It wasn’t pretty, but the Philadelphia Flyers will take the two points however they can get them at this time of the year as they were able to take down the San Jose Sharks, 3-2.
Having lost 15 of their previous 20 games, 8 of their last 10, and just as recently as this season when the Sharks still had not recorded a victory, it was not going to be easy, especially with John Tortorella suspended. However, the Flyers battled all throughout, especially in the third period and took home some valuable points with the Detroit Red Wings having lost big time to Buffalo.
Joel Farabee opened the scoring early in the first before Filip Zadina tied things up with just 40 seconds left in the period with a power play marker. Morgan Frost then reclaimed the lead with a power play goal of his own before Zadina did him one better again to send the game to the third period all tied up.
After a massive breakaway stop on Fabian Zetterlund, the Flyers went the other way and scored the eventual game-winning goal off the stick of Owen Tippett. The rest of the period was muck and grind but the Flyers survived to tell the tale. Magnus Chrona was the hard luck loser with a 39-save performance, while Samuel Ersson registered his 19th win of the season with 27 saves of his own.
After a devastating 7-0 defeat on Saturday without John Tortorella, the Flyers returned home in an absolutely important must-win game against the Sharks. The New York Islanders and Washington Capitals were within striking distance and the Tampa Bay Lightning took home 2 crucial points over the weekend, should the Flyers drop out of the Metropolitan Division top-three.
With their usual bench boss suspended for the next two games, Brad Shaw was running the show and his first course of action was going back to the 12-6 formation.
Adam Ginning, Nicolas Deslauriers, and Cam Atkisnon were scratched while Ronnie Attard remained in the lineup, Egor Zamula returned from his illness, and Bobby Brink‘s hiatus in the press box came to an end. Samuel Ersson earned the start looking for his 19th win of the season while newcomers in Erik Johnson and Denis Gurianov made their home debuts.
As for the Sharks, they entered tonight’s game with the second-worst record in the NHL at 16-40-7 – their 39 points have them tied with the Chicago Blackhawks but they hold two games in hand. Ahead of the trade deadline they moved on from Anthony Duclair, Kaapo Kähkönen, Nikita Okhotyuk, and Tomáš Hertl so it was set to be an even more shorthanded team than before.
The Sharks came into the confines of the Wells Fargo Center having snapped their 9-game losing streak on Saturday with a 2-1 victory against the Ottawa Senators. Mikael Granlund paced the club with 40 points, followed by William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund‘s 30, and Mike Hoffman‘s 22 points.
Youngster Magnus Chrona earned his 5th start of the season, looking to improve on his 1-2-1 record, 4.59 GAA and .864 SV%.
FIRST PERIOD
Only 43 seconds into the game, Fabian Zetterlund was found guilty of a holding minor against Garnet Hathaway in the offensive zone. The 31st-ranked penalty kill of the San Jose Sharks won the first battle against the 32nd-ranked power play of the Philadelphia Flyers, but not without the “first” unit creating several dangerous chances – unfortunately just one hit the net.
Joel Farabee opened the scoring courtesy of a breakaway after a fantastic pass from Morgan Frost set him free at the 3:29 mark. Frost cut off a pass in the defensive zone, quickly spun around, and then chipped a pass to Farabee who barrelled in on Magnus Chrona before finishing the play through his five-hole for his 19th of the season.
The Sharks hopped on their first power play of the game with 9 minutes remaining in the first period after Frost was guilty of a hooking minor. Their lone bright spot in an otherwise downtrodden season, the 18th-ranked power play created several chances but Samuel Ersson was up to the task.
After Owen Tippett was stopped twice in tight, Tyson Foerster was found guilty of a tripping minor as the Sharks tried to go from defense to offense with just 2:24 left to play. With 12 seconds left on the man advantage and 40 seconds left in the period, Filip Zadina finished off a deke past Ersson after Luke Kunin set him up with a deflected pass that went off the stick of Noah Cates.
The period came to a close with the both teams tied at one apiece and the Flyers holding an 11-10 shot advantage.
SECOND PERIOD
At the 2:42 mark of the second period, the Flyers hopped on their second power play of the night after Thomas Bordeleau was found guilty of a hooking minor against Sean Couturier in the neutral zone. Frost had about four scoring chances to himself but Chrona kept his cool and kept the score tied at one.
After Couturier iced the puck and before the ensuing faceoff, Travis Konecny checked Givani Smith as the two met in the neutral zone. The referees deemed it to be a roughing minor against Konecny, sending the Sharks onto their third power play of the night. Fortunately they survived but by the skin of their teeth as Zadina rang one off the iron.
At the 9-minute mark, the Flyers jumped onto their third power play of the game thanks to a too many men on the ice bench minor. It only took 20 seconds this time around after Frost jumped on a fortuitous bounce to snap his 11-game goalless drought. Konecny’s initial shot was blocked but the puck went right to Frost, who ripped it past Chrona after having to settle it down first.
Then 32 seconds after Frost’s go-ahead tally, Egor Zamula was nailed for a tripping minor as the penalty-fest continued. Hathaway was then nabbed for an elbowing minor with 11 seconds left in Zamula’s minor, but the Sharks had the 6-on-4 advantage for about 25 seconds before the Flyers finally got control of the puck.
With just 7 seconds left in Hathaway’s minor, Zadina scored his second of the night after finishing off a tic-tac-toe play. The goal-scorer was left unmarked in the blue paint with Travis Sanheim losing his marker and Ersson playing a little too aggressively on Kunin’s fake shot-pass with 6:26 left to play.
The Flyers threw everything including the kitchen sink in the final 12 seconds of the period but somehow the puck never made it past Chrona, who made four massive stops to keep the game tied. Shots were 27-20 for Philadelphia through 40 as the Flyers’ lack of discipline kept San Jose around.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers had lost 15 of their last 20 games – and more recently, 8 of their last 10 – against the Sharks including earlier this season when San Jose was still winless. The final 20 minutes were going to be massively important in a must-win game.
Ersson made an absolutely majestic stop on Zetterlund with the outstretched pad, which allowed the sleepy Flyers to stay in the game and reclaim their lead shortly after. On a delayed penalty call, Konecny waited, waited, and waited before he threaded the needle to a streaking Tippett backdoor for a 3-2 lead at the 5:12 mark.
The Sharks took another penalty – this one counted – with 13:20 remaining courtesy of a throwing the stick minor from Henry Thrun. The Flyers had eight shot attempts, including five official shots on goal, but Chrona did just enough to keep them all out of his net.
With 2:07 left in regulation, the Sharks took their timeout and pulled Chrona for the extra attacker. The Sharks had issues trying to set up in the offensive zone as the Flyers held on for a much-needed victory with a very daunting upcoming schedule on deck.
UP NEXT
The Flyers welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night (7:00pm ET, NBCSP) looking for some revenge after their overtime loss back in February.
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