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The Philadelphia Flyers (4-10-4) suffered a brutal 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. It was a roller coaster affair as Philadelphia blew a 2-1 lead in the third period to suffer their 14th defeat in 18 games.
The Flyers played a strong second period after a lukewarm opening 20 minutes. They took the lead with strong puck possession and were rewarded with goals from defenseman Simon Benoit and forward Noel Acciari.
However, the Rangers pressed them in the third period. For the most part, goalie Joseph Woll played a strong game (24 saves). However, the Flyers defense in front of him made mistakes. Ultimately, they were unable to stop late goals from Pavel Dorofeyev (on the power-play) and Tye Kartye coming about a minute and a half apart that gave New York the lead for good.
Philadelphia pulled Woll with just under two minutes to go and got a couple of good scoring chances. But in the end, they were unable to beat Rangers goalie Dylan Garand.
For an in-depth period-by-period recap, read it here.
The Good
- Simon Benoit played his best game yet in a Flyers uniform. His first goal was a long time coming: it had been 104 NHL games since his last one. He also made a critical shot block in the second period when a Rangers rush displaced Woll from the crease.
- Cole Knuble looked comfortable in his first game starting at center. His speed got the Flyers a scoring chance in the second period when Nick Seeler found him on a stretch pass. Knuble knifed in, but Garand was able to stop him at the left post.
- After a slow start offensively, Drysdale has five points (one goal, four assists) in the last three games and eight points in the last seven. He made an excellent read on a pass to Denver Barkey that led to Acciari’s goal. He also made a great defensive zone play by skating the puck out past multiple Ranger defenders. He also sealed off JT Miller on a dangerous rush.
- Another game where the Flyers’ lack of offense scuppered a strong effort from their goaltender, as Woll finished with 24 saves on 27 shots.
The Bad
- The Flyers were out-hustled by the Rangers during the opening seven minutes. New York was rewarded for it on their first goal as their forecheck pressed Philadelphia. Oliver Bonk had a chance to relieve that pressure, but whiffed on his clearing attempt. Marcus Pettersson got a hold of the puck and fired it at the net where winger Gabe Perreault was able to get a deflection to beat Woll.
- It was a rough night for the Bonk-Cam York defensive pairing, period. Both made coverage and puck handling mistakes (Bonk had two giveaways) that put undue pressure on Woll.
- Michkov had a very rough third period on the notoriously soft MSG ice. While he was only credited with two giveaways, he could’ve been tagged for three or four. One particularly bad one led to a near break-in for Miller that Drysdale managed to get back to cover.
The Ugly
- The Flyers seemed to sit back in the third period and the Rangers once again applied an intensified forecheck. Instead of attacking and pressing their advantage, they played as if they expected Woll to carry them home. And he almost did. But the Flyers gave up chances in the middle of the ice that made things more taxing on their goalie.
- The slashing penalty call on Barkey at 13:13 was a weak call for a tight game. But the Flyers’ penalty killers were beaten throughly along the boards and that opened the lane for Dorofeyev to get the game tying goal.
- As good as Drysdale was for most of the game, he and Sanheim were caught on one side of the ice when Adam Fox found a breaking Kartye for the game winning goal.
Flyers Lineup
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Porter Martone – Cole Knuble – Owen Tippett
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Noel Acciari
Travis Sanheim — Jamie Drysdale
Cam York – Oliver Bonk
Nick Seeler — Simon Benoit
Joseph Woll
[Daniel Vladar]
Team Toyota Spotlight: Flyers Looking Fragile Again
The Flyers have lost five of their last six games (1-4-1). They have a minus-22 goal differential. They are dead last in the Eastern Conference. Their offense is averaging 2.17 goals per game (31st in the NHL).
There’s no avoiding the fact that the team is struggling when it comes to nailing down games late. This one, a divisional loss where they came away without any points while holding a third period lead, particularly stings.
“In the third period, we were a little more on our heels than we were in the first two periods,” Acciari told reporters in New York. “I think we were trying to defend a lead than just playing the game. We needed to do what made us successful in the first two periods.”
Head coach Rick Tocchet saw the primary problem at the end being the Flyers inability to defend the area in front of Woll.
“If you’re not going to score on your breakaways or your chances, you have to protect the interior of the ice,” Tocchet said. “For whatever reason, when pressure hits us, you protect that. If something bad happens, you can give them the outside stuff. It’s something that we’re going to have to continue to preach.”
They’ve got one road win this season and squandered a golden opportunity to get another one on Thursday. With four games remaining on this current road trip (with three in Western Canada), it stands to reason that their season is riding on it.
Tocchet Postgame Video
Rest of the Flyers road trip
Thursday’s third period collapse — gradual then all at once — would have been a tough blow even if the Flyers were off to a better start this season. Now it’s a devastating gut punch for a team that was already very fragile. It’s going to be a tough plane right and two open dates on the game schedule before game two of the road trip. As far as how the rest of trip shapes up on the schedule:
- Sunday, Nov. 8: @ Calgary 7:00 p.m. EST
- Monday, Nov. 9: @ Vancouver 9:30 p.m. EST
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: @ Edmonton 9:00 p.m. EST
- Saturday, Nov. 14: @ Columbus 7:00 p.m. EST
The very next day after the game against the Blue Jackets, the Flyers return home to face the scorching hot Edmonton Oilers (currently 11-3-3). Playing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s team as your fifth game in eight nights (across different time zones and border crossings on either side) would be tough even Philly played better hockey so far this season.
Today in Flyers History: Cup Final Preview
On November 6, 1984, Flyers fans got a preview of two of the next three Stanley Cup Finals matchups.
The young Philadelphia Flyers team faced off against the emerging Edmonton Oilers dynasty team at the Spectrum. On this night, the Flyers emerge victorious in a 7-5 track meet that was a combined 72-shot goalie’s nightmare for Pelle Lindbergh and Andy Moog but was thrilling to spectators.
Offsetting the brilliance of Wayne Gretzky (two goals, two assists) and Jari Kurri (two goals), the Flyers get big nights from Brian Propp (two goals, one assist), Mark Howe (one goal, one assist, five shots on goal, approximately 35 minutes of ice time), Dave Poulin (one goal, one assist), Tim Kerr (power play goal, one assist) and Brad McCrimmon (one assist, five shots, approximately 33 minutes of ice tme).
Despite icing the NHL’s youngest roster, the Flyers would go on to post the best record in the NHL during the 1984-85 regular season.
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