Make it seven losses in their last eight games as the Philadelphia Flyers were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-0, on Monday night.
Nikita Kucherov (29) scored on a breakaway late in the first period before Jake Guentzel’s (33) empty-netter sealed the deal in the third. Andrei Vasilevskiy posted his fifth shutout against the Flyers and 39th of his NHL career with 21 saves.
Ivan Fedotov stopped 21 shots as well, including some real gems.
“Felt really good,” said Fedotov postgame. “Tough game. From my side I feel good. You know, pucks come on you sometimes, they don’t do like simple shots, they find the best solution for the shoot. Try to help the D guys behind and stop the puck … so yeah, just try to do my job.”
Despite not scoring, the Flyers managed to put up a solid fight all game against one of the top teams in the league. Philadelphia had already defeated Tampa Bay twice this season before and they gave them one last fight.
FIRST PERIOD
Score: 1-0 TBL
Shots: 11-9 TBL
The Lightning jumped out to a 5-0 shots on goal advantage but Fedotov stood tall early. The Flyers started to get their legs under them and generated some chances around five minutes in.
The Lightning earned the game’s first power play after Cam York hooked Yanni Gourde but the Flyers safely killed it off.
Late in the period, Kucherov sold a holding penalty against Jamie Drysdale to give Tampa Bay another shot with the man advantage, but it was quickly negated as Guentzel said one too many words after the ensuing faceoff and was assessed an abuse of officials minor.
While at 4-on-4, Travis Konecny fumbled a pass from Ryan Poehling and Kucherov was able to scoop it up, skate down the ice, and fire the puck past Fedotov with 1:29 remaining.
SECOND PERIOD
Score: 1-0 TBL
Shots: 15-14 TBL
Philadelphia really tightened their game up defensively in the middle frame, not allowing a Lightning shot until there was 7:44 left.
The Flyers had a golden opportunity to at least tie the game with a four-minute power play after Emil Lilleberg high-sticked Olle Lycksell while going for a big hit at center ice. Their best chance came on an Owen Tippett backhander that rang off the crossbar, but they officiated registered zero shots on goal on the elongated power play despite some solid looks.
That was the Flyers’ last power play of the evening, capping off an 0-for-5 performance by the Rocky Thompson-led unit.
With about three minutes left, Rodrigo Ābols buried Lilleberg at the Flyers bench, sending the Lightning defenseman’s helmet flying. As he tried to search for it, Nicolas Deslauriers wildly grabbed ahold of him from the bench, but luckily the Flyers enforcer escaped without a penalty.
THIRD PERIOD
Score: 2-0 TBL
Shots: 23-21 TBL
Just over two minutes into the period, Brandon Hagel found himself on a breakaway off of a terrific stretch pass from Kucherov. Fortunately, Fedotov responded with a spectacular glove save to keep it a one-goal game.
The Flyers and Lightning exchanged limited chances throughout the period before the visitors tried to pull Fedotov for the extra attacker with 1:47 remaining. Sean Couturier unfortunately committed an incredibly ill-timed high-sticking penalty that earned him a double minor and effectively put the game away.
Guentzel potted the empty net goal with 1:30 left on the clock to do just that as the Lightning defeated the Flyers, 2-0.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Andrei Vasilevskiy – TBL, 2) Ivan Fedotov – PHI, 3) Nikita Kucherov – TBL
UP NEXT
The Flyers take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Thursday night at Capital One Arena (7:00pm ET; NBCSP) as they continue their road trip.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login