0 record.

Playing for the third time in four nights and without the services of the injured Travis Konecny, the Flyers put forth a valiant effort for two-plus periods. It was not enough.
A Noah Cates wraparound goal (9th of the season) gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 10:01 of the first period. Philly dominated approximately 15 minutes of the period. Unfortunately, a Joel Farabee faceoff penalty in the final six seconds of the opening stanza immediately turned into a Tyson Barrie power play goal (10th) off the faceoff.
In the second period, the Flyers took a 2-1 edge at 11:37 after Olle Lycksell created a turnover and Owen Tippett (16th goal of the season) re-directed a Kevin Hayes feed into the net. The Flyers had nervous moments on a Connor McDavid power play scoring chance and then a shorthanded opportunity for the NHL's leading scorer but survived to take their one-goal lead into the third period.
The Flyers were on their heels to start the third period and the Oilers' special teams made the difference. On a four-minute penalty to Lycksell, Leon Draisaitl (34th) tied the game on a power play goal. A lucky bounce on an attempted McDavid pass that went into the net at 12:39 proved to be the game-winner for Edmonton on McDavid's 43rd goal of the season. McDavid subsequently added a 4-on-6 shorthanded empty net goal (44th) at 17:35 to ice the win after Darnell Nurse blocked an attempted shot by Morgan Frost in the Edmonton end.
Carter Hart played well in a losing cause, stopping 23 of 26 shots. Stuart Skinner earned the win with 23 saves on 25 shots. A third period save on Tippett proved crucial for the Oilers.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Oilers were 2-for-4. Overall, the Flyers were minus-three for the night on special teams.
Konecny was unable to play due to an upper body injury sustained in Calgary on Monday. Travis Sanheim returned to the lineup, and Kieffer Bellows dressed for the game.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
62 Olle Lycksell - 13 Kevin Hayes - 86 Joel Farabee
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
45 Cam York - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
TURNING POINT
The biggest key to the Flyers' 2-1 (2-1) shootout win over the Oilers in Philadelphia earlier this month was the fact that the Flyers stayed out of the penalty box the entire game. Edmonton's lethal power play never got an opportunity to do damage. On this night, a careless high sticking minor by Joel Farabee in the waning seconds of the first period (with Philly leading 1-0) and an even more careless Olle Lycksell high sticking double minor (with the Flyers ahead 2-1) at 5:58 of the third period had disastrous consequences for the Flyers. Meanwhile, the Flyers own power plays produced nothing but frustration and poor execution on faceoffs, entries (nearly resulting in a McDavid shorthanded chance) and inability to get shot attempts on net (resulting in McDavid's shorthanded ENG).
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Hart stopped a Darnell Nurse point shot at 2:17 on the game's first shot on net. Kailer Yamamoto had the first legit scoring chance but was stopped in close by Hart. Through the first seven minutes of the first period, shots were 4-0 Oilers.
Joel Farabee had the Flyers' first shot on Skinner at 7:13. The goalie made the routine save. At 7:27, Farabee skated toward the net and took a high stick from . The Flyers went on the game's first power play. Philly generated extensive offensive zone possession time and two shots on goal but no real high-danger chances.
At 10:01, the Flyers took a 1-0 lead as Cates got away from Leon Draisaitl and scored on a wraparound between Skinner's pads after it went off the goalie's stick. Assists went to Allison and Deslauriers.
Good forechecking work by Allison produced a shot for Seeler at 12:09. At the other end of the ice, Patrick Brown blocked a Philip Broberg shot from the center slot. With about five minutes left in the first period, Provorov made two good plays with his stick to kill Edmonton attack attempts.
Allison won another battle on the boards and Laughton snapped a shot on net. A shift later, Tippett made good plays at both ends of the ice and forced Skinner to cover up for a stoppage after a save.
At 19:54, Farabee took a careless high sticking penalty against Bouchard. As a result, it cost the Flyers a goal on Edmonton's first shot on goal in nearly 15 minutes of game play. Draisaitl won the first faceoff of the power play, a left circle draw, cleanly back to Tyson Barrie. Barrie's rising shot through traffic found the net over Hart's glove at 19:57.
2) First period shots on goal were 10-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were 12-11 Flyers. Scoring chances were 8-6 Flyers with a 3-2 high-danger edge to Edmonton (Per Natural Stat Trick). Faceoffs were 9-8 Flyers.
The Flyers played outstanding hockey over the final 15 minutes of the period. Philly largely controlled the boards and were tenacious on the forecheck. When the Flyers didn't have the puck, the checking was almost airtight. The Farabee penalty and Barrie power play goal, unfortunately, canceled out the 1-0 lead the Flyers had built.
3) The Oilers set McDavid and Draisaitl out together for the second shift on the middle period. The Flyers went into bend-but-don't-break mode but the shift ended with a JVR shot on net at the other end. Two shifts later, TIppett forced an Oilers' turnover for a Flyers' chance.
At 4:02, with McDavid and Draisaitl both on the ice again, Provorov pressured McDavid into losing the puck.
The 25-48-74 line hemmed the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins line in deep. At the other end, after a Sanheim giveaway, the Oilers put on their first extended pressure since early in the first period. Cates finally swept the puck to safety.
McDavid tried to go end-to-end but lost the puck. A shift later, Jesse Puljujärvi fumbled away a potential scoring chance. At the other end, Farabee received a heavy (and clean) hit from Nurse. At 10:14, a lobbed-in puck produced a scoring chance in close for Zack Hyman. Hart denied the backhander.
At 10:33, McDavid and Draisaitl came out together again for an offensive zone draw against the Cates line. No scoring chances resulted.
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead at 11:37. Lycksell pursued the puck and forced a turnover with his forechecking work. Hayes then threaded the puck to Tippett driving the net. Tippett deflected the puck past Skinner. Hayes and Lycksell (1st NHL point) earned the assists.
Laughton won a defensive zone draw against McDavid but Provorov iced the puck. Laughton won the next draw, too.
At 15:04, Allison tripped Barrie. Edmonton went on their second power play. The front end of the kill went well. The latter portion was an adventure. Deslauriers was stung by a puck off his hand. Laughton lost his stick and was subsequently a bit gimpy after a blocked shout but the Flyers could not clear or get a stoppage for a change. Hart made a spectacular point-blank save on McDavid and the Flyers survived the kill.
Ryan McLeod tripped Brown behind the Edmonton net at 17:33. The Flyers went on their second power play. It was a tough one for Frost, who lost the first faceoff and, subsequently, was taken off the puck attempting to 1-on-3 upon offensive zone entry. That led directly to a counterattack for the deadly McDavid. Philadelphia caught a huge break as the shot attempt went off the inside of the right post, went through the blue paint and stayed out of the net.
4) Second period shots on goal were 7-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were 16-11 Oilers. Scoring chances were 8-5 Oilers. High-danger chances were 4-2 Oilers. The Flyers, though, had the only one that ended up on the scoreboard.
The second period saw the Oilers start to generate more pressure but the Flyers found ways to counterpunch. Provorov, Cates and Laughton all did a good job defensively when matched up against the line with repeatedly had McDavid and Draisaitl on the ice. The Oilers' superstars -- and other Edmonton players -- had turnover issues at times and were unlucky a few other times.
5) The McDavid line pressured immediately on the first shift of the third period. Through the first 2:15, shots were 2-0 Oilers. At 4:09, Laughton took an unpressured icing. McDavid came out and won the ensuing faceoff. Cates chipped a puck into the Flyers' bench. McDavid won the draw and Barrie had a shot. Tippett was unable to clear. A shot was blocked. The Flyers were finally able to clear.
At 4:58, Lycksell was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking. The Oilers went on a four-minute power play with a chance to tie or even take the lead. With 1:09 remaining on the first minor, Draisaitl completed a tic-tac-toe hookup with Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid to tie the game at 2-2. McDavid had a pair of knuckling shots on net in the second half of the power play. Provorov made a strong defensive play and skated the puck to safety.
Frost had a 2-on-1 chance with Tippett. Skinner made a 10-bell save on Tippett to keep the game tied at 2-2. At the other end of the ice, DeAngelo turned the puck over on a risky play (turning backwards toward his own net) but then had a takeaway to atone for his own miscue.
The Oilers went ahead 3-2 at 12:39. The Oilers finally got some puck luck on this one. McDavid was attempting a pass and it bounced into the net off Sanheim, who was down along the ice. Draisaitl got the lone assist.
Edmonton had a 3-on-1 counterattacking opportunity with about five minutes left in regulation. They were unable to connect. With 3:15 remaining, Hart made a clutch save on Kulak to keep the deficit at 3-2.
With 2:42 remaining and Hart pulled for an extra attacker, Evan Bouchard put the puck over the glass from the defensive zone to receive a delay of game penalty. The Flyers went on a 6-on-4 power play. In Vancouver, the Flyers allowed two shorthanded empty net goals, and it happened again here.
Frost put a shot at the net from high in the zone, looking for a deflection, screen or rebound.Instead, it never got to Skinner as it was blocked by Nurse. McDavid claimed it and fired off a long-distance empty net goal at 17:35. Nurse got the assist.
Third period shots were 17-9 Oilers including seven shots on goal by McDavid. Shot attempts were 26-17 Oilers. Scoring chances were 17-9 Oilers. High-danger chances were 8-3 Oilers.