The Philadelphia Flyers 9 game point streak came to an end Thursday night with a loss to the Nashville Predators. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was a game that was close up until the final moments. With just five minutes left in the game the score was tied at two and all of the game stats were pretty close to even. Nashville scored the go ahead goal and an empty netter to win by the final score 4-2.
The Flyers have been on a tear all month totally exceeding expectations so far this season and holding onto a respectable space in the standings. This game showed no signs of a major breakdown or a dark foreshadowing of things to come. To sum it up bluntly the Flyers looked a little gassed in what was largely a pretty unremarkable hockey game. Nashville ended up winning the endurance challenge. The predators were the more intense team in the 3rd period. They wanted the puck more, they were more aggressive in their attack, and they skated away with the two points.
Morgan Frost
Frost had an interesting night to say the least. He scored the Flyers first goal of the night 1:31 into the opening period. Bobby Brink wrapped the puck around the end-boards. The puck hit Frost behind the net and took a crazy bounce. The puck went up and over the net hitting the goalie and somehow making it over the goal line. Frost spent more time laughing than celebrating. It was an absolute fluke of a goal. But it still counts.
Frost had a scary moment halfway through the 2nd period. Yakov Trenin took a major boarding penalty and received a game misconduct for a hit that ran Frost’s head into the glass and really rung his bell. Frost was down on the ice for quite some time while the on ice officials were trying to come to an agreement on the nature of the infraction. At first it was ruled as a two minute minor for an illegal hit to the head. Nothing about that call was correct.
It was boarding and the major contact with Frost’s head seemed to be with the glass as a result of the hit. The officials conferred and changed the on ice call to a five minute major for boarding, which seemed more appropriate,. Trenin was also tossed from the game. Frost went up the hallway to the locker room when he finally got back on his feet. Much to his credit he returned to the ice to take part in the power play and took regular shifts for the rest of the game.
Goaltending
Carter Hart was suited up and took part in the pre-game warm-up but it was Samuel Ersson who got the start. Ersson again played a solid game but that was not enough to put the Flyers in the win column. Nashville was often sharp moving the puck around in the Flyers end. Luckily for the Flyers the Predators nailed the tic and the tac but flubbed the toe on several occasions. They were getting too many chances from right in front of the net. At times it seemed the best place to hide a Nashville player was right in the slot. Eventually there was only so much Ersson could do about it.
Nashville net-minder Juuse Saros was solid between the pipes stopping 29 of 31 shots. His most impressive save was in the 3rd period when Cam Atkinson had a shot at breaking the tie. Cam had a clear break-away from the Nashville blue line with no one in striking distance. Saros kept Atkinson’s options to a minimum and squashed his attempt with his glove hand. Is it time to start using the term “snake bitten” yet when referring to Atkinson? He’s been getting his share of chances, he’s gotta figure out a way to break the spell and start finding the net.
Fundamentals
John Tortorella is surely going to run some video for his team as he likes to do. It’s probably a safe bet that clearing the puck is going to be a topic of conversation. Often the Flyers were trapped in their defensive end giving up clusters of chances. They would get the puck so close to the blue-line but fail to actually get it out.
When the pressure builds like that you need to see the ice one line at a time. Getting that puck over the blue line forces the opposing team to get all of their players out of the zone to avoid being offsides. Not finishing that clear keeps you bottled up, on the defensive, and most likely in need of fresh legs.
Right back at it
The Flyers will travel to Detroit to take on the Red Wings Friday night. They will only have twenty-some hours to bounce back while traveling before the puck drops again. If they looked a little gassed tonight, which they did, a solid effort in Detroit may be a pretty tall order. The Flyers under Tortorella are known for pushing themselves and leaving everything on the ice. We will see what they have left to leave Friday night at 7PM.
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