Flyers Quick Hits: Missed Opportunity, Flyers Daily, and More

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The Philadelphia Flyers dropped a 3-2 decision to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Anthony Mingioni has you covered for the period-by-period game synopsis and recap. From my perspective, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from Sunday.

The good

Once again, the Flyers showed their resiliency. Colorado doesn’t have the best record in the NHL for no reason. Philly made a heavy push in the third period and came a failed Trevor Zegras penalty shot attempt away from at least forcing overtime.
Emil Andrae played an outstanding game, especially against an elite opponent.
Sean Couturier did his part early in the first period. The game play was to: 1) score early, 2) wear down an already-tired Colorado team over the rest of the first two periods, and 3) control the third period with Colorado on fumes. Well.numbers one and three worked out. As for the second part, the Flyers put themselves behind the eight-ball as Colorado scored the next three goals.
Travis Konecny scored on a breakaway and had nine shots on goal. He lacked nothing for energy.
Colorado, by far, is the NHL’s best 5-on-5 team. The Flyers and Avs canceled each other out in 5-on-5 scoring: 2-2.

The bad

The flip side of Konecny’s afternoon. He was charged with four giveaways (three in the first period) and could have been charged with at least two more that were charitably ruled as possession changes without a turnover. Another went as a credited Colorado takeaway. Overall, that was five “official” turnovers involving Konecny.
Samuel Ersson played fine overall. The score could easily have gotten worse than 3-1 before Philly pushed back. Nevertheless, the Flyers needed a save on on the Valeri Nichuskin goal. I don’t pin the Brent Burns goal or the Colorado power play goal on the goaltending. Burns was at the top of the circle, yes. But’s a spot where’s scored a lot of goals over the years.
The Flyers only drew one power play for themselves in the game. They had the perfect player to take the penalty shot, however. Mackenzie Blackwood just won the battle.

The ugly

Philly’s carryover power play from the second to third periods went nowhere in a hurry. Down by one goal, Philly needed better than that.
The first period, minus Couturier’s goal, was awful. It wasn’t just the 11-3 shot differential, the Colorado power play goal late in the periods or the slew of Philly turnovers (Konecny wasn’t the lone culprit). It was everything combined.
Head Coach Rick Tocchet opened himself to second-guessing when he sent out the fourth line for a shift with roughly 5:30 left in the third period. Down by a goal, it seemed like a clear “shortened bench” situation. That’s especially true when you’re the rested team against a tired opponent. Pedal to the metal down by a goal late. The same thing happened near the end of the second period. However, that one worked out (the Flyers got a power play).
Matvei Michkhov was all but invisible in his play over the first 40 minutes. He picked up in the third period. Nevertheless, he finished with neither a point nor a shot on goal. This was a game where the second-year winger needed a step-up game througout.