Flyers vs Jets recap: Hey, It Could Have Been Worse!

1^st Period Highlights

• Around two minutes in, Voracek scores off of a Sean Couturier rebound, wraps it around Trouba and beats Hellebuyck to his right. Coots and G get the assists, Flyers up 1-0
• 4:33, Dustin Byfuglien gets two minutes for a trip.
• 42 seconds later, Couturier finishes a rebound from Simmonds off a shot from Coots on the powerplay. Both Simmonds and Coots get the assists, Flyers up 2-0.
• 8:30 in and the Flyers go on the penalty kill for the first time. Scott Laughton gets 2 for hooking.
• 9:50 in and Gudas and Perrault get matching minors. At first. Then, after hearing the crowds reaction to the replay, the refs convene at center ice and decide that Gudas deserves a five minute major and gets the boot from the game. Right call, but should have been made MUCH earlier. “Scoreboard officiating,” according to Jim Jackson.
• I can’t sing Robert Hagg’s praises enough. He had a great breakup on a potential 2 on 1 on the penalty kill. He is mature beyond his years and is playing extremely well for the Flyers right now.
• 11:29 in and Brian Elliott gloves a rocket from Bryan Little.
• About 2 and a half minutes later, Elliott absolutely nabs a shot right out of the air. Elliott looks incredibly sharp tonight so far.
• Flyers end up killing the major penalty from Gudas, that Dale Weise served. Rightfully so.

Analysis
So far so good. The Flyers broke a 158:36 goal-less drought. Taking a 2-0 lead into the second has got to do wonders for their confidence, if they had any lack of it. Robert Hagg and Ivan Provorov have been stellar playing on the same pairing. Brian Elliott has looked phenomenal in net thus far. The Flyers to line continues to produce, and the addition of Nolan Patrick back in the lineup has really given a bit of a jolt to the rest of the bottom lines.

Shots tied at ten

Hits even at 6

Jets winning faceoffs 14 to 11

2^nd Period Highlights

• 1:51 in and Mark Scheifele goes in the box for two minutes after a cross check. Flyers couldn’t capitalize but showed some great puck possession skills in the process.
• Konecny took a trip to the box around 5:12 in for Interference on Blake Wheeler, which was questionable.
• 7:15 and on the PK Elliott had a great save sequence and did a great job at keeping the puck out of the back of the net.
• Around nine minutes in and Dustin Byfuglien strikes, this time hitting Jordan Weal. When you look at it again, you notice it wasn’t contact to the head, but Byfuglien DOES extend his elbow after the hit. Anyone else notice that? Anyone? Oh well.
• 9:44 and Kulikov goes to the box, Flyers once again fail to capitalize.
• 12:14 in and Scott Laughton goes to the box for boarding, things start to get a bit chippy.
• About 50 seconds into the penalty and Perrault buries a beauty on Elliott. Got a great feed and deked Elliott across the crease, snuck it under his left pad.
• From then on out during the period, the Jets clearly were in control of momentum until the end of the period. You could see the momentum had clearly shifted in favor of Winnipeg

Analysis
So the Flyers didn’t exactly come out flat in the second, but they didn’t do themselves any favors. The Jets are now one goal away from tying things up and the momentum has clearly swung the Jet’s way. The only plus we can really gather from this period is the fact that Elliott is still playing incredibly well. If the offense can muster up one more goal, I could see that being the one that decides it. Hagg is still solid, Provorov is still playing at an extremely high level, as has become expected, and the defense doesn’t seem to be slacking too much due to the loss of Radko Gudas.

Winnipeg up by one shot 22-21

Jets up by one hit as well 14-13

Jets have the advantage in the faceoff circle still, 27-21

3^rd Period

• 1:50 in and a 3 on 1 develops for Winnipeg and who other than Ivan Provorov is there to break it up.
• 2:50 in and you see Dustin Byfuglien for a big hit. You can tell that he’s at that point in the game where he wants blood.
• 5:41 and Simmonds heads to the box for a cross check on Lars Ehlers. Classy move for him to go check on him and tell him he was sorry, even if the ref kept trying to push him away.
• 9:40 and Big Buff heads to the box for tripping.
• HELLISH sequence of shots around 10:20 in with Flyers not being able to capitalize. Gostisbehere took majority of shots. Lot of shots blocked by Winnipeg, great job on the PK for the Jets.
• 12:15 and Connor gets a breakaway but is STONED by Elliott. Elliott still looking absolutely stellar in net.
• Home stretch and about 49 seconds left and Mark Schiefele buries one and Elliott doesn’t even react, so we are heading to overtime.

Analysis
Overall, the third period wasn’t a terrible period, but the Flyers need to do a better job of closing these close games out. They were up and essentially had control of the game and one bad sequence led to the Jets tying it up and taking it to overtime. Elliott didn’t even have the chance to react to the rocket that Schiefele put past him. Tough to blame Elliott because Schiefele just put that puck in the only spot that he possibly could have in order to tie the game, and that’s exactly what he did. Overtime baby!

Shots are even at 30

Overtime

• 1:35 and Elliott makes a great save on a 2 on 1.
• 2:10 in and, let’s be honest, Byfuglien hooked there and there was no call. These refs are pretty crappy tonight. Might be their first night? I dunno, but do better next time for God’s sake.
• 2:32 and Wheeler decides to take it from the left of Elliott and drag the crease and Elliott stuck with it the entire way. Great save.
• 3:55 and Voracek fails to get off the ice in time, too many men penalty.
• 4:42 and Patrick Laine gets a high stick penalty.

Analysis
The Flyers had way too many missed shots that period. So many great shot attempts but they kept missing the net. If they want to win theses games, they need to start making the opposing goalie make the saves.

SHOOTOUT!!!!!!!!!

WPG – Scheifele shoots, scores 1-0 WPG

PHI – Voracek shoots, scores top shelf 1-1

WPG – Laine shoots, scores a real soft one 2-1 WPG

PHI – Weal shoots, scores a snipe wrister 2-2

WPG – Wheeler shoots, and is stopped by Elliott 2-2 still

PHI – Giroux shoots, right into Hellebuycks chest 2-2 STILL

WPG – Little shoots, scores off of Elliott’s glove 3-2 WPG

PHI – Konecny shoots, stopped by Hellebuyck and the Jets win 3-2

OVERALL ANALYSIS
Hey guys, at least it wasn’t a shutout. I got real tired of watching these guys play and not seeing a single damn goal scored. So we got a point out of this which is better than none. Progress folks! Let’s take this all one step at a time and enjoy the little achievements as they come. Otherwise, what in the world is Dale Weise doing on a line with our rookie sensation Nolan Patrick? Get that man off of that line RIGHT NOW before he ruins Patrick’s future! A positive to draw from tonight is that Simmonds is shooting well and is another game or so away from ending that 10, now 11 I believe, game goalless drought. His time will come and when it does, it usually happens in bulk, so expect big things once that Wayne Train gets rolling. Another thing that kind of bothered me is that Michael Raffl is only the second powerplay unit. Michael Raffl, who hasn’t scored a point all year, is on the second powerplay unit. Give me a break…

Also, I know Jamey, another one of our immensely talented writers here at Philly Sports Network, noticed this as well as me, but the hit that Dustin Byfuglien laid on Jordan Weal, did anyone else notice the fact that his elbow came up after making contact? No, his head was not the initial point of contact, but elbowing is still a penalty as well. These refs were all over the place tonight, as evidenced by the whole Gudas debacle.

One last tidbit, our shootout woes continue. Elliott is not a great shootout goalie apparently, and neither was Hellebuyck, but he made one more save than Elliott, and the Flyers end up with one less point than they deserve. Let’s hope that they have better luck against Calgary on Saturday. Until then, try and keep busy by maybe hating on the Penguins, wishing the Rangers or Caps would lose, and most importantly, rooting for the orange and black. Better luck next time folks.