Philadelphia Flyers Daily: Playoff Hopes Falter, Lose To Jets

Philadelphia Flyers Lose to Winnipeg Jets 3-2

In the Philadelphia Flyers loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, March 21st, 2017, we can only exhale and grip a little tighter the concept of our current ‘rebuild. After what was mostly a snooze-fest halfway through regulation, neither team was making a significant stride. Once a couple of pucks made it into the net, there was a slight moment of excitement.

Maybe it had a bit to do with both the Flyers (33-30-8) & Jets (32-33-7) facing improbable odds to berth a wild-card spot in their respective conferences. Or, the fact that it took almost 7 minutes for a team to have the first shot on net. Either way, this felt like more of a scrimmage than two playoff bubble teams.

At the end of the first period there wasn’t much to criticize with the scoreboard empty and shots almost even; 8-7 in favor of Jets. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol wasn’t giving opposing coach Paul Maurice much to ponder using identical lines from the previous win against Carolina. We did see D-man Radko Gudas aggressive on the offensive breakouts (current team leader in +/- with +4). However, our defensive zone playbook seemed sluggish while each line played a reactionary style.

Philadelphia Flyers

The second period saw things pick up a notch. The Flyers odd-man rush of 4-on-2 saw captain Claude Giroux feed Wayne Simmonds for a shot that forced Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson down. In attempting to capitalize on his own rebound, Simmonds patiently (beautifully) waited for Jordan Weal to get low in the slot and bang home a lead. This was only the 30th time this year the orange and black scored first this season.

After Weal’s fourth goal in his fourteenth game as a Flyer, the Jets fired back less than three minutes later. Nick Schultz got on the board with a 2-minute penalty for delay of game and allowed the sniper Blake Wheeler to have a shot deflected by Mathieu Perreault for his 9th goal of the year on the power play. Again, the defensive-zone while on the penalty kill was meek and passive.

The highlights of this period were the Gudas hip-check he dished in his own zone. Steve Mason was solid stopping all 9 shots that were not the power-play deflection. On the side of opportunity, the Jets offensive game only generated 38% (18 of 48) of their shots on goal through 2 periods; there was plenty of chances to capitalize on through 40 minutes.

Ivan Provorov received a double-minor for high sticking on Mark Stuart, not his first time lacking discipline with his stick this year. The Flyers penalty kill continues to show a lack of desperation and aggression with multiple missed chances to clear in their own end. We saw a prime example of this in Carolina with Wayne Simmonds’ failed attempt leading to a goal.

The Philadelphia Flyers showed no particular signs of their leaders giving them a needed boost of energy coming off intermission.

Blake Wheeler was given the opportunity to score his 22nd of the year, making it 2-1.

The team made a poor line change placing all eyes on the puck not the high scoring forward. Giroux caused a misplayed turnover on the power-play where we saw at least 3 miscues on the unit.

This was followed up from a scrum around Steve Mason where Giroux was stepping in to assist Gudas; as if he needs a physical advantage. Matt Read’s name was overheard with about 7 minutes left by the announcers; I have no recollection of hearing it at any other point. Mark Scheifele put the nail in the coffin at 13:51 into the 3rd after Mason trusted MacDonald to begin a breakout. This was also the same period our $5M man hit the scoreboard on a clear. The beauty of Twitter ensued.

And, finally, the irony kicked in with Matt Read deflecting a Del Zotto desperation shot from the point with 2 seconds remaining to make it, less embarrassingly *head-shake*, 3-2 final score. Coach Hakstol wrapped it up by saying, “That’s how it is right now. This is one we needed here that we didn’t get tonight on the road.”