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The Philadelphia Flyers (22-16-8) are winless in their last five games. They’ve dropped four in a row in regulation. On Thursday, Rick Tocchet’s club suffered a 6-3 road loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
As has become a season-long habit, the Flyers trailed first. The power play, unfortunately, is a perennial sore spot. Meanwhile, the penalty kill has been in a free fall the last few weeks. On Thursday, the Penguins struck three times on four power plays.
In a losing cause, Rodrigo Abols (3rd goal of the season), Nick Seeler (2nd) and Matvei Michkov (10th) scored goals for Philadelphia. Denver Barkey had a pair of primary assists plus two high-danger scoring chances of his own.
The Flyers pulled starter Samuel Ersson (three goals against on 14 shots) early in the second period. Aleksei Kolosov (three goals on 16 shots) went the rest of the way in relief.
Sidney Crosby had a power play goal (25th) and an assist for Pittsburgh. Justin Brazeau (PPG, 15th). Bryan Rust (PPG, 17th), Egor Chinakhov (6th), Blake Lizotte (6th) and Connor Dewar (9th) tallied once apiece. Evgeni Malkin posted two assists. Goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 30 of 33 shots.
The good
- Apart from scoring his first non empty net goal since late November, Michkov made various good plays over the course of the game. He fell an assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick. He even dropped the gloves with Lizotte in defense of linemate Barkey.
- Barkey easily could have had a four-point game. As it was, he had two well-deserved assists.
- The Flyers’ 5-on-5 play took a baby step in the right direction compared to the losses to Tampa Bay and Buffalo.
The bad
- The Flyers continue to lose too many 50-50 battles.
- Opposing back door scoring chances — something the team largely eliminated in the season’s first 41 games — have happened with frequency of late.
- The Flyers took three first period penalties, and had to chase the game yet again.
The ugly
- How bad has the power play been of late? In the last eight games, Flyers opponents have scored a dozen power play goals. The Flyers get caught puck watching and/or over-pursuing the puck carrier with alarming frequency. Meanwhile, the Penguins’ power play is 7-for-12 against Philly this season.
- The Philadelphia power play took an 0-for-4 horse collar. So much for building off the Trevor Zegras power play tally in the Buffalo game.
- On Chinakhov’s 2-on-1 that ended Ersson’s night, the puck hit the Flyers’ goalie in the chest but then went in the net. That’s been the story of Ersson’s season. His save percentage fell to .843 in 18 games.
Flyers lineup
Nikita Grebenkin – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Trevor Zegras — Noah Cates — Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Denver Barkey
Carl Grundstrom – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae — Jamie Drydale
Nick Seeler — Noah Juulsen
Samuel Ersson — replaced early in the second period
[Aleksei Kolosov]
Postgame reaction
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet
Flyers winger Denver Barkey (2a)
