Flyers-Blackhawks recap: Baseball was almost more entertaining

The Philadelphia Flyers nearly put up a more boring performance in their 3-0 loss to the Blackhawks than the Los Angeles Dodgers. That’s saying something.

So I’ll come clean- I was only half-watching the Philadelphia Flyers’ game against the Chicago Blackhawks. My attention was largely directed towards Game 7 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course, the proceedings turned out to be terribly dreary, with the Astros jumping out in front and the Dodgers failing to capitalize on their opportunities. Serves me right.

From the parts of it I did watch, though, the same could be said of the Flyers’ game. Scoring chances flowed like wine for large portions of it, with both teams getting in on the action.  But while the Blackhawks managed to turn some of the chances into goals, the Flyers never could.

Philadelphia Flyers

It all came down to a span of 20 seconds in the second period, when the Hawks struck twice and gained a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. An empty net goal polished off their victory, and the Flyers found themselves on the short end of a 3-0 final score.

Game observations

• Not only did the Flyers lose the game, they also lost yet another key defenseman to injury. Radko Gudas suffered an upper-body injury in the first period, leaving the Flyers to roll with five d-men for the bulk of the game. For those keeping track at home, that’s now four NHL or NHL-ready defensemen currently injured. Shayne Gostisbehere, Andrew MacDonald, and Samuel Morin are the other three. Get well soon, Radko. Otherwise, we might soon forget what it feels like to have an NHL-caliber blue line.
• Blackhawks’ goalie Corey Crawford had a phenomenal showing, if the score line didn’t already indicate that that was the case. However, Brian Elliott wasn’t too shabby, either. Against 3.44 expected goals for the Blackhawks, Elliott held them to only two. On a night where the Flyers offense is a little more productive and/or the opposing goalie has not transmogrified into a brick wall, he likely would have been good enough to get the W.
• Two observations are enough, I think. Let’s just forget this game ever happened.

Most Fly

Have a gold star, Brian Elliott. Don’t have too much fun with it, though.

Least Fly

Dale Weise and Jori Lehtera led a 3-on-1 at one point in the first. They didn’t get a shot off.

One-Sentence Takeaway

Don’t watch baseball; it displeases the hockey gods.

Next: Patrick and MacDonald placed on injured reserve

(Stats via Natural Stat Trick and Corsica Hockey)