The Flyers fell into another slow start in a pivotal Saturday afternoon clash with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After allowing three goals in the first period, Tampa Bay was able to distance themselves in a 5-3 rout of Philly.
1st Period
In eight of their previous 11 games, the Flyers scored first. But, as previously mentioned, the Lightning struck first in this one. Alex Killhorn deflected one off Carter Hart’s shoulder three minutes into the game. A bit of a flukey play, as Killhorn’s attempted pass deflected back to him and he tucked a floater high.
Tampa Bay would control the majority of the remainder of the period. Their heavy, two-man forecheck early on forced the Flyers to panic with the puck. Then, Cedric Paquette found himself wide open in the slot, pounding home an easy goal following a Tyler Johnson forced turnover and pass.
Playing a team that won nine straight coming into this one, this was the last position the Flyers wanted to be in.
2nd Period
As the game up until this point was close to even puck control, Tampa would extend their lead to three early in the period after Carter Verhaeghe found twine.
The Flyers would retaliate with a powerplay goal of their own, which was a bright point of the game. They converted the first of two times out of five opportunities as Ivan Provorov fired one home to cut the lead to two.
With Claude Giroux’s assist on the goal, he tied Bobby Clarke for most powerplay points in franchise history (234).
The Flyers would find themselves trailing by two heading into the final frame.
3rd Period
Now, this is where things got fun. The Flyers held the momentum for the entire period but were failing to convert on their chances. Sean Couturier proved once again that he is good at hockey, but Vasilevskiy had the answers.
Despite the Flyers’ control, Brayden Pointe would snipe one upper cheese on Hart with eight minutes remaining. Just as this one seemed out of reach, JVR and Giroux scored two quick goals, making this one 4-3.
Coach Vigneault pulled Hart with a little over four minutes remaining, which is where Giroux swatted one past Vasielvskiy. Unfortunately, their late-game magic came up short, and Nikita Kucherov guided one into the empty net with seconds remaining.
The Roundup
As Tampa Bay thought this one was getting out of reach, it became physical. Travis Konecny was doing Travis Konecny things, and each stoppage became a scrum. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos even got into the mix, pulling off this dirty skate sweep on Claude Giroux at the faceoff dot:
Carter Hart slipped up on a couple of the early goals allowed and probably wanted the first one back. After the game, he took credit for the team’s loss and mentions:
“If I make a save there, I think we win this hockey game.”
Regardless of the fact, the Flyers can’t continue to start off slow and expect to win. Only picking up two points during the road trip, and with a home and home coming up with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Philly finds themselves in a must-win, plus some in their next two.
Game one of the series can be caught at 7 pm on Tuesday night in South Philadelphia.
Mandatory Credit – © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
