Philadelphia Flyers shoutout for sixth time this season in loss vs Blues
The Philadelphia Flyers hoped to earn their 16th win of the 2018-19 season against the St.Louis Blues.
Suffering their sixth straight loss in their last contest, the Philadelphia Flyers were looking for the first victory of 2019 taking on a St.Louis Blues squad who were also tied for second to last in the NHL points-wise coming in.
Carter Hart received the start from Interim Head Coach Scott Gordon and opposed Jordan Binnington in-net. Binnington made his first career NHL start in this game, posting a 3.53 Goals-Against Average and a .840 save percentage in two relief performances with St.Louis. The Flyers had to get shots on Binnington and test him early due to his recent struggles in the crease.
The teams traded scoring chances to begin the game, but both of the rookie net-minders stood tall amidst the offensive pressure to keep it tied at zero. Hart made a tremendous sprawling save on Jaden Schwartz in the process, showing some solid athletic ability one wouldn’t expect to see from a young goaltender due to the quick nature of NHL play. Things stayed scoreless after 20 minutes of hockey, with St.Louis leading in shots-on-goal 13-11.
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That changed to start the second, as Brayden Schenn rammed home a rebound attempt on the rush to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. Nobody was able to pick up the former Flyer in front of the net, leaving Hart on an island after making the initial save on a Schwartz shot attempt. Philadelphia could hardly keep St.Louis out of their zone throughout the period and could’ve found themselves down by more if it weren’t for Hart’s performance between the pipes.
As a team, the Flyers had just two High Danger Chances For through two periods of play. That alone is completely unacceptable, but the fact they faced a goalie making his first career NHL start and hardly challenged him was an atrocity. I honestly don’t know how they could’ve made it any easier for Binnington in-net with a display like that. Something had to change going into the final period of regulation because they were getting flat-out dominated and lucky to be down by just one goal.
The Philadelphia top line did a good job of generating pressure to start the third, but couldn’t find a way to get the puck passed Binnington. That proved to be costly as Vladimir Tarasenko gave St.Louis a two goal advantage less than halfway through the period. He absolutely sniped the puck by Hart, giving the 20 year old goaltender nearly no chance to make the save. The Flyers tried to pull the goalie to get something going on offense, but allowed an empty net goal and lost to the Blues 3-0.
A great performance from Hart was spoiled yet again because the Flyers could not score the puck. You’d think a good outing from your rookie goaltender would light a fire under the team, but nope, same old boring hockey. It’s not like Binnington was anything special, either. Philadelphia lost in every aspect of this game and have only themselves to blame for this losing effort.
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The Flyers are now on a seven game losing streak and face the Washington Capitals in the second half of a back-to-back on Tuesday.