The Flyers were already underdogs coming into their encounter against Edmonton, but if the challenge already wasn’t steep enough, goaltender Steve Mason had pulled himself from warmups after reportedly feeling under the weather. This season has been shrouded by oddities surrounding the goalie and this seems to be the latest in a long line.
Emery stood in for the sidelined Mason and unfortunately lost in overtime to a Nugent-Hopkins rebound.
However, Winger Matt Read returned to the team following a break to spend time with his wife and newborn child. He played over seventeen minutes worth of Hockey upon his return and had several looks in on goal.
Surprisingly, the normally slow starting Flyers had a two-goal lead in the first period but choked it. They entered the third period trailing 4-3 but maintained to keep pace with a much higher tempo Oilers team.
Rookie Nick Cousins had a great game yet again but was denied by goalie Ben Scrivens with six minutes remaining.
The Flyers did play very tactically, and it almost paid off. Taylor Hall had missed 23 games with an injury and could well have been more likely to commit errors. Philly exploited that, forcing Hall into making two turnovers that lead to two goals. But this is the 40th game that the defence have let in 3 goals or more. And somehow, the reasons as to why the team have missed out on the playoffs are becoming more and more apparent.
The loss has left the Flyers with their second nine-game road losing streak at 0-5-4. A disappointing end to the season which may have all started with that lost to Boston. Up next the Flyers host the Chicago Blackhawks in a game that’s going to be very conclusive about the morale of the team. If they can rally together and stop the likes of Patrick Kane, they may have a shot. A win against a team like this would lift spirits extremely high as well as restore hopes of fans, a loss would simply set them alight.
