The Philadelphia Flyers fired a lot of quantity towards Mikko Koskinen and the Edmonton Oilers, but not a lot of quality chances. The Flyers fired 39 shots but couldn’t find the back of the net as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as well as Koskinen backstopped the Oilers to a 3-0 win. After snapping their 6-game losing streak on Saturday, the Flyers played pretty well tonight but couldn’t penetrate the Oilers defense; a struggling defense at that.
FIRST PERIOD
Having to stop Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is always a tough task, especially when you consider their career numbers against the Orange and Black. It didn’t take long for their impact to be felt as the Flyers turned the puck over right off the face-off and then Scott Laughton tripped McDavid on a cycle play only 31 seconds into the game. Fortunately they killed off the penalty with relative ease, only allowing one scoring chance to the third-best power play in the NHL.
With 7 minutes left in the first period the Flyers were awarded a power play from a phantom high-stick against Kailer Yamamoto. After checking the replay it was actually Ivan Provorov’s stick that clipped Travis Konecny. The Flyers didn’t do much with the initial 1:09 seconds but were given a 5-on-3 opportunity after Mikko Koskinen was called for a delay of game penalty. To their credit, they actually took 4 shots on goal during the abbreviated 2-man advantage but Koskinen stood his ground as the Flyers were peppering from every which angle.
Off an untimely miscue at the blue line after Oskar Lindblom swung and missed at the puck, he ended up tripping Zach Hyman which was immediately called with 2:39 left in the period. It only took the Oilers 20 seconds to score as Draisaitl ripped a shot from the point that went over Carter Hart’s glove to break the deadlock. It’s worth noting that coming into this game, the Oilers were 16-0-0 when scoring the first goal.
Even though the Flyers won the face-off, Rasmus Ristolainen failed to clear the puck and it was secured by Draisaitl. McDavid took a shot that was stopped by Hart with the rebound in the blue paint but Ristolainen once again failed to get it out of the zone. The trio of Darnell Nurse, McDavid, and Draisaitl secured the puck again, worked their magic, and Draisaitl was left unmarked at the point to fire his shot that got past Hart who was being heavily screened by Ristolainen.
The Flyers had a chance to tie things up with only a few seconds remaining as their top line of Claude Giroux, Cam Atkinson, and Joel Farabee went end-to-end but Giroux’s trailer pass to Travis Sanheim was deflected by the defensemen and hit the outside of the net. There was a mini-scrum that ensued but the 6’7” Koskinen stood his ground all period, stopping all 13 shots fired his way.
SECOND PERIOD
Less than 3 minutes into the second period, Lindblom was called for another tripping penalty, giving McDavid and co. another chance to score with their vaunted power play. The trio of Nurse, McDavid, and Draisaitl set up shop in the offensive zone for nearly the entire 1:50 that they were on the ice. The Flyers kept them to the outside for most of it but it’s tough to keep McDavid in check with his speed, IQ, and ability to make a play out of nothing.
With the Oilers pressuring the Flyers and peppering Hart with scoring chances from their top guns, they were awarded another power play with 11:56 remaining in the second period after Konecny tripped Nurse closer to the Oilers end than the Flyers’ zone. Fortunately for the Flyers, this penalty kill resembled their first of the game. Still, you don’t want to keep giving McDavid and Draisaitl more chances to play together, with a man advantage no less.
With just under 5 minutes left in the second period, the second line for the Oilers flanked by Draisaitl kept pushing in the offensive zone. Draisaitl fed the puck to Yamamoto from the corner to the slot. Yamamoto then found Duncan Keith at the point who whipped a pass to his partner Evan Bouchard. He was left open, unmarked, and instead of attacking him, the Flyers collapsed in front of Hart. His shot was stopped, Draisaitl was robbed on the rebound, but Yamamoto jammed home the loose puck in the blue paint.
To add insult to injury, Rasmus Ristolainen took a very unnecessary high-sticking penalty after he didn’t like a hit he had received just a little bit before. Instead of focusing on the puck, he focused on the player, and in turn awarded the Oilers their fifth power play of the game and third of the period. They had some chances to really break the game wide open, but the Flyers survived the initial 1:40 before the the horn sounded to end the period.
THIRD PERIOD
With the Oilers sitting pretty and in the driver’s seat with a 2-0 lead heading into the third period, the Flyers would have to throw everything including the kitchen sink to break the Oilers unbeaten record after scoring the first goal of the game. Up until the first commercial break, the Flyers had a few good shifts from the bottom 6, primarily Gerry Mayhew and Patrick Brown going end to end for scoring opportunities. Travis Sanheim was also very noticeable in the offensive zone, but every time he trailed behind the offense or pinched aggressively within the offensive zone, his shot missed the net in some capacity.
The Flyers kept pressuring the Oilers in an attempt to at least break the shutout. Joel Farabee had his slap-shot stopped in the slot, and the rebound went all the way to the point to Ristolainen who was left completely unmarked. He had a chance to rip a slap-shot towards the net but instead he tried sending a pass to Giroux with an open net at his disposal. Unfortunately for Ristolainen, Giroux was being well defended by Tyson Barrie so his slap-shot pass had no effect on Koskinen.
With 2:19 remaining in the game the Flyers pulled Hart for the extra attacker. The previous minute and a half saw the Flyers spend most of their ice time in the offensive zone but everything was kept to the outside. Right off the face-off Cam Atkinson found the puck loose in the slot but he fired his shot right into Koskinen’s breadbasket. With 1:40 remaining McDavid deposited a shot into the open net to completely ice the game way. Draisaitl and Zach Hyman played with the puck before McDavid scored on the abbreviated 3-on-1.
The Flyers didn’t necessarily play a bad game, they were pretty good 5-on-5 but spent too much time killing penalties in the first 40 minutes. Even though they killed off four of those penalties, you don’t want to give McDavid and Draisaitl that much time in the offensive zone. Koskinen made 39 saves for the shutout, Draisaitl and McDavid each recorded a goal and an assist, and Carter Hart did the best he could stopping 30 of the 32 shots fired his way.
UP NEXT
Up next for the Flyers are the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night after beginning this home-stand with a 1-3-1 record.
