In Mike Yeo’s first game as head coach, he got five goals from his offense, but his defense fumbled the bag with seven goals allowed on 50 shots against the vaunted Colorado Avalanche offense. Claude Giroux scored twice but it wasn’t enough as seven different Avalanche players tallied goals to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-5. This loss adds to their losing streak that has now reached 9 games.
With Mike Yeo taking over as interim head coach, it’s no surprise that he changed the lines for his first game behind the bench. Oskar Lindblom found himself back with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny on the top line. Morgan Frost, Claude Giroux, and James van Riemsdyk formed the second line. Kevin Hayes manned the third line with Scott Laughton and Cam Atkinson on his wings and the fourth line had a different look as the trio comprised of Max Willman, Patrick Brown at centre, and Zack MacEwen.
The Flyers scored the first goal of the game, coming off a play that started from behind their own net as Travis Sanheim looked for a stretch pass to get the puck out the zone. His pass was deflected by an Avalanche player and went all the way into the offensive zone. James van Riemsdyk rimmed the puck around the boards as Rasmus Ristolainen was pinching. He forced a turnover, got the puck to Morgan Frost who found Claude Giroux all alone in the middle of the ice ready for a slapshot. van Riemsdyk aided his captain with a little bit of a screen in front of Justus Annunen as the Flyers took a much needed lead against a goal-hungry Avalanche squad.
A much better looking power play from the Flyers with Michel Therrien no longer behind the bench. Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Morgan Frost, and Keith Yandle comprised the top unit and they created several scoring chances and a lot of offensive zone time.
However with the power play winding down, Giroux flubbed on a puck that came to him at the point, leading to an odd man rush for the Avalanche. Logan O’Connor found himself on a 2 on 1, deked out Yandle, and found a streaking Erik Johnson as he snapped it top shelf past Martin Jones to tie the game.
As expected, the shorthanded goal completely changed the course of the game. The Flyers lost momentum but most importantly the Avalanche were revved up. Just a perfect breakout from their own zone as Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon played a little pitch and catch as they stormed the Flyers zone. MacKinnon brought all the defensive pressure onto him, found Landeskog on his wing and he sent a seed past Martin Jones, top shelf again to give them a 2-1 lead.
That was only the beginning of the “avalanche” of goals as the Flyers took consecutive penalties to which they couldn’t kill off. First, rookie Alex Newhook fired a snapshot from the slot that deflected off Justin Braun’s stick, off the ice, and then past Martin Jones who went down too early. Then Cale Makar went end to end, shimmied by Cam Atkinson, danced by Ivan Provorov and then top shelf again on Jones. Two goals in a 26 second span.
A timeout was taken immediately by Mike Yeo and it served them well as the Flyers stormed back with 2 quick goals themselves. The top line was buzzing with with pressure as they were cycling the puck very well. An aggressive Sanheim pinched to get to the puck to Konecny who was behind the net. Noticing Annunen looking the wrong way, he one timed the pass to Oskar Lindblom who finally found himself on the scoresheet with his first goal of the season and his first goal in 28 games.
Shortly after that, former Flyer Nicolas Aube-Kubel took a penalty to which the Flyers were able to capitalize on. The top unit looked very good in the first period as they possessed the puck for most of the power play and created several chances; something that was missing all season.
Keith Yandle, playing quarterback on the top unit again, was able to find Konecny on the half-wall, who threw a perfect cross-seam pass to Giroux and he was able to slap it past Annunen for his second goal of the game. That power play tally tied Giroux with Bobby Clarke for most power play points in franchise history at 333.
After a wild first period, it was only fitting that someone would score within the first few minutes of the second, and the Avalanche didn’t disappoint. Off a face-off win the Avalanche controlled the puck and cycled well. Oskar Lindblom failed to clear the puck out of the zone, which aided the Avalanche to push towards the crease. Nick Seeler then failed to get the puck out as well and Valeri Nichuskin ripped a spin-around shot past Martin Jones.
After that goal, play kind of died down a little. There were several chances for both teams to add to their goal tallies but both goalies were able to thwart any chances they faced. The Flyers were close several times but Annunen was able to stave off any scoring chances thrown his way. Even though nothing went in the net, their offensive play was much different and better than we’ve seen in several weeks.
The Flyers started the third period exactly the way they had hoped for as Cam Atkinson was able to slide one past Annunen to cut the deficit to one. Kevin Hayes sent a pass directly towards the crease as Atkinson was finding his way there. The puck got deflected by an Avalanche stick before Atkinson’s but he persevered nonetheless and gave the Flyers some life.
However that was short lived as the Flyers took two penalties and gave the red-hot Avalanche power play another crack at increasing their lead. The top unit essentially played the whole two minutes and on the short 5-on-3, Nazem Kadri found a tiny hole on Martin Jones’ shoulder to give the Avalanche another 2 goal lead.
If the game wasn’t over already, Tyson Jost iced it with his goal, that yet again went top shelf on Jones. Yandle had an inexcusable turnover behind the net, lost the puck, didn’t know where it was and that allowed Jayson Megna to find a streaking Jost. The Flyers were very close to cutting the deficit to one again but Annunen robbed Atkinson twice.
With 1:25 remaining in the game, Scott Laughton was able to add to the goals the Flyers scored with a fifth on a shorthanded breakaway. If there was ever a silver lining from this game, it’s that the Flyers were able to score more than two goals, let alone five.
The Avalanche dominated all throughout as they outshot the Flyers 50-32, scored thrice on the power play, and never really let the Flyers sniff a chance to tie the game. They received goals from seven different players: Erik Johnson, Tyson Jost, Cale Makar, Alex Newhook, Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichuskin, Nazem Kadri. Samuel Girard, Devon Toews, and Mikko Rantanen recorded 2 assists each. Annunen stopped 27 shots, allowing 5 goals.
The Flyers received two goals from Claude Giroux and goals from Scott Laughton, Cam Atkinson, and Oskar Lindblom. Travis Sanheim, Kevin Hayes, and Travis Konecny recorded two assists each. Martin Jones allowed 7 goals on 50 shots.
Up next for the Flyers is a road matchup against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night at Prudential Center. That is the beginning of a three game road trip that includes stops in Vegas and Arizona.
