As part of the annual Frozen Frenzy every single team in the NHL played on Tuesday night. Here’s how things went down in Philly.
The Flyers took on the cross state rival Pittsburgh Penguins. For the Pens it was the 2nd game of a back-to-back having thumped the Blues 6-3 on Monday night. Samuel Ersson got his 2nd consecutive start in the Flyers net after defeating the Islanders on Saturday in the shootout. Pittsburgh came into this tilt having scored 20 goals in their last four games. So nobody was expecting an easy night for the Flyers goaltender.
Philly vs Pittsburgh
Early in the 1st period Noah Juulsen kept the score sheet clean by diving on a loose puck like a live hand grenade in the crease as Ersson lost his stick with the Penguins swarming.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring at 9:41 when Justin Brazeau broke into the Flyers zone. Brazeau streaked down the left hand side. He was patient with his shot holding onto the puck until he was at a very sharp angle. He left himself very little to shoot at and then he hit it, sneaking a snap shot through a tiny gap between Ersson and the post short side.
With about eight and a half minutes left in the opening period Pittsburgh’s #2 ranked power play got its first opportunity when Garnett Hathaway received a two minute penalty for playing ice hockey. The Flyers killed their 11th consecutive penalty without allowing a goal.
With 2:35 left in the period the Flyers capitalized on their first man advantage of the night. Bobby Brink rammed home a Noah Cates rebound to tie the score at one. Cam York hit a post with just 10 seconds left and the teams went into their respective locker rooms for the 1st intermission.
Konecny Milestone
One minute into the 2nd period the Flyers were again shorthanded. Tavis Konecny had the best offensive chance of the Penguins man advantage but Arturs Silovs held tight. When the penalty had expired Bobby Brink exited the penalty box and left a touch pass for Coots who threaded a pass to TK in the slot. Travis Konecny gripped it and ripped it far side from the circle scoring his 200th career goal.
The Flyers were threatening to push the lead even further as time was running short in the middle period. Possibly the Penguins legs were starting to show some wear and tear from their back to back schedule but the Flyers definitely had more jump in their skates. Controlling the puck and the play Philly was outshooting the Pens 24-13 by the end of the period.
Regulation
The Penguins started the 3rd period shorthanded and disheveled. The Flyers had the Pens playing catch-up as they continued to add to their shot advantage. Pittsburgh came back to life for a very solid yet unsuccessful power-play. Whistles were few and far between. Momentum kept shifting back and forth between the two Pennsylvania hockey teams.
By mid-period the Flyers had nearly doubled up on the Pens shot total 31-16. When Pittsburgh did challenge Ersson was up to the task.
Oh Sidney
The player who has scored more points against the Flyers than any other lucked into yet another goal with 8:03 left in the period to tie the game at two. Sidney Crosby was attempting to pass the puck from behind the Flyers net. The pass got away from him and hit Nick Seeler up high. The puck bounced off Seeler and over Ersson’s shoulder. It was quite an unfortunate goal after so much hard work had gone into that one goal lead.
The fluke goal gave the Pens some spark and they were a much tougher team to play against in the final minutes of regulation than they had been all night. This game was tied at two at the end of 5-on-5 play.
OT
Three-on-three, Cates, Sanheim, and Foerster take the ice first for the Flyers. Crosby, Rust, and Karlsson for the Penguins. Pittsburgh appeared to score a goal on a delayed penalty but it was waved off when the Penns were charged for a “premature substitution of the goaltender”. Although it did not end the contest the play did leave the Flyers shorthanded 4-on-3 with 4:11 remaining on the overtime clock.
The Penguins were swarming and creating dangerous chances moving the puck well and taking full advantage of the extra ice. Nick Seeler who led the team with 6 shots on goal had a pair of shorthanded chances. Ersson made some big saves and the Flyers lived through the challenge.
The Penguins went directly from being on the power-play to being shorthanded. With 1:46 on the clock the Flyers had the chance to put this thing to bed. Michkov looked out of sorts as the Flyers attacked and the puck kept eluding him, his timing is just not there right now. With just 24.4 seconds left in OT Tyson Foerster came onto the ice, stormed up the middle with the puck, and slammed it into the Penguins net.
The play was deemed to be offsides and the goal was disallowed. When the horn went off the shootout was delayed slightly as a scrum broke out on the ice after time ran out. Zegras and Crosby both found themselves not allowed to take part in the shootout due to penalties received during the dust-up..
Shootout
Ersson in his 2nd consecutive shootout situation vs Arturs Silovs. Both goalies put on a show tonight, one of them was about to win the hockey game for their team. Konecny and Rust were both stopped. Matvei Michkov scored a slow motion beauty that ended with a backhand up and over a sprawling Silovs. Malkin tied it. Bobby Brink emptied all the kitchen cabinets before throwing the sink past the Penguins goaltender.
Ersson needed one more save but he actually ended up making two. He got his right pad on Ville Koivunen’s shot but momentum was carrying the puck towards the goal line. At the last second Ersson stretched out his left leg and kicked the puck away from the net winning his second shootout in as many games.
Holy cow.
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