The Flyers were finally back on the ice Thursday night and it went about the way one would expect. The boys in orange and black dropped this one 3-2 in the shootout, gaining a point courtesy of a late goal by Joel Farabee with the goalie pulled.
Obviously, expectations should’ve been tempered heading into this one, as even though the Rangers are in the midst of a mediocre season, the Flyers were without six major pieces to their starting lineup. To top it off, the Rangers were coming off what color commentator Keith Jones called a “wake-up call” loss vs the New Jersey Devils.
The Flyers probably couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in this one. The new-look top lines pinned the Rangers in their own end on back-to-back shifts and were able to capitalize on their tremendous forechecking with an early goal.
Just a minute into the game, Travis Sanheim launched a puck toward Rangers netminder Alexandar Georgiev and chaos ensued. After a few rebound chances wouldn’t go, Nicolas Aube-Kubel dove into the crease to sweep the puck over the line, giving the Flyers a rare 1st period lead. While the scoring would halt there — despite three power-play opportunities — the chances kept coming.
Despite being outshot 11-6 in the period, the Flyers out-chanced New York at even-strength. Kudos to the Rangers though, they blocked a boatload of shots in the opening frame that otherwise would’ve tilted the shot clock in the Flyers favor.
The Rangers managed to tilt the game back into their favor in the second period. They capitalized at the end of an early power-play opportunity and nearly capitalized on a few sloppy Philadelphia turnovers. The Flyers didn’t get throttled in the period or anything like that, but they didn’t appear to have the same jump as in the first.
The highlight of the period came with just three minutes remaining as Carter Hart made a dazzling glove save on Pavel Buchnevich on the breakaway, and then stoned the young Russian forward on the ensuing penalty shot to preserve the tie.
The Rangers appeared to break the Flyers back midway through the third stanza as Brendan Smith swatted home a loose puck into a yawning cage following a sloppy rebound by Hart. However, they found an answer at zero-hour, as Joel Farabee pounced on a loose puck in the crease and jammed it past Georgiev to tie the game at two a-piece and help them gain at least one point.
Overtime was a nothing-burger for the most part as the Flyers wound up needing to kill a penalty and well…we all know what happens to Philadelphia in the shootout.
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The Flyers really didn’t do much to lose this game, they just did even less to win. Considering the long delay and the amount of talent out of the lineup, take this point for what it is.
Key Takeaways
- Philadelphia’s Powerplay continues to be a tire fire
- You aren’t going to win a whole lot of games in the NHL with a power play as flaccid as the team. Sure, they generated chances, but at some point, you’ve got to get greasy and break the door down. When the flood gates finally open, we know this team is capable of piling them up.
- Need more from Nolan Patrick
- Tough situation for Patty given the fact that his linemates were up to the quality he’s used to. That being said, he had a rough night out there. His decision-making on the power play was questionable and he didn’t do a whole lot to generate offense at even-strength. If Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek are out much longer, the Flyers are going to need much more from the young center.
- Carter Hart is still Carter Hart
- Look, was Hart at fault for the Rangers’ second goal? Sure. It was a careless rebound and the team paid for it. But should the team have gotten the puck out of the zone on the multiple chances they had before that? Absolutely. Hart played a strong game and gave the Flyers every chance to win, including making some stellar stops in overtime while the Rangers were on the man-advantage. We mentioned in our game preview that he would need to be one of the Flyers’ best players if the team hopes to take home any wins with the major loss of talent they’re dealing with.
Philadelphia is back at it Sunday and they sure have a tall task ahead of them vs the vaunted Boston Bruins on Lake Tahoe.