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Wrap: Lightning Strike 7 Times vs. Flyers: Phantoms Update |
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Wrap: Lighting Strike 7 Times vs. Flyers
Almost nothing went right for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 7-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday evening. It was Philly's most lopsided loss of the 2023-24 season. The Flyers gave up four goals in the first period, one in the second and two in the third. Tampa went 3-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Lightning were on top of their game, and the Flyers were unable to stop the bleeding until they were in a deep hole.
The Flyers had to dress five defensemen, with Egor Zamula feeling ill throughout the day. The team currently has just six defensemen (and 14 forwards) on the roster. During the morning skate, Bobby Brink (a healthy scratch in the game) filled in on defense to take reps with Ronnie Attard.
Once the game started, the Flyers had a dangerous turnover -- an Owen Tippett miscue -- in the defensive zone on just the second shift of the game. Marc Staal erased it with a blocked shot but it set an ominous tone. Sure enough, at 1:49, Victor Hedman scored the first of two goals he'd tally in the game. Defenseman Darren Raddysh picked up the first of five assists he'd collect on the night.
Things kept going downhill from there. On this night, the Flyers' PK (ranked No. 1 in the NHL coming into the game) was no match for Tampa's No. 1 ranked power play. Tampa would go 3-for-4 on the night on the power play -- the second time this season that the Flyers allowed three opposing PPGs in a game and the first since the Oct. 14 game in Ottawa.
Nick Paul made it 2-0 at 5:55 in a power play scramble near the net. The Tampa lead grew to 3-0 at 9:10 on a routine low-glove side shot -- clear sighted from above the hash marks -- that Samuel Ersson (four goals against in 10:49 on 15 shots) failed to track.
At 9:24, young referee Brandon Schrader double-botched a penalty call. He penalized Flyers defenseman Attard for a marginal-at-most tripping penalty but announced the penalty was against Tampa's Michael Eyssimont (who, like Attard, wears No. 23 for his team). After two failed clearing opportunities for the Flyers, Brayden Point scored a power play goal from the center slot for a 4-0 Tampa lead at 10:49.
Flyers head coach John Tortorella argued the bad call by Schrader against Attard. He received a bench minor and then a game misconduct from senior referee Wes McCauley. Tortorella bought his team a little extra regrouping time by refusing to leaving the bench for a protracted amount of time. As Tortorella finally exited, Felix Sandström (eight saves on 11 shots) entered the game in relief of Ersson.
The next 30 minutes of play weren't bad overall for the Flyers from a territorial standpoint, but they were unable to put anything past Andrei Vasilevskiy (25-save shutout). The deficit grew to 5-0 at 15:42, as newly acquired Tampa forward Anthony Duclair converted a seeing-eye pass from Steven Stamkos -- somehow, the puck went through Staal and right to the goal scorer.
The Flyers had some push very early in the third period but an abortive power play (the Flyers went 0-for-3 in desultory fashion, and are now five for their last 53 power play chances) energized Tampa for another wave of attack. Hedman scored again at 7:33 and Brandon Hagel notched Tampa's third power play goal of the night at 8:16 of the third period.
There were three fights in the game: Nicolas Deslauriers vs. Austin Watson right off the next center ice faceoff after Paul's goal made it 2-0 in the first period, Sean Couturier vs. Matt Dumba (making his Tampa debut) at 9:04 of the second period, and a very brief gloves-off wrestling match between Cam Atkinson (first NHL fighting major) and Eyssimont that was deemed a fight rather than roughing at 18:01 of the third period.
Additionally, Flyers right winger Garnet Hathaway was tagged for two separate 10-minute misconducts in the game: one midway through the first period and another in the late minutes of the third.
The Flyers will have an off-day on Sunday. On Tuesday, they will host the San Jose Sharks at the Wells Fargo Center. In the meantime, the Flyers will hope they get some help from the woeful Anaheim Ducks (23-37-3) on Sunday and/or the LA Kings (32-20-11) on Monday as the Pacific Division clubs attempt to stop the red-hot New York Islanders (five straight wins). If New York wins both games, the Flyers will still hold third place in the Metro on Tuesday morning but only via regulation wins tiebreaker (currently a 25-20 edge to Philly).
Side note to Saturday's game: New acquisitions Denis Gurianov (17 shifts, 11:57 TOI) and Erik Johnson (28 shifts, 19:57 TOI) made their Flyers debuts. Every Flyers skater with the exceptions of Couturier, Gurianov, Morgan Frost (on the fourth line for the majority of the game), and Deslauriers was on the ice for at least one Tampa goal.
There was a lot of line juggling and experimentation with the score being so lopsided so early. At one juncture, with Rocky Thompson and Brad Shaw running the bench, Thompson tried out a line with Joel Farabee centering Tippett and Tyson Foerster. The experiment was short-lived as the makeshift line coughed up a 2-on-1 rush (which turned into a 3-on-2) that resulted in the second Hedman goal. The three did not skate as a line together thereafter.
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Phantoms Salvage Home-and-Home Split with Pens
On night after failing to protect a third period lead and giving up a late goal in a 3-2 home loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms earned a split of the home-and-home set. On Saturday, the Phantoms rode a four-goal outburst in the third period to a 4-2 victory over the Baby Pens at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre.
The Phantoms entered the third period trailing 1-0 after Ryan Shea broke a scoreless deadlock midway through the second period. In the final stanza, Samu Tuomaala (14th goal of the season, PPG) ended his scoring drought to tie the game at 2:13. Brendan Furry notched a shorthanded goal (5th) at 7:22 to put the Phantoms ahead for the first time. Adam Brooks (4th) and rugged forward Evan Polei (1st of the season, assisted by Tuomaala) gave the Phantoms some insurance. A Sam Poulin penalty shot goal (12th) at 14:47 reduced the lead to two goals but W-B/S drew no closer.
As he's done for most of the season when given the opportunity to play, Phantoms backup goalie Parker Gahagen (30 saves on 32 shots) gave Lehigh Valley a chance to win. Losing goalie Joel Blomqvist carried a shutout into the third period but ultimately yielded four goals on 29 shots overall.
For the second straight night, the Phantoms (24-23-7) neither gained nor lost ground on the sixth-place Springfield Thunderbirds (26-25-5) in the battle for the final Calder Cup playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. On Sunday, with Springfield facing a tough road game against the Providence Bruins (34-17-5), the Phantoms have a golden opportunity to take care of business on the road against the last-place Bridgeport Islanders (20-29-7). The Phantoms lost at home to Bridgeport last Saturday.
Elliot Desnoyers returned to the Phantoms' lineup on Saturday. The team remained without Olle Lycksell, Adam Ginning, and the injured Tanner Laczynski. The Phantoms may be without veteran captain Garrett Wilson on Sunday, as he incurred a match penalty for checking to the head in the third period of Saturday's game.
13 Brendan Furry - 22 Rhett Gardner - 27 Samu Tuomaala
16 J.R. Avon - 56 Jacob Gaucher - 20 Cooper Marody
17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 46 Matt Brown
10 Evan Polei - 24 Adam Brooks - 14 Zayde Wisdom
98 Victor Mete - 7 Louie Belpedio
6 Emil Andrae - 2 Helge Grans
3 Adam Karashik - 5 Ethan Samson
31 Parker Gahagen
[40 Cal Petersen]
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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