Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers played the 1st period of this game like the past week was some sort of bad dream, a product of our collective imagination. 4:18 into the 1st period Garnet Hathaway powered the puck through the neutral zone. He slid a perfect pass from circle to circle in the Boston zone. Ryan Poehling accepted the cross ice pass and put the puck behind Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman. The Philadelphia Flyers who have been having a really rough run of things lately were up 1-0 early on against the mighty Boston Bruins.
The Flyers held Boston without even getting a shot on goal for the first 12:10 of the match. Pavel Zacha looked like he had tied up the game and the Boston crowd came to life. Zacha came in alone and took his shot from the right circle. The shot appeared to beat Flyers goalie Felix Sandstrom the crowd cheered but the puck slowly dribbled out of Sandstrom’s pad. Sandstrom’s first save of the night was a huge one.
Once Boston broke the seal the shots started coming regularly at the Flyers net. Sandstrom made some big stops against some of Boston’s biggest guns. Finally Morgan Geekie beat Sandstom to put the Bruins on the board. Swayman stopped Travis Konecny on a breakaway and the puck quickly made its way down the other end of the ice. Geekie chugged in and ripped a laser of a slapshot blocker side from the right circle.
The Flyers ended the 1st period on a power-play that they drove hard all the way to the buzzer. They manufactured a ton of great chances and actually outshot the Bruins 8-5 in the period. This was coach John Tortorella’s first night back behind the bench after serving a two game suspension. It looked like he bought his Flyers back with him. At times last week the team was totally unrecognizable. Most recently being driven into the ground by the Toronto Maple Leafs losing 6-2 at home on Thursday night.
The Flyers came out looking strong again in the 2nd. It was a wise decision to start Felix Sandstrom in net tonight. He came up huge over and over again. He made a nice save on Matt Grzelcyk early in the 2nd. He froze the puck stopping a short side shot and squeezing the blocker to his midsection to control the rebound. Right off the ensuing faceoff he made another sweet save on Morgan Geekie.
Boston took over the shot advantage in the 2nd period and for the most part Sandstrom kept them at bay. He was keeping his team in the game. The Bruins were playing hard in front of the Flyers net keeping play and the Flyers netminder quickly moving from side to side.
Half-way through the period Travis Sanheim took what the Bruins considered to be a late chop at the puck in front of the Boston net. It wasn’t, Swayman had lost control of the rebound. Things got chippy and former Flyer James van Reimsdyk ended up getting his helmet ripped off behind the net. Garnet Hathaway was out there and he wasn’t letting anything go.
Moments later Charlie McAvoy took a run at Travis Konecny and received a penalty for an “illegal check to the head”. After things settled down again the Flyers went on the power-play. The Flyers looked really good with the man advantage in this game garnering several chances. At one point though Brad Marchand ended up with the puck coming in on a shorthanded breakaway looking to score his 400th career NHL goal. Felix Sandstrom flat out stoned him.
As time ran out on the McAvoy penalty he returned to the ice just in time to pick a minus-one. As soon as the penalty expired Cam York fired a wrist shot from the point that was redirected into the Boston net by Joel Farabee.
Charlie Coyle scored on a Boston power-play at 15:22. He slam dunked a shot after a nice passing play that ended with Marchand sliding him the puck cross ice as he stood in front of the gaping side of the net.
Morgan Frost
With just over a minute left in the period Morgan Frost had an absolutely head turning shift. It was really something to watch. Frost showed all the potential he possesses. Clean tricky entries, crafty stick handling, two jaw dropping diving plays to keep the puck in the offensive zone. I am not overstating it. It was dazzling. If this is what Frost is capable of no wonder he seems to get a hard time from Tortorella. If Tortz can figure out how to pull this level of play out of him on a consistent basis the sky would be the limit for Morgan Frost.
The crash
The 3rd period started with the score tied at two goals apiece. Felix Sandstom had propelled his team to hang in there with one of the league’s best for two full periods. And then all of a sudden within the span of two minutes and fifty-six seconds the Bruins would be ahead 5-2 just over four minutes into the final period.
1:08
Charlie Coyle caught Travis Sanheim looking as he strolled in and beat Sandstrom short side. 3-2
3:45
The Flyers were caught watching again as Sandstrom made two side to side saves before John Beecher reached in over the pack and batted the puck into the net. 4-2
4:04
The Flyers could not manage to clear the puck out of their own zone. They had lost positioning and all discipline as Jake DeBrusk carved the puck around sprawling bodies and into the Flyers net. 5-2
Tortorella called a time out and said almost nothing to his team. Everyone including the head coach stood in silence. Nothing needed to be said that wasn’t already understood. They let their structure unravel and they paid the price. In a week full of big holes they dug this one really quickly. This was looking like the night where they had turned things around then the entire thing crumbled in 2 minutes and 56 seconds.
Come Back
Things did tighten back up after the time out. Sandstrom made another big save on Geekie. And for the next ten minutes it was back and forth play with both teams holding their own. At 14:12 Sean Couturier and Nick Deslauriers skated the puck into the Boston zone. Coots was battling for the puck behind the Bruins net. The puck ended up on Deslauriers’s stick, he wrapped it around and scored his first goal of the season.
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Less than a minute later is was Morgan Frost again with a flash of greatness. He flew with the puck through the neutral zone and passed it off to Owen Tippett. Tippett tossed it right back to Frost who was streaking towards the net. He received the pass from Tippett and in one continuous movement pivoted to beat Swayman with a tricky between the legs shot high blocker side. Philly was suddenly within a goal with just under five minutes left.
The final push
The Flyers were pushing hard at the Boston net going all in looking for the tying goal. A lively rebound squirted out to Danton Heinen who skated the puck the length of the ice and beat Sandstrom with a wrist shot from the left circle. It was quite an unfortunate goal.
The Flyers pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and were swarming in the Boston zone. Prolonged pressure led to Joel Farabee with possession of the puck behind the net. He wrapped it around and put it past Swayman for his 2nd goal of the night and his 21st of the season. The Flyers were again within one goal of tying this game.
After the faceoff Sandstrom headed to the bench again. It was at this point that the Flyers with the extra attacker went into “dump and chase” mode. It was baffling. They played the last minute with the net empty, the extra attacker, and not attempting clean entries into the offensive zone. Instead they would dump the puck and chase it.
The Bruins or their goaltender were winning the races to the puck. The night ended with the Flyers not really getting any serious chances in the final minute and change. Just dumping and chasing till time ran out. It was refreshing to see the Flyers return to their “never say die” style of game. Pushing their way back into it, and mounting a come-back. In the end their fight just ran out of gas.
Extra Credit: Tonight Scott Laughton set a franchise record and is now the player who has thrown the most checks all time in a Flyers uniform.
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