It has not been an easy week to be a Philadelphia sports fan. Tonight the Flyers had a chance to bounce back from the 7-2 whoopin’ they took from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. Hopes were a little higher going into this one. Travis Konecny was back in the line-up for the first time since leaving the Leafs game last week due to injury. Goaltender Dan Vladar got the start in the Flyers net. The team had a couple days to lick their wounds and figure things out. Unfortunately none of that seemed to make any difference.
Philly vs Tampa 2.0
The Flyers played a solid first period and aside from an early indiscretion this seemed like it might be a much needed improvement over Saturday’s spanking. Just 1:10 after the opening faceoff the Flyers allowed Pontus Holmberg one too many whacks at the puck right in front of their own net and just that quick it was 1-0 Tampa.
The rest of the first looked pretty good. The Flyers were killing it in the faceoff circle winning 90% in the opening period. Noah Juulsen did a fine job allowing no nonsense in the defensive zone. And Dan Vladar made some tricky saves to keep Tampa at bay.
Crashing down
In the second period it took all of 33 seconds for things to start falling apart. Jake Guentzel fired a distant shot from along the side boards through traffic that found the back of the net. It was deflating.
The Flyers immediately looked out of gas. All of the extra energy we saw in the 1st period seemed to just puddle up and wash away. Cam York let a stretch pass, that could have turned into a breakaway, cruise by him and he opted for a line change instead. It was suddenly starting to look like Saturday night 2.0.
You can’t blame the officiating for this low energy outing but it sure didn’t help. At one point Sean Couturier was pulled down by a high stick around his neck that was somehow overlooked. Play surged down to the other end of the ice where Rodrigo Abols was called for tripping. Braden Point quickly scored a power-play goal to make it 3-0.
Use your head
Not sure why Dan Vladar was not credited with an assist on the Flyers only goal of the night. He took a point blank shot right to the mask that bounced off and landed on Christian Dvorak’s stick in the left circle. Dvorak skated the the puck the length of the ice before beating Tampa goaltender Jonas Johansson with a wrist shot 5:40 into the 2nd period. The goal cut the Tampa lead to 3-1 but was recorded as unassisted.
This game was chock full of penalties even though many were overlooked. At one point Travis Konecny was totally mugged in the Lightning end leading to some chippiness. When things were finally sorted out the Flyers were once again shorthanded.
Brandon Hagel scored a powerplay goal with just 31 seconds remaining in the middle period to give Tampa an insurmountable 4-1 lead going into the third.
It seemed every time there was some sort of dust up the Flyers came up short handed or somehow things just magically evened out. Frustration was building. Finally Nikita Grebenkin gave Philly sports fans just the release they were looking for.
Grebenkin and Max Crozier got into it and Grebenkin just refused to let it die down. It was a spirited scrap and Flyers Fans really did appreciate it. Grebenkin looked like he was having the time of his life.
The rest of the final period was spent scrapping, hitting, and sitting. Plenty of penalties as this thing was winding down. Oddly the Flyers down 4-1 chose to pull their goaltender for the extra attacker with more than four minutes left in the game.
Kikita Kucherov scored the final goal of the game into the empty net with 3:21 remaining in regulation to give Tampa Bay the 5-1 lead.
The Flyers now have not one but two nasty losses to put behind them. We are all well aware of how tight the Metropolitan Division standings have been. The Flyers are lucky to have now lost three games in a row yet still remain in the pack vying for second place in the division. The 1st place Carolina Hurricanes are pulling away a little bit at this point but the pack is still in a bunch right behind them.
There’s no time to waste. The Flyers who have bounced back very well so far this season need to ball up their resolve and find their groove ASAP. They play back-to-back games in Buffalo and Pittsburgh Wednesday and Thursday nights and every point counts.
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