The Philadelphia Flyers hit the road for the final time of the 2018-19 campaign to take on the St. Louis Blues.
Hoping to avoid a four game losing streak coming in, the Philadelphia Flyers traveled to St. Louis to face the Blues in their second last game of the year.
Brian Elliott received the start from Interim Head Coach Scott Gordon and opposed Jordan Binnington in-net. Binnington entered the contest with a 1.85 Goals-Against Average and a .928 save percentage. The Flyers needed to put on a better two way performance than they did in their last contest if they wanted snap this losing skid.
The first period was, in a word, eventful. The teams combined for eight, yes eight, goals together through the first 20 minutes. Sadly, the Flyers were on the wrong side of the equation. Elliott allowed four goals on just five shots to open the contest and was pulled in favor of Carter Hart not even halfway through. St. Louis would get another passed Hart, and led 5-3 after all was said and done. Oskar Lindblom, James van Riemsdyk, and Claude Giroux scored in the rollercoaster of a stanza, keeping their team within an arms reach.
Things really cooled off in the second frame, with Binnington and Hart trading saves for most of the period. Brayden Schenn went on to do what almost every former Flyer does when facing their former team: score. The puck bounced around in front of the net, finding its’ way on to Schenn’s stick for the easy tap in tally. Philadelphia couldn’t find a way to respond offensively, and trailed 6-3 following two periods of work.
The Flyers drew a penalty early in the third, giving them a chance to claw back into the game, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity and still found themselves behind by three. St. Louis eventually increased their lead thank to a goal from Alex Steen and eventually won the game by a score of 7-3.
Horrible defensive play is what once again did the Flyers in. Neither team really showed an interest in playing in their own zone, especially in the first, but this has been an issue for Philadelphia all season and it reared its’ ugly head big time in this matchup.
The Flyers are now 37-36-8. The next and final game of the season is Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.