This was a strange game where the on ice officials had some baffling calls or lack there of. Sometimes this worked out in the Flyers favor sometimes it didn’t. All in all you cant say it dictated the final outcome but it did make for a strange pace throughout the game.
Flyers vs Predators
It was hard to get a bead on how these two teams matched up early on because there was such a shortage of 5 on 5 play in the 1st period. Tyson Foerster picked up a slashing call 42 seconds into the contest. The Flyers had three power plays in the 1st. Their power play opportunities can be described as good, better, and best, but none of them ended up adding anything to the score-sheet.
Gustav Nyquist picked up the only goal of the period. It was a redirection on a shot that could not be followed by Philadelphia netminder Samuel Ersson. The Flyers had a sizable advantage in shots on goal all night long but found themselves up against a formidable opponent in Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros.
2nd Period
The Flyers opened up the period with a few really nice chances and then it was all Nashville. Michael McCarron made it 2-0 with a laser that beat Ersson high blocker side. The Predators had the Flyers backs against the wall until Garnet Hathaway took a questionable high sticking penalty. The Flyers took this short-handed opportunity to open up offensively. This would sound counter intuitive unless you’re familiar with how this team operates.
Philly mounted some nice chances in the Nashville zone but Saros was up to the challenge. This Flyers squad enters the offensive zone with speed, power, and enough stamina to finish the race to the front of the net. John Tortorella’s focus on conditioning has given his team great jump and plenty of legs to gain entries and get the puck into the dangerous areas often taking their opponents by surprise.
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D-Low
Nicolas Deslauriers and Jeremy Lauzon squared off at center ice with just under three minutes left in the period. At first Lauzon looked like he wanted nothing to do with it which made you wonder how things had gotten to this point. But there they were hanging on to one another jostling for positioning. It’s hard to tell when it’s not your face keeping score but it looked as if they both punched the heck out of each others shoulder pads until things finally came to an end.
After the penalties expired as Deslauriers was exiting the box the puck was moving up into the Nashville zone. Joel Farabee slid a cross ice pass to Sean Courturier who showed incredible patience with the puck. In fact by the time he took the shot both his feet were behind the Nashville goal line. It seemed the sprawling goaltender had the entire bottom of the net covered before Coots snuck the puck between his pad and the post. With only :23.5 left in the second period the Flyers had pulled within one.
3rd Period
Travis Sanheim tied the score at two early into the 3rd. Somehow Travis Konecny got a way with totally mugging the puck away from Gustav Nyquist in the neutral zone. Maybe it could have been called interference, hooking, holding, all three. Either way there was no whistle and the puck continued to move up the ice. Sanheim picked up a rebound and snapped it home.
The Flyers continued to threaten offensively but Juuse Saros continued to have a great night in the Nashville net. The shots on goal were decisively in the Flyers favor 40-19. To their credit part of the difference was the Flyers blocking 23 shots on the night.
O.T.
The overtime period lasted all of 18 seconds. Filip Forsberg threw a wrist shot at the Flyers net. Ersson made the stop and appeared to have control. The puck was actually sitting on top of his pad. Konecny and Couturier seemed to think Ersson had it. Ersson thought he had it. Apparently the ref could still see the puck and did not blow the whistle. The puck unceremoniously dropped off the pad and fell behind the Flyers netminder and Forsberg slammed it home.
Konecny and Couturier did not even pursue the play. Everyone except for Forsberg and the ref believed that the play was just waiting to be blown dead. It was a bummer way to end a win streak but the Flyers point streak now stands at six. It was a successful road trip for the team picking up 5 of 6 possible points.
Next Up: Flyers return home to face the Capitals Thursday night at 7PM
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