Postgame RAV4: Late Push Falls Just Short

The Philadelphia Flyers lost, 3-2, to the Colorado Avalanche at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Flyers made a heavy push down by a goal in the third period but fell one goal short of forcing overtime against the team with the best record in the NHL.

Celebrating his 33rd birthday and playing his 900th career NHL game, Sean Couturier (5th goal of the season) scored early in the first period. However, the Avalanche struck back for goals by Brent Burns (4th) and Brock Nelson (PPG, 10th) to take a 2-1 lead to intermission.

Valeri Nichushkin (7th) opened a 3-1 lead for Colorado early in the second period.A few minutes later, Travis Konecny (7th) got the goal back for Philly.

In the third period, the Flyers had numerous opportunities to draw even but were unable to find a tying goal. Most notably, leading scorer Trevor Zegras was denied on a penalty shot.

Samuel Ersson stopped 25 of 28 shots in a losing cause. Winning goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves on 26 shots.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Konecny turned over the puck at the offensive blueline on the game's first shift. Ersson made a save on Colorado's transition rush.

At 2:09, the Flyers grabbed a 1-0 lead. Deflecting home a Noah Juulsen point shot, team captain Couturier gave his team the quick edge. The assists went to Juulsen and Owen Tippett.

Through seven minutes, shots on goal were 4-2 in the Avs' favor. Colorado tied the game at 8:28 on their sixth shot out of the period. Burns had an open look from the top of the right circle and rifled a shot into the net. The assists went to Martin Necas and Jack Drury.

Juulsen was called for tripping along the defensive side boards at 17:25. At 19:08, Nelson knocked home a carom off the end boards on a second effort. The assists went to Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.

Shots: Flyers 3 - Avalanche 12

Faceoffs; Flyers 8 -Avalanche 6

Notable:

• Noah Cates went 4-for-4 on faceoffs in the first period.
• Travis Konecny was charged with three of seven giveaways.

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

In the opening minute, Ersson stopped a deflected shot and a rebound try near the post by Gabriel Landeskog.

At 1:47, Nichshuskin scored under the crossbar to the stick side on a shot from the right circle. The assists went to Victor Olofsson and Devon Toews.

Shots were 6-5 Flyers through five minutes. At 5:58, the Flyers drew back within 3-2. Emil Andrae connected on a lead pass to Konecny, who went in alone and scored through the five hole. The assists went to Andrae and Christian Dvorak.

Olofsson had a clean breakaway. Ersson stoned him.

Konecny benefited from a strange bounce and went in on a bid for his second goal. He had two whacks at the puck but Blackwood won this battle.

Zegras went off on a slashing minor at 13:45. Colorado went to their second power play. The Flyers benefited from a rare Makar flub (his second of the game) and went on to kill off the penalty successfully.

Necas crashed into Ersson at 16:49 on the rush. The Flyers goalie needed a minute to stretch and get himself back together. Ersson nodded to the officials and play resumed.

The Flyers had a pair of defensive zone turnovers. They held on for a stoppage with 1:18.

The Flyers fourth line had a 2-on-1 chance. Necas slashed Garnet Hathaway and took a penalty at 19:53. The Flyers took 1:53 of power play time into the third period.

Shots: Flyers 9 (12 overall) - Avalanche 13 (25 overall)
Faceoffs; Flyers 10 (18 overall) - Avalanche 12 (18 overall)

Notable:

• Cates was 3-for-6 this period on (7-for-10 overall)
• Through two periods, per Natural Stat Trick, all-situation scoring chances favored Colorado by a 19-11 margin (6-3 Colorado in high-danger chances).
• The Nichushkin goal was not an easy chance but also not unstoppable. It put the goalie and the team in a situation with little to no margin for error moving forward in the game.

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers were stuck to the perimeter on their carryover power play. Through 4:25, shots were 1-0 Colorado.

Fighting off MacKinnon in transition, Zegras received a penalty shot. Blackwood stopped the low glove side attempt. Zegras has yet to be stopped on a shootout try this season but is 0-for-2 on penalty shots.

Andrae gained the zone on the rush and dropped a pass to Tippett. Blackwood made the save.

The Flyers attacked again. Blackwood held on in a scramble near the net. Shots were 5-1 Flyers. Konecny had two golden chances on his next shift.

Colorado iced the puck at 12:11. The Flyers were not able to capitalize on the offensive zone start.

With 1:59 on the clock, the Flyers called time out before an offensive zone draw. The Flyers were unable to work a play to the inside with a 6-on-5 attack.

Colorado iced the puck with 2.7 seconds remaining. A desperate final shot attempt by Konecny went wide.

Notable:

• Konecny finished the game with nine shots on net, including his goal..On the flip side, he was charged with four giveaways.
• The Flyers' fourth line got a shift with about 5:30 left in the third period. Hathaway (four hits) and Nicolas Deslauriers (four hits) were credited with eight hits between them.
• Matvei Michkov had a couple "almost" plays in the third period. He finished with two shot attempts (one blocked, one missed). He was credited with one takeaway. Overall, he skated 14:23 of ice time on 21 shifts.

Shots: Flyers 14 (26 overall) - Avalanche 3 (28 overall)
Faceoffs; Flyers 5 (23 overall) - Avalanche 7 (25 overall)

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Trevor Zegras- Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Nick Seeler – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula - Noah Juulsen

Samuel Ersson

[Dan Vladar]

POSTGAME RAV4 (RAV4 THINGS REVISITED)

1. Fatigue factor

The Flyers had Colorado -- playing their third game in four nights -- on the ropes in the third period but ran out of time. The way the Flyers managed the first period, despite the early 1-0 lead, ended up being costly. The Flyers were guilty of too many turnovers early and allowed too much time and space. Falling behind, 3-1, proved to just a little too much against the Avs.

2. Special teams

Colorado won the special teams battle for the day. However, there weren't many penalties called. The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. They were 1-for-2 on the penalty kill

3. 5-on-5 play

The Flyers got better as the game went along, especially in the third period. Overall, the Flyers made the 5-on-5 goal differential cancel out: 2-2.

4, Sanheim's workload

Travis Sanheim skated 23 shifts (16:53 through two periods). Overall, the defending Barry Ashbee Trophy winner played 25:53 over a team high 34 shifts.