In another tightly contested battle against the Colorado Avalanche, the Philadelphia Flyers were unable to complete the third period comeback in an attempt to sweep the season series.
The Avalanche took the game by a score of 3-2 and scored 3 unanswered goals after Cam York opened the scoring, but then things got a little scary for the Avalanche at the end of the game as the Flyers cut the deficit in half with the goalie pulled. They came close several times down by one but Pavel Francouz made some really big saves down the stretch to secure the 15th win of the season for Colorado as well as his 4th of the season. Artturi Lehkonen and J.T. Compher each had a goal and an assist, Francouz made 26 saves, Felix Sandstrom stopped 22 of 25 shots, and James van Riemsdyk scored the other goal for the Flyers.
The Flyers were looking for a rare season sweep against the Avalanche after besting them last week in Philadelphia by a score of 5-3. Both teams have gotten somewhat healthier since their last game together but Colorado were still without Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, while the Flyers – who recently welcomed back James van Riemsdyk – came into tonight’s game with Max Willman coming in place of the injured Zack MacEwen and Felix Sandstrom making his first start in 7 games.
FIRST PERIOD
The start to this game had a much different feel from their tilt last week at the Wells Fargo Center. Not much was happening, the neutral zone was being clogged up quickly, and both teams adopted a dump and chase method that resulted in several icings. The Flyers didn’t record their first shot of the game until the 6 minute mark but the Avalanche only had 2 themselves.
Right off the faceoff after the conclusion of the first commercial break, Joel Farabee was called for a high sticking minor, allowing the second ranked power play unit an early opportunity to score the game’s first goal. The Flyers kept the Avalanche to the outside as they only managed one shot on goal that was seen all the way by Felix Sandstrom.
With 7:08 remaining in the first period, Cam York scored his first goal of the season in his 3rd game after making a move at the point, going towards the net with the shot, and then following his own rebound for the finish.
The referee immediately waved it off believing that James van Riemsdyk made contact with Pavel Francouz before York scored the goal. However, the contact appeared to have taken place outside the blue crease making it a legal goal. The best part is that it all started with an offensive zone faceoff win, which has been a rarity this year for one of the worst faceoff teams in the NHL. Owen Tippett helped on the faceoff to get the puck to York at the point, his initial shot was deflected by an Avalanche stick, and Devon Toews trying clear the rebound but sent the puck right back to York who was streaking towards the net.
Travis Konecny was called for an interference minor 45 seconds later but the Flyers used the same recipe that got them off the hook the first time and kept the Avalanche towards the outside again. The Owen Tippett-Morgan Frost-James van Riemsdyk line almost cashed in on their second goal of the game as Frost and van Riemsdyk both had chances in the slot with less than 10 seconds remaining. The period ended with the Flyers up 1-0 but the Avalanche outshot the Flyers 9-8.
SECOND PERIOD
After pinning the Flyers in their own zone for the first minute of the period, Tippett corralled a loose puck and then sent van Riemsdyk on a breakaway at the end of a shift but his shot went high and over the crossbar after trying to make a fancy move. The Avalanche were definitely the stronger team to start the period as they held a quick 6-0 shot advantage in the first 4 and a half minutes.
The Avalanche tied the game with 10:35 remaining in the period off the stick of Devon Toews. From defensive zone to the offensive zone, J.T. Compher set up Toews with a beautiful backhand feed over Morgan Frost’s stick and then the finish was through Sandstrom’s five-hole to tie this game up – maybe a little relief for the defenseman who batted the puck to Cam York on the opening goal.
Ivan Provorov was caught on a bad pinch in the offensive zone that led to the counterattack, and that left Rasmus Ristolainen and Frost to fend off the oncoming rush. Toews was able to sneak through behind both defenders as they were both focused on the puck carrier.
After missing a blatant penalty on Cale Makar for hooking or even tripping Scott Laughton without the puck, Frost was called for a hooking minor on the subsequent rush down the ice. 4 seconds into the penalty kill, Travis Konecny was credited with the first shot of the period for the Flyers at the 12:08 mark. With 39 seconds left on the man advantage, Mikko Rantanen was called for a tripping minor, ending their third consecutive power play without a goal against a Flyers team that has allowed a power play goal in 7 of their last 8 games.
Unfortunately, it was Colorado who scored the next goal after a breakdown in the offensive zone while the Flyers were up a man. There was a board battle for a loose puck near the blue-line, the Avalanche retrieved the puck and cleared it off the glass, the puck took a funny bounce that surprised everyone including Cam York who was the last man standing and Artturi Lehkonen finished off the play by corralling the loose puck and tucking it through the five-hole of Sandstrom.
With 45 seconds left in the second period, Konecny was slashed on his way into the blue paint by Cale Makar, giving the Flyers a chance to tie the game and making make amends for the shorthanded goal allowed earlier. With only 4 seconds left, Toews evaded a delay of game penalty by the slimmest of margins as it barely tipped the glass on its way out of play.
The period ended with the Avalanche up 2-1, outshooting the Flyers 19-12 in the game and 9-4 in the period. After a quick burst to start the period, the Flyers only allowed the 3 Avalanche shots in the final 15 minutes, but unfortunately 2 of them found the back of the net.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers had a much better start to the third period and it continued into the halfway mark as well as they had 9 of the first 12 shots, unfortunately the 13th shot belonged to J.T. Compher who deposited it into the back of the net for a 3-1 lead. Nick Seeler and Justin Braun were caught behind the net with Artturi Lehkonen, which allowed Compher to sneak into the slot untouched.
Lehkonen made a perfect behind-the-back feed as he was bracing for a body check from Seeler, and Compher made no mistake in tight on Sandstrom.
With about 4 minutes left in regulation, John Tortorella pulled Sandstrom for the extra attacker and it worked like a charm as James van Riemsdyk was credited with the deflection with 3:38 remaining. Kevin Hayes set up Travis Konecny at the point and his one-timer was deflected by van Riemsdyk camping in front of Francouz to cut the deficit in half for his 4th of the season and 10th point in 10 games.
The Flyers pulled Sandstrom quickly again but couldn’t find the equalizer as the Pavel Francouz made several key saves to secure the win.
The Flyers took 16 shots in the final frame and ended up outshooting the Avalanche 28-26 but Francouz shut the door when needed and the Avalanche scored clutch goals at key moments in the game.
UP NEXT
Philadelphia will close out their road trip on Thursday night at Prudential Center when they take on the division-leading New Jersey Devils.
