POSTGAME 5: Sharks Blank Flyers, 3-0

The Philadelphia Flyers were shut out by the San Jose Sharks, 3-0, at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening.

The first period was scoreless. A would-be power play goal by Joel Farabee was overturned at 7:13 of the second period on a coach's challenge for offside. San Jose took a 1-0 lead at 9:34 on an Erik Karlsson (3rd goal of the season) tally. Steven Lorentz (1st) made it 2-0 at 18:20 of the second period. Nico Sturm (3rd) added an empty net goal.
Flyers first-line center Kevin Hayes and first-line right wing Travis Konecny were benched by John Tortorella for the duration of the third period. James van Riemsdyk exited the game late in the first period and did not return.
Felix Sandström got the start in net for the Flyers, stopping 21 of 24 shots. James Reimer recorded a 31-save shutout.
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. The Sharks were 0-for-1.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 58 Tanner Laczynski
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 54 Egor Zamula
32 Felix Sandström
[79 Carter Hart]
TURNING POINT
The fairly closely spaced overturned Flyers goal at 7:13 of the second period and the Karlsson goal at 9:34 was effectively a two-goal swing a
MELTZER'S TAKE
1. Kevin Hayes won the opening faceoff and Travis Konecny had a scoring chance almost right off the hop but missed the net. Shots were 4-3 Flyers through 10:30.
The best scoring chance of the early game belonged to San Jose. Nine minutes in the game, a direct giveaway from Tony DeAngelo to Alexander Barbanov left the Russsian forward one-on-one with Sandström. The goalie bailed out his defenseman on the play.
At the 17:40 mark, Konecny threaded a cross-ice pass to Joel Farabee at the right side of the net; a near-miss for the Flyers.
Nick Seeler, who led the Flyers with both five credited hits and three blocked shots in the first period, snuffed out a Matt Nieto shot from the right circle with less than two minutes remaining in the first period.
2. James van Riemsdyk did not skate another shift in the first period after a 24-second shift (13:17 to 13:41) with under seven minutes minutes in the first period.
Opening period shots on goal were 9-7 in Philly's favor. The Flyers, ranked 32nd on draws coming into the game, won 9 of 14 faceoffs in the first period.The Flyers were credited with 15 first period hits to 10 for San Jose. Per Natural Stat Trick, high danger chances favored San Jose 6-1 but the eye test was closer to 3-1.
3. JVR did not return to the game. In the second period,Wade Allison was called for an offensive zone holding penalty on Erik Karlsson, negating an ensuing scoring chance for Tanner Laczynski at 3:20. On the ensuing penalty kill, Laughton had a shorthanded breakaway denied on the backhand by Reimer.
The Flyers went on their first power play at 6:13 when Mario Ferraro was called for holding. During the ensuing power play, the Sharks had a shorthanded scoring chance. The play then swung the other way, and Philly seemingly scored a tic-tac-toe goal on a passing sequence from Kevin Hayes to Laughton and then Laughton on the backhand to Farabee crashing the net at 7:13.
The Sharks challenged the goal, claiming Laughton entered the offensive zone offside. The challenge was upheld. The goal came off the board.
San Jose grabbed a 1-0 lead at 9:34. An Eriksson shot from the top of the right circle found the net behind Sandström. The assists went to Hertl and Barbanov.
Shots were 8-3 San Jose at a TV timeout with 4:16 remaining in the middle frame. At 18:20, an initially harmless looking play turned into a San Jose goal that made it 2-0. A Sandström pass behind the net eluded DeAngelo and was sent back to point by Matt Nieto. Jaycob Megna's point shot was tipped home in front by Lorentz for a 2-0 lead. The deflection occurred on DeAngelo's side of the ice, and the Flyers defenseman was disgusted with himself after the goal was scored.
4. Second period shots were 12-5 Sharks; 19-14 San Jose through two periods. The Flyers' best two chances of the period were the Laughton shorthanded rush and the disallowed goal. Scoring chances were 10-4 Sharks (2-1 high danger for the Flyers).
5. With Hayes and Konecny stapled to the bench, the Flyers had a power play at 5:39 of the third period. Philly generated a couple of looks and a scoring chance for Morgan Frost.
Deslauriers had a direct giveaway to Nico Sturm that forced Sandström to come up with a save. At the other end of the ice, Deslauriers had a scoring chance.
With 5:06 remaining, Farabee sent Frost in alone on Reimer. The goalie denied Frost's forehand-to-backhand attempt. On the next shift, Allison had a crack at a rebound in front. Shots were 12-5 Flyers with no progress on the scoreboard.
The Flyers pulled Sandström for an extra attacker with 4:32 on the clock. After the Sharks won a neutral zone battle, Sturm scored an empty net goal from the Flyers' blueline past Laughton. Logan Couture and Luke Kunin drew the assists.