Flyers Postgame Blog: Impressive Effort Overshadowed by Costly Mistakes
· Yahoo Sports
Thursday night was a weird one for the Philadelphia Flyers. From the opening puck drop through the final horn, the Flyers were the more impressive team. I don’t think that is up for discussion.
Philadelphia outshot Detroit 34-19. They outhit the Red Wings 31-21. Per NaturalStatTrick, the Flyers had 16 high danger chances compared to the Red Wings’ 7. Scoring chances were 32-19 in favor of Philly.
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The Flyers were playing with high intensity and moving up and down the ice with plenty of pace. Take away the scoreboard, and one could reasonably assume the Flyers won that game.
However, wins aren’t decided on who played better. They’re decided by who scores the most goals. The Red Wings did not have as many chances as the Flyers did, but when they had them, they capitalized.
The Red Wings capitalized on the chances given by the Flyers’ mistakes. That was the difference in the game – the Flyers cannot say the same.
Read More: Flyers Suffer Crushing Loss for Playoff Hopes vs. Red Wings on Thursday
Costly Mistakes
The Red Wings scored four goals on Thursday. While all four are shots that Sam Ersson likely should have stopped, it’s hard to blame him for all four when the team around him was making mistakes.
The first goal that Ersson allowed was a power-play goal by Alex DeBrincat. Sean Couturier was in the box for a tripping penalty, and the Red Wings made quick work of the Flyers’ penalty kill. DeBrincat let the shot rip from the point for the easy tally. While the Flyers were down a man, this is probably the one I’d fault Ersson most on.
Lucas Raymond’s goal was a tough one. J.T. Compher starts the sequence with a takeaway on Jamie Drysdale. Ersson makes a heck of a stop, but the rebound keeps the play alive. The forwards – Noah Cates, Denver Barkey, and Matvei Michkov – gave an all-around poor effort. It was like they were just floating in the zone. All three of them were on the right side of the ice; Raymond was on the left side, wide open.
Patrick Kane’s goal is a mixed bag. Albert Johansson sent the puck up to clear the zone for a change. Rasmus Ristolainen went to catch the puck and play it, but mishandled it somewhere in a battle with Andrew Copp. Copp then sprung Kane on a 2-on-1 with Travis Sanheim as the lone man back. Kane could have passed to DeBrincat, but shot it himself.
He tucked it near-side on Ersson, who probably wants that shot back. But because Ristolainen misplayed the puck in the neutral zone, Sanheim was left all alone, making it easy for Kane to fake the pass and cause Ersson to lean.
DeBrincat’s dagger is just plain bad all around. Simon Edvinsson sends it from end to end for Sanheim, whiffs on the clear. The forwards were still coming to the defensive zone, with the Red Wings trying to set up. Then DeBrincat’s shot from an impossible angle bounces off Ristolainen’s stick. That one may have been more bad luck than anything. Still, it was set up by a Flyers’ mistake.
Porter Martone was the Flyers’ best player
Now, on to some positives from Thursday.
It’s not often that a 19-year-old rookie making his second-career NHL start is a team’s best player. Porter Martone was the Flyers’ best player on Thursday.
Martone tallied 9 shots on goal vs. the Red Wings. 5 of them came in the third period when the Flyers’ backs were against the wall. That’s the second-straight game where Martone has tallied 4 or more shots in the third period with the Flyers trailing.
Martone just knows where to go on the ice. Pucks find him, and he finds the net. That is something the Flyers desperately need, considering they had 21 missed shots. Did Martone contribute 4 of them? Sure. But when you are putting 9 shots on goal (10 if you count the one that deflected off Konecny), 4 missed shots don’t seem so bad.
The rookie was everywhere on the ice on Thursday. He truly was the most noticeable player on the ice from both sides. He earned his 18:15 minutes of ice time. Martone was remarkable.
Foerster picks up where he left off
Tyson Foerster picked up right where he left off for the Flyers. He made his return to the lineup after missing 49 games with an upper-body injury suffered on December 1st. What do you know, the Flyers’ known goal-scorer scores a goal.
It’s like he did not miss any time.
There was some rust to knock off in the beginning. In no way was Foerster perfect, either. But Foerster returned to doing what he does best: scoring goals.
He did it in typical Foerster fashion as well. It seemed like almost a broken play, but somehow the puck found him in the slot. He let his big shot rip, and the next thing you know, the Flyers had tied the game for the time being.
Getting Foerster back is a big help for the Flyers.
Read More: Flyers Add More Firepower With Exciting Winger Returning from Injury
Flyers had three lines going
The first part of this postgame blog focused on how dominant the Flyers looked on Thursday, despite the loss. That is mostly due to the fact that they had three lines really grooving.
Porter Martone, Christian Dvorak, and Travis Konecny have really started to form some chemistry on the ice. Martone and Konecny combined for 14 of the team’s 34 shots. Dvorak was driving play and setting up chances. They combined for Konecny’s goal.
The Zegras line looked refreshed with Tyson Foerster on the ice. Owen Tippett and Foerster complement each other’s games so well. Between Foerster’s big shot and Tippett’s blazing speed and physicality, Trevor Zegras has plenty of options as a playmaker, and he displayed them on Thursday. Like the Dvorak line, the entire Zegras line combined for the Foerster goal.
Even the 4th line was buzzing on Thursday. It looked like Sean Couturier had a bit more juice than normal. He was laying some hits and creating plays. Luke Glendening had at least two high-danger chances, and Carl Grundstrom was making great plays.
It was the Cates line that was not going for the Flyers. Noah Cates did not have any turnovers, nor was he bad in the defensive zone, but he went 3/11 on draws on Thursday. The wings, Denver Barkey and Matvei Michkov, did not have their best stuff on Thursday. They each had bad giveaways, and Barkey had two. Neither Barkey nor Cates had shots on goal. Michkov had three, but they werent super great danger looks. It would not shock me to see Alex Bump on the third line with Cates and probably Michkov on Friday.
Worst-case scenario avoided for the Flyers; Sets up a must-win game for Friday
A loss on Thursday could have been detrimental to the Flyers’ playoff hopes. Not only could the Flyers have fallen behind the pack in points with games ticking away, but they could have dropped in the standings as well.
Fortunately for the Flyers, the Devils beat the Capitals, keeping that from happening. The unfortunate part is that both the Red Wings and Senators picked up two points. That puts the Senators in the second Wild Card spot, and ties the Red Wings and Blue Jackets at 88 points, the first two teams out of the playoffs as of now.
The Flyers, 86, are still very much alive, with the worst-case scenario avoided. A Columbus win would have been hurtful. Now, the third-place spot in the Metropolitan Division could be just as in play as the second Wild Card spot, if not more.
Thursday’s loss sets up the Flyers’ Friday clash on Long Island as another critical must-win. A win could bring the Flyers within one point of the Islanders for third in the Metropolitan Division with a game in hand. At the same time, a loss would make it a 5-point gap with just 6 games to go.
A win on Thursday would have been huge for the Flyers, but the worst-case scenario was avoided.
Read More: Flyers Playoff Push: Watching Guide for Thursday’s Action
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