The losing and subsequent shutout streak continued for the Philadelphia Flyers as they dropped their third straight contest after falling 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche.
It was a fast start for the Flyers who outshot the Avalanche 10-1 in the first half of the first period, but Colorado eventually found their footing in the second period with 2 goals and 18 shots on net to keep Philadelphia at bay.
Samuel Girard opened the scoring on an odd-man rush before Nathan MacKinnon added a late power play tally to double the lead. The Avalanche then shut the door the rest of the way as the Flyers created very little in the final 40 minutes.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped all 24 shots fired his way, while Samuel Erssson came out with the loss even though he allowed just 2 goals on 32 shots.
Coming off the heels of back-to-back shutout defeats the Flyers visited Ball Arena to face off against Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche.
Of course the big news between last game and today was the trade of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to the Calgary Flames. Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier were unavailable due to visa-related issues, Emil Andrae and Jacob Gaucher were called up, and the lines went through a blender with an 11/7 formation to boot.
Samuel Ersson earned the start as he looked to improve on his 15-9-2 record, .890 SV% and 2.86 GAA but against a formidable offensive unit.
The Avalanche entered today’s afternoon contest with a 30-21-2 record but a paltry 4-5-1 record over their last 10 games – at least to their lofty standards. They also pulled off a monumental trade of their own recently when they shipped Mikko Rantanen to Carolina as part of a three-team trade for Martin Nečas and Jack Drury.
Despite Rantanen’s sudden departure, they were still paced offensively by MacKinnon’s NHL-leading 79 points in just 53 games, Nečas’ 60 points, and Cale Makar’s 19 goals and 57 points. Mackenzie Blackwood earned the start as his turn-around season continued with an 11-5-2 record, .921 SV%, and 2.15 GAA since being acquired from San Jose.
FIRST PERIOD
Although undermanned and potentially shorthanded, the Flyers came out of the gates with gumption as they outshot the Colorado Avalanche 9-0 13 minutes into the game. Casey Mittelstadt recorded Colorado’s first shot on goal at the 12:37 mark.
The period came to a close with the Avalanche having found some of their footing as they outshot the Flyers 6-1 in the final 7 minutes. Nevertheless it was a far better effort from the Flyers in recent games, unfortunately their shutout streak extended to 7 periods.
SECOND PERIOD
After Scott Laughton’s odd man opportunity went wide, the Avalanche picked up the loose change and jettisoned on their own odd-man rush, which resulted in the game’s opening goal at the 8:33 mark of the second period.
Samuel Girard finished off the play as the trailer after Mittelstadt dropped the pass to the defenseman with Jonathan Drouin opposite him. It came off the heels of a lengthy offensive zone shift from Avalanche’s top line that generated 3 shots on goal and plenty more that were either blocked or had gone wide.
The first power play of the game was awarded at the 15:49 mark of the second period to Laughton for a hooking minor as he was aggressively trying to chase down a puck against Josh Manson in the neutral zone.
With the penalty expiring, MacKinnon wired his 20th goal of the season on a cheeky shot from the faceoff dot over the glove of Ersson with Rasmus Ristolainen screening. The Avalanche set the goal up with some great passes between MacKinnon, Makar, and Drouin before the assistant captain finished off the play for his first power play tally over the last 44 games.
With 16 seconds remaining, the Flyers were handed another penalty as Noah Cates got the gate for a tripping minor against Nečas.
The Flyers’ smothering defense finally gave way against the Avalanche’s high-powered attack with Colorado taking a 2-0 lead into the second intermission as well as a 24-16 advantage in shots with 18 registered in the middle frame.
THIRD PERIOD
The Avalanche recorded 2 shots on goal on the power play with several more that went wide or were blocked as the trio of MacKinnon, Nečas, and Makar running the show with very little resistance.
It was reported midway through the period that Ristolainen was not on the Flyers bench nor did he take a shift in the third period, which added a little to the futility of the offensive game as a whole.
The Avalanche did what they do best, which was possess the puck, control offensive zone time, and fire shots on goal while following the rebound as they carried the play with a 10-4 advantage in shots with 5 minutes remaining.
With 5:21 remaining, the Flyers earned their first power play of the game after Miles Wood was given the gate for a slashing minor. John Tortorella pulled Ersson with close to 4:30 left to play looking to find a spark with a 6-on-4, however the penalty came to a close with the Avalanche now having killed off 29 of their last 31 attempts.
The Flyers had a few chances with the net empty but were unable to score for the third straight game.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will visit Delta Center for the first time in franchise history on Tuesday when they take on the Utah Hockey Club (9:00pm; NBCSP).
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