The Philadelphia Flyers faced off with the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center.
After heading into the holiday break with a win on home ice, the Philadelphia Flyers kicked off a six-game road trip by taking on the San Jose Sharks for the first time in 2019-20. The Flyers were aiming to extend their winning streak to five while their Western Conference adversaries looked to avoid a five-game losing skid and get out of the basement of the Pacific Division. Carter Hart received the nod from Head Coach Alain Vigneault and opposed Martin Jones on the opposite end of the ice. The 21-year-old netminder was hoping to stay red hot between the pipes, as he allowed just three goals in his last three games combined.
San Jose was able to get the game’s first goal after controlling play for the first nine minutes as Mario Ferraro netted his first career NHL tally to put his side up 1-0. There was nothing Hart could really do on this play. Barclay Goodrow made a tremendous pass to set up Ferraro in the slot on a 2-on-1 rush, and the shot the rookie forward put on the net made it nearly impossible for Hart to save. The Flyers did push back a bit with offensive pressure on Jones at even strength and the power-play, but couldn’t find the equalizer as the opening frame came to a close.
Joel Kellman doubled the San Jose lead in the early goings of the second, putting a shot through Hart’s five-hole on the breakaway to leave the Flyers in a 2-0 hole. I’ll give credit where credit is due, Simek made one helluva a pass to spring Kellman into the Philadelphia zone, but this was one the goalie should’ve had.
A Flyers defender was able to slightly tie-up Kellman as he was gearing up to put a move on Hart and hinder the velocity on the backhander the Sharks centerman got off. You’d expect the former second-round selection to cover up the five-hole in that situation, but that wasn’t the case, and Kellman found himself with his first goal at the NHL level because of it. San Jose tacked on another before period’s end and entered the third with a 3-0 advantage.
Ivan Provorov put Philadelphia within two in the opening stages of the stanza, scoring a power-play goal to give his team their first goal of the night. Not even a full minute after cutting into the deficit, the Sharks got it right back off the stick of Meier, who cashed in on another San Jose 2-on-1 chance to make it a 4-1 affair. Meier went on to get the hatty with seven minutes to go, and Patrick Marleau ended a 12 game goalless drought late in the frame, eventually gifting the Sharks with a 6-1 victory.
This game can be summed up in one word: Turnovers. The Flyers were absolutely atrocious with the puck on their stick, plain and simple. Nearly half of the Sharks’ goals tonight were on odd-man rushes due to giveaways in the neutral and defensive zones. I get that this was Philadelphia’s first game back from a five-day break, but poor decisions like the ones were made in this game just can’t happen. The hope is the Flyers will clean things up tomorrow as they get back into the swing of things and rebound in the second half of a back-to-back.
Philadelphia’s now 21-12-5 on the year. Next game is Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks.