Flat First Period Haunts Philadelphia Flyers in loss to Tampa Bay Lightning

The Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning hoping to earn their 29th victory of the season.

Coming off a win over the Detroit Red Wings in their last contest, the Philadelphia Flyers headed home to face one of the best teams the NHL has to offer in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Carter Hart received his third straight start from Interim Head Coach Scott Gordon, opposing Louis Domingue in-net. Domingue had a 18-4-0 record entering the contest, with a 2.90 Goals-Against Average, and a .907 save percentage. The Flyers needed to hone-in on their game defensively, going up against a vaunted Lightning offense.

Tampa Bay scored the game’s first goal just 2:22 into the first period on a deflected one-time shot from Mikhail Sergachev to give themselves an early 1-0 advantage. There was nothing Hart could do, as the puck bounced off of Shayne Gostisbehere’s skate right in the back of the net. The Flyers continued to struggle with the depth of the Tampa Bay roster, allowing Alex Killorn to get a goal less than five minutes after Sergachev’s to enhance their lead to two. Andrew MacDonald failed to clear a puck in front of the crease which eventually let Killorn clean up the rebound.

J.T. Miller went on to make it 3-0 halfway through the first, sniping a shot passed Hart on a two-on-one break. The 20 year-old net-minder was then pulled in favor of Brian Elliott, surrendering three goals on a mere nine shots. Thankfully, Elliott was temporarily able to stop the bleeding, keeping the deficit at three following 20 minutes of play.

The Flyers couldn’t convert on two power-play opportunities to begin the middle stanza, but were able to generate chances while Tampa Bay was shorthanded. This led to more pressure from Philadelphia at even-strength and helped give them an 8-0 shots-on-goal advantage early through the second. None of the chances they created amounted to anything, though, with the Orange and Black still behind by three heading into the final period of regulation.

Oskar Lindblom turned that tide to start the third, getting on the board less than two minutes in to make it a 3-1 game. Lindblom did a good job of putting his stick on an airborne pass from Sean Couturier, which extended his point streak to three games. Tampa Bay responded relatively quickly, netting a power-play tally to regain their three goal lead. Yanni Gourde sniped a shot by Elliott with just one second remaining on the opportunity, speaking to how this game went for Philadelphia. While Travis Konecny did make things interesting a little less than halfway through the period, the Flyers couldn’t find a way to complete the comeback as they lost 5-2.

A poor first period performance is to blame for this losing effort. The Flyers let Tampa’s lead grow in too quick of a fashion and paid the price in doing so. Hart obviously didn’t have a strong showing, but at least Elliott was more than solid in his return from injury. Philadelphia again struggled in defensive coverage and the Lightning were also just a really good team who did what they were supposed to in taking advantage of the Flyers’ mistakes.

Philadelphia is now 28-25-7 on the season. Next game is Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens.