Philadelphia Flyers lay a stinker as Blackhawk win 4-1
By Scott Cole
On paper, it’s a game that the Flyer should’ve easily won, but hey…it’s why you play the game. It was a game that they were winning. It was a game where the matchup was totally in their favor in just about every respect. And still, the Flyers managed to lose to the worst team in the NHL. The visiting Chicago Blackhawks downed the Flyers 4-1.
The Flyers took the lead at around nine minutes into the first period. Nick Seeler intercepted a pass, fed it to Rasmus Ristolainen, who shoveled it over to Morgan Frost. Frost started to advance up the middle of the ice with James van Riemsdyk and Owen Tippett flanking him. Frost took the shot himself near the top of the faceoff circle and let it rip for his 10th of the year and his second goal in as many games.
Philly would hold that lead for about a period. However, nine seconds after Frost’s goal, Andreas Athanasiou had appeared to score a goal, but a challenge and replay showed he was offsides. And while the goal didn’t count, it was a portend of things to come. At 9:51 in the second, Seth Jones fired off a shot that Carter Hart was set up to block. However, Jonathan Toews was skating across and, at the final moment, got his stick on it and deflected it away from Hart to tie it up.
Flyers lose 4-1 to the Blackhawks
A turnover by Tippet gave the puck over to Colin Blackwell. In the confusion, he passed it into the middle of the ice where Reese Johnson was waiting and pounded it in to take the lead. Tyler Johnson would score just 35 seconds into the third period with the final goal coming on an empty netter by Philipp Kurashev.
The Flyers had every opportunity to win this game. They outshot Chicago 38 to 28 but made Petr Mrazek look like Dominik Hasek in net. While the Flyers had a penalty-free night, the Blackhawks played a man down twice. Still, the Flyers could not sneak a puck through. Travis Konecny came the closest when he ringed one of the post and had another stopped by Mrazek’s skate, pinned up against the post.
But with the exception of a few spurts, the Flyers looked lifeless. It’s the sort of game that we saw them play during the 10-game losing streak, except they didn’t have any injuries to fall back on as an excuse.
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While the Flyers have made a lot of improvements over the last few weeks, their anemic power play still holds them back. They currently rank 29th on the man advantage. And while most Philly fans will probably watching the Eagles play on Saturday night, the Flyers will also be on at 7 pm in Detroit facing the Red Wings.