For the first time in franchise history, the Philadelphia Flyers have lost 10 straight games, twice in one season. Both the Flyers and Blue Jackets were more or less taking a snooze in the first period. Things got hot in the worst way for the Flyers when Ivan Provorov failed to clear a puck, leading to a mini break for Oliver Bjorkstrand, who potted his 12th of the season.
The Flyers did show some life when a scrum ensued after Oskar Lindblom got decked in the neutral zone, and Gerry Mayhew potted his 1st Flyers goal, which is always a memorable experience, even when that goal takes place in the same storyline as the Flyers making franchise history for being innovative enough to go on two 10-game losing streaks before playing 40 games.
1st Period
Extremely, extremely, slow. Shots ended in 11-9, in favor of Columbus despite the Flyers having two powerplay opportunities. The scoring chances were far and few between for both clubs in this period. Cam Atkinson was firing from everywhere, which would be expected from a shooter, but it was even more apparent against the former club in the beginning of the game. The Flyers did have a moment to score on a 2 on 1 rush with Claude Giroux and Atkinson with the puck, but Cam was going shoot all the way, and unfortunately could not bury it to give writers and fans something extra to talk about.
2nd Period
This felt to be all Columbus, where they scored 2 goals, but only one counted thanks to Yeo making the call to challenge for goalie interference. Cam York was looking okay but had a pretty brutal turnover in a breakout attempt, through no surprise however was Hart there to bail him out. A few minutes later Zack MacEwen attempted to murder Jakub Voracek…okay not really, but he clearly had taken a run at him and missed, resulting in a penalty. It seemed nothing would come of it until Provorov hesitated downlow with a PK clear and passed it off of Scott Laughton’s stick at the blue line, to bounce right on to Bjorkstrand’s stick for a slick backhand goal, completely alone with Hart.
The Flyers did show some life when Bayreuther trucked Lindblom with the puck, and then made another jab at his numbers while down on the ice. That prompted Scott Laughton to beam across the ice and slam the offender against the ice (and seemed to have thrown an extra shot while going down, just for safe measure). At least we could see some fight in each other. Elvis Merzlikins was also objectively outstanding this period and appeared destined to secure the shutout and feed the Flyers donuts.
3rd Period
To be honest, this was the only period where it looked like the players work digging in despite the lackluster powerplay to start the period (that properly earned some boos). After the powerplay expired, Travis Konecny put a shot on net that gave Giroux a flash of a moment’s notice to squeeze the puck 5-hole, but Merzlikins was there as he was red hot all night, and especially tight down low. A few minutes later the Flyers were gifted a fourth powerplay, only to squander another odd man advantage to tie the game. Shortly after the belated powerplay, Provorov was outworked and outskated by the former Flyer Voracek, who caused a change in possession, which led to Laine finding the puck and stapling it into the left corner of the net in little time.
When the Flyers seemed all but down, they did start cooking with some loose pucks and cycle possessions around the 11-minute mark of the period. Things began to settle down until about 5 minutes left with Gerry Mayhew potted his with the Philadelphia Flyers, giving the flailing team just a little bit of hope to keep the team from setting an extremely embarrassing record in the franchise. Space on the ice became non-existent and the game was tightly jousted until the final seconds.
Hart was successfully pulled at about the 2-minute mark. Giroux did his work from his office but was unable to find a goal. The puck was worked to Joel Farabee who, to my eyes, looked really comfortable playing in Voracek’s old spot on the powerplay. He almost connected with Atkinson on a backdoor tap-in and created a loose puck in the slot via a rebound shot. Of course, almost isn’t good enough. I do think that the Flyers should consider giving Farabee more time with the puck on his stick, because he was extremely decisive and crisp with his playmaking abilities. After the way this season has gone, it’s not like it could hurt us anymore than what the current structure has to offer.
Up Next…
The Flyers will visit Buffalo on Saturday afternoon to face off against old friend Robert Hagg and the Sabres.
