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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (16-9-6) have gone past regulation in each of their last three games. Unfortunately, the team went 0-0-3 in those games.
On both Saturday and Sunday, the Flyers lost via shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes (21-9-2). The Flyers have played three games against Carolina this season. Philly lost once in overtime and twice via shootout.
In Saturday’s game, the Flyers led 2-0. The briefly trailed, 3-2, and then lost 4-3 (1-0) in the shootout. On Sunday in Raleigh, the Flyers trailed 2-0. Tocchet’s team painstakingly battled back to tie the game in regulation. Ultimately, after the shootout, Philadelphia lost by a 3-2 (1-0) margin.
Jamie Drysdale (3rd goal of the season) and Trevor Zegras scored in regulation for Philly.Will Carrier (3rd) and Taylor Hall (7th) staked the Hurricanes to an initial 2-0 lead. Andrei Svechnikov notched the lone shootout goal for either side. Zegras hit the post.
Dan Vladar (31 saves on 33 shots) more or less stole a point for Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Brandon Bussi (24 saves on 26 shots) improved his record this season to 11-1-0 for Carolina.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from Sunday’s game.
The Good
- The Flyers made a hard push in the third period. Unlike the Colorado game, they found a way to grab one point.
- Vladar once again did everything in his power to keep the game close. He operated with no margin for error. Carolina tested him often. Over the final 45 minutes of regulation and OT, Vladar slammed the door and gave the Flyers a chance to win.
- Drysdale (25:36 TOI, 28 shifts, scored a puck luck goal), Travis Sanheim (31:06 TOI, 35 shifts, three blocked shots), and Cam York (24:39, four blocked shots, two power play created) all stepped up at different junctures. York’s return to the lineup proved to important right away. Meanwhile, Nick Seeler had three timely blocked shots.
- Travis Konecny made a great set up on Zegras’ late goal at 6-on-5 with Vladar pulled for an extra attacker.
- Zegras stepped up in the clutch again offensively.
The bad
- The Flyers lost the special teams battle. This has happened too often of late. The penalty kill stepped up to 5-for-6 including a vital kill in overtime. However, the power play largely spun its wheels again. Philly went 0-for-4, and did not create momentum from their power play.
- Carolina dominated puck possession in the first period and the majority of the middle frame. The Flyers, as usual, were resilient. However, it was not until the third period that Philly started dictating play.
- Emil Andrae struggled. The Flyers made a pairing switch to move up Seeler. Andrae- and Noah Juulsen played sparingly at 5-on-5 as the game went deep.
- Bobby Brink’s overtime tripping penalty put the Flyers in a dire situation. Fortunately, the penalty kill delivered.
The ugly
- Both teams looked at times like clubs playing their third game in four nights.
- The sheer combined number of penalties and power play time made for lots of stoppages and ragged flow of play.
- Owen Tippett struggled with ill-timed turnovers in both Saturday and Sunday’s games. He wasn’t the only culprit.
Flyers lineup
The Flyers did a fair amount of line combinations juggling. This was due both to performance and all the special teams play. Below are the combos that started the game together.
Trevor Zegras- Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Carl Grundstrom – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York– Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]
Scratches: Ty Murchison (healthy), Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), Egor Zamula (healthy).
Postgame media availability: Rick Tocchet
Postgame reaction: Trevor Zegras
Flyers Daily: Monday with Meltzer
In this week’s Monday with Meltzer edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myteteus and I discuss:
- Observations from the Vegas game and the home-and-home with Carolina.
- Matvei Michkov and the hyperbolic discourse that surrounds him.
- The Quinn Hughes trade.
- Flyers systems and the forecheck tweak from a 1-2-2 to a 2-1-2 in the offensive zone.
We discuss all of this and a bit more in a 45-minute edition of the Flyers Broadcast Network’s flagship podcast.
