The Flyers

Pigeon Coop Postgame: Flyers Struck By Lightning in One-Goal Loss

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January 11: Lightning 1 / Flyers 0

Looking for their tenth-straight win to tie a franchise record, the Tampa Bay Lightning visited the Philadelphia Flyers on home ice in Philadelphia on Saturday night. The Flyers, coming off a big win against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, were searching for their first back-to-back set of wins in quite some time. Carter Hart got the start between the pipes for the Flyers, who was 8-0-0 in his last 8 home games. However, Andrei Vasilevskiy stayed perfect in net all night for the Bolts, taking down the Flyers by a final score of 1 to 0.

In the first period, both teams got their opportunities on the Power Play. The Flyers’ first PP came first as David Kase drew a penalty less than three minutes into the game in his first shift since being recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Flyers were unable to capitalize on their chance, and soon enough Robert Hagg sat for two minutes after being called for holding. Travis Konecny also sat for a double-minor after a high-sticking penalty at 6:17. However, the Flyers and Lightning’s respective PK units remained solid, and headed into the first intermission knotted at zero.

Even though the Flyers got another chance on the Power Play thanks to a slashing penalty on Patrick Maroon, Maroon had the last laugh shortly after Tampa killed off the penalty. Matt Niskanen tried swatting the puck down in front of the net with his hand, which resulted in Maroon tapping the puck past Hart to put the Bolts up 1-0. This was the only scoring of the period, and eventually the game.

The Flyers best offensive opportunity came in the third period, with a tic-tac-toe passing play from Konecny to Travis Sanheim. Vasilevskiy had the answer for this and kept the Flyers scoreless. With 5 and a half minutes remaining in the game, the Flyers went back on the Power Play after Kevin Shattenkirk was called for high sticking on Konecny, who chipped his tooth on this play. The Flyers could not cash in on the man-advantage, or when they pulled their goalie to get shut out by the Lightning 1-0.

The Flyers were outshot by the Lightning by a count of 28 (TBL) to 23 (PHI). This is the Flyers’ fifth loss in six games. The Flyers continue their difficult schedule taking on the Boston Bruins at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.

Cage Cleaning

  • The Flyers’ special teams were a double-edged sword tonight. Their Penalty Kill was perfect, holding one of the hottest power plays in the league to 0/4 tonight. Sean Couturier, Tyler Pitlick and Kevin Hayes all had stellar performances on the PK tonight. However, the Flyers also failed to score a Power Play goal, going 0 for 3 on man-advantage opportunities.
  • One of the Flyers’ weakest points tonight was their turnovers and giveaways. The Flyers registered ten giveaways, while the Bolts only registered three.

  • This was the first time this season that the Flyers were shut out by an opponent. For one of the best home teams in the NHL, it was a shock for the offense to be so quiet against Tampa. The Flyers struggled greatly to sustained pressure in their offensive zone, and just did not have enough time to make up for it.

 

 

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