The Philadelphia Flyers were handed their third consecutive defeat after Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers defeated them by a score of 5-2. The victory was their 6th straight and are now 16-6-0 under Kris Knoblauch.
The Oilers captain scored a goal and added 4 assists, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored 2 goals and added an assist, and Zach Hyman scored a goal with 2 helpers as the top line led the way with Stuart Skinner making 36 stops.
The Flyers had their chances but Skinner came up big when asked to and the struggling power play quelled momentum time after time. Their road woes continued as they are now 3 for 56 on the power play this season.
Travis Konecny and Marc Staal scored in the second period to tie the game up before a late power play marker from the Oilers stopped the Flyers in their tracks.
The Flyers road trip comes to an end with the club going 1-2-1 as they now head home to play the Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Montreal Canadiens.
Looking to put a ribbon on their 4-game road trip, the Flyers entered the confines of the Rogers Place in Edmonton to take on the red-hot Oilers that entered tonight carrying a 5-game winning streak. After soundly defeating the Vancouver Canucks, the Flyers offense has hit a snag in Seattle before dropping a 2-1 overtime thriller and then their comeback bid in Calgary fell just a little short. A win tonight would give them a 2-1-1 record on the always dangerous Canadian road trip – with Seattle now added to the mix.
Carter Hart received the start in his homecoming after Samuel Ersson was given the New Year’s Eve tilt in Calgary. The lines were put in a blender earlier this morning when Joel Farabee got bumped up to Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny, Morgan Frost was in between Bobby Brink and Owen Tippett, and Ryan Poehling had Tyson Foerster and Cam Atkinson on his wings. Nicolas Deslauriers was ruled out during warmups and in his spot Marc Staal entered the lineup as the 7th defenseman.
As for the Oilers, they started off the season in disappointing fashion, sporting a 5-12-1 record. Jack Campbell’s struggles continued and he was placed on waivers for purpose for reassignment. They also fired their head coach and appointed former Flyers assistant coach Kris Knoblauch as the interim and they’ve gone 15-6-0 since.
All the while, Connor McDavid never missed a beat with 48 point through 32 games. For his lofty standards, Leon Draisaitl has “struggled” a bit this season with “just” 17 goals and 40 points through 34 games.
Stuart Skinner was in goal once again, sporting a 14-9-1 record, an .892 SV%, and a 2.86 GAA.
FIRST PERIOD
The Philadelphia Flyers were awarded the first power play of the game at the 6:13 mark of the first period after a fortunate bounce. After making a fantastic move on Travis Sanheim for a mini-breakaway against Carter Hart, not only did Warren Foegele have his opportunity stopped but then he ended up tripping Sanheim to recover the loose puck.
With the Edmonton Oilers pressing, Hart had to make several big stops but it was Connor McDavid who scored the game’s opening goal after a fantastic move around Sanheim before firing a rocket of a shot through Hart’s five-hole. It was his 899th career point and his 21st in his last 9 games against the Orange and Black.
With 2:40 left on the clock, Egor Zamula was whistled for a holding minor against Zach Hyman. Against the 7th ranked power play in the league, Scott Laughton drew a holding minor against McDavid just 19 seconds in, squashing their chance for a 2-0 bid.
47 seconds later, Travis Konecny was guilty of a tripping minor against Mattias Ekholm, sending the Oilers onto a 4-on-3 power play for 54 seconds. Hart was forced into making several ten-bell stops but the Flyers survived, entering the intermission down by 1.
The Oilers held a 13-10 shot advantage through 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The Oilers had a few opportunities to jump ahead to a 2-0 lead but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins early power play chance hit the post before Mattias Janmark jumped on a bouncing puck but was robbed by the out-stretched pad of Carter Hart.
5:09 into the period, Brett Kulak was called for an interference minor against Garnet Hathaway. It was a much better showing than their first power play but once again they failed to score – making that 3 for 54 on the road.
Unfortunately the Oilers grabbed momentum from the penalty kill and jumped ahead to a 2-0 lead after McDavid fed Hyman with a brilliant spin-around pass into the slot for his 900th career point. The goal represented Hyman’s 22nd of the season.
With the Flyers pressing but unable to finish, the game was tilting in the wrong direction until a long Sean Couturier alley-oop reached Joel Farabee, who quickly one-touched it to Konecny who raced in on a breakaway before roofing it over Skinner for his 18th of the season at the 11:10 mark.
On the following shift, the Flyers were pretty upset with Janmark after kneeing Morgan Frost – Janmark was nailed for a tripping minor. They were thin at the forward position without Nicolas Deslauriers from the get-go and Hathaway had not returned from the locker room after his collision with Kulak.
It was another listless power play for the first 100 seconds before Laughton was stopped on an abbreviated breakaway and then Bobby Brink was robbed twice in tight.
With 3 minutes left to play in the second period, Marc Staal jumped in on the rush and finished off a Konecny pass in the slot with a hard shot that beat Skinner glove-side for his first of the season and first as a Flyer.
With 1:29 remaining, Atkinson was nailed down for a tripping minor to which the Oilers responded within 34 seconds off the stick of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Flyers failed to clear the puck and McDavid made no mistake in the set-up for his third point of the game.
The Oilers took a 3-2 lead into the third period with a 24-23 shot advantage.
THIRD PERIOD
With a delayed penalty coming against the Flyers, McDavid earned his fourth point of the night after setting up Leon Draisaitl with a blast from the point just 87 seconds into the third.
4:02 into the period and with the Oilers buzzing, Tyson Foerster was whistled for a slashing minor. The Flyers survived another kill and were then given a power play of their own at the 7:43 mark with Cody Ceci heading to the box.
Unfortunately, the power play looked worse off as they failed to set up, make simple plays, or find the shooting lanes – as evidenced by their 3 for 56 road power play.
As had been the case with every powerless Flyers power play, the Oilers grabbed momentum by the horns and they essentially iced the game after McDavid set up Nugent-Hopkins for his second goal of the game with 8:41 left to play. The Flyers failed to get the puck in deep and the Oilers counter-attacked the other way on an odd-man rush.
UP NEXT
The Flyers return home to face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets (7:00pm ET, NBCSP) on Thursday, January 4th.
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