Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers finished last week with two games that could not be any less alike. A very frustrating loss to Carolina, and a super exciting victory over Chicago. The Flyers looked like two completely different teams during the course of those two games. The Hurricanes slowly strangled the life out the Flyers leaving them looking defeated long before it was official. On Saturday against the Blackhawks the Flyers refused to give up, came from behind, and Michkov scored the game winner in overtime. Carolina is a much better team than Chicago. Carolina is more on the level of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Philly vs Vegas
Flyers starting goaltender Samuel Ersson is still out with an injury. Ivan Fedotov got the start in tonight’s game. He opened up the contest with a huge save on Tanner Pearson breaking in on a 2-on-1. Fedotov made a nice stop and also broke up an attempted pass on the rebound.
Both teams were doing a fine job keeping each other away from the nets. Shots in the 1st period were 7-5 in favor of the Flyers. Owen Tippett was winning battles along the boards working the puck up and into the Vegas zone. Tippett passed the puck cross ice to Rasmus Ristolainen who fired a shot from the dot. Morgan Frost deflected the puck just over the pad but under the glove of Ilya Samsonov to put the Flyers on the board 8:51 into the opening period.
Flyers captain Sean Couturier always seems to find his game against the Knights. He has 11 points in the 9 previous games he has played against them. He added to that total 12:07 into the 1st period. Travis Konecny hit him with a stretch pass through the neutral zone and Coots fired decisively to the far side giving the Flyers a two goal lead.
Samsonov did not look like himself in the 1st. He was slow regaining his positioning after making stops. On the other hand Fedotov’s recoveries and positioning were strong. Flyers Fans were loud and appreciative as time ran out in the opening period.
Second Period Sorrows
The Flyers need to figure out how to break the spell that the middle period seems to have over them. Even on good nights the 2nd period is so often a struggle. Tonight the Golden Knights outshot the Flyers 19-7 in that period alone. Otherwise the Flyers allowed only 11 shots in the 1st, 3rd, and overtime combined.
Just 28 seconds into the period the Flyers went up 3-0 when Emil Andrae picked up a Garnet Hathaway rebound and scored his 1st NHL goal. The rebound from the Hathaway attempt made it all the way out to the point where a very excited Andrae snapped it home. Smiles all around.
Jack Eichel beat Fedotov blocker side from the slot at 7:42 to make it 3-1. At 11:32 Ivan Barbachev dunked one in off a perfect cross ice pass to cut the lead to 3-2.
Matvei Michkov made a tricky pass short side across the Vegas crease. Michkov really can make the most of tight spaces. His pass seemed to catch everyone by surprise. Morgan Frost had a whack at it but it pinballed around front until it finally settled back on Michkov’s own stick. He gripped it and ripped it to put the Flyers up 4-2 at 13:18.
With 1:50 left in the period Pavel Dorofeyev slapped one passed Fedotov’s shoulder glove hand side to cut the Flyers lead to 4-3.
The Flyers were hanging onto a one goal lead against a talented Vegas team that is currently sitting on 1st place in the Pacific Division. If not for the onslaught of shots allowed in the 2nd period this may have been a somewhat easy night for the Flyers.
The Flyers outshot the Knights 14-6 in the 3rd period. Unfortunately the only goal was scored by Tanner Pearson tying the score at four apiece with 8:05 left in regulation. Unbelievably the Flyers outshot the Knights 8-0 during the overtime only to lose the contest in the shootout.
Positives
This was not a bad night for the Flyers. They picked up one point against one of the better teams in the league. They created a lot of chances and had the upper hand for most of the game. Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist. Joel Farabee had a strong night with five shots on goal. Travis Sanheim continues to eat up tons of minutes and is dominant in doing so. Tonight he played a strong defensive game and had seven shots on goal.
It would have been nice to pick up the extra point in the shootout, but there were a ton of positives in this game.
Next Up: The Flyers will be in Nashville to faceoff against the Predators Wednesday night at 8PM
Another flyer paid shill. Stop it already. This team stinks.