Philadelphia Flyers look flat in 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers
The Philadelphia Flyers faced the Edmonton Oilers looking for their 13th win of the season.
Trying to break a two game losing skid, the Philadelphia Flyers played their first game of a back-to-back on the road against the Edmonton Oilers.
Anthony Stolarz made his second straight start and faced Mikko Koskinen in-net. Koskinen had a 10-3-1 record coming in, with a .927 save percentage and a 2.20 Goals-Against Average so far this season. It was key for the Flyers to bring a better defensive effort in this game with Edmonton’s offense on a roll as of late.
Philadelphia didn’t exactly get off to the start they wanted in the first period. They trailed 1-0 thanks to a defensive blunder that led to an Alex Chiasson goal but had a 8-7 shots-on-goal advantage. The Flyers honestly looked pretty decent minus the goal, creating a good amount a scoring chances in the first. Koskinen just stood tall and had every answer for the Oilers early on.
Connor McDavid made his mark on the game in the second period, scoring a goal that put the Oilers up 2-0. He pressured Shayne Gostisbehere into committing a turnover in the Philadelphia zone to help create the scoring opportunity. Adam Larsson followed it up with his first tally of the season and gave Edmonton a sudden three goal lead. The Flyers continued to out shoot the Oilers with an 19-15 advantage, but still couldn’t find a way passed Koskinen.
After looking lifeless to begin the third, Sean Couturier finally put the puck in the net for the Flyers and cut Edmonton’s lead to two. He redirected Jakub Voracek’s short attempt, which extended Voracek’s point streak to seven games. Philadelphia had a latte power play opportunity to get within one, but once again couldn’t capitalize on the man advantage. McDavid scored his second of the night on an empty-netter, and gave the Oilers a 4-1 win.
Defensive mistakes and the loss of energy after Edmonton’s third goal was what really did the Flyers in. The power-play also played a huge part in this loss, going zero for five for the night. That’s pretty pathetic for a unit featuring Voracek, Claude Giroux, Shayne Gostisbehere, and James van Riemsdyk. Something needs to be done after this road trip concludes, and it needs to start with assistant coach Kris Knoblauch.
Next. Embarrassing losses getting out of hand for the Flyers. dark
The Flyers are now 12-14-4. They play their second half of a back-to-back Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks.