When you continue to allow the first goal on a nightly basis, it’s bound to come back one day and bite you. The Philadelphia Flyers (11-7-3) learned this life lesson the hard way losing 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning (13-7-2) on Monday night at Benchmark International Arena.
The Flyers started their four-game road trip winning their previous two matchups at home, including a season-high six-goal outing against the New Jersey Devils. Now facing off with a banged up Lightning squad, the Flyers couldn’t find the back of the net once, highlighting why they’re ranked 31st in goals scored. It’s the first time this year that Philadelphia has been shutout.
It felt like the first half of the first period, and essentially the whole game, was all Tampa Bay. The Lightning’s top line consisting of Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, and Nikita Kucherov came out with a burst of speed to take over and spend what appeared to be their entire shifts generating chances.
Sam Ersson started in net for Philadelphia after being sidelined for the previous 10 days. He got tested immediately and was forced to ease the early pressure applied by the Lightning. Ersson’s workload maintaining the crease this season has been sporadic. He’s seen fewer than 20 shots in four of seven starts, but Ersson isn’t to be blame this time around.
Ersson did his best with a lackluster team in front of him stopping the first six shots. Tampa Bay’s elite trio finally broke through midway into the opening stanza. Hagel flew across the neutral zone then dropped a pass back while continuing to crash towards the net. Kucherov’s feed over to Emil Lilleberg was shot from the point and deflected by Hagel down low behind Ersson.
“They came with speed right from the gate and definitely pushed us back a little bit for sure,” Jamie Drysdale said. “A few odd men rushes here and there, they played faster than us, and they were the better team tonight.”
Based on the Flyers going 8-4-2 when giving up the first goal, it seemed like Philadelphia had the Lightning just where they wanted them. The Flyers usually kick it into a new gear aiming to battle back and make the game competitive once more when trailing, but nothing developed for either team following Hagel’s goal.
Good teams and good players find a way and Tampa Bay’s star-studded line eventually snapped the drowsy action in the latter part of the second period.
Skating up the ice on a 3-on-2 rush, Hagel walked around a sprawling Emil Andrae to connect with Cirelli in front for an easy tip-in goal. The Andrae-Drysdale duo alongside the Matvei Michkov, Sean Couturier, and Bobby Brink line were on ice for Tampa Bay’s first two tallies.
“I’ll take the blame for this one. Our line wasn’t good without the puck. They had some odd men rushes on us, but other than that, I thought the other lines were going,” Couturier said. “It was a tight checking game, not much going on for both sides. Those are the games that you got to find a way to win and sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don’t.”
Tampa Bay’s two-goal lead provided plenty of insurance, especially with Philadelphia’s kryptonite in Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes. Michkov and Tyson Foerster assembled a few chances for a late third period push, but nothing was to show for it. Vasilevskiy improved to 16-4-1 with a .935 SV% and six shutouts against the Flyers in his career.
Hagel would capitalize when the Flyers pulled Ersson for the extra attacker which put the game to rest. The Lightning’s top line finished with eight points opposed to Philadelphia’s top unit combining for a -6 rating.
“There were plays to be made, we just didn’t make them. Their best players won them the game. Cirelli was awesome, Hagel, Kucherov,” Rick Tocchet said. “There were plays to be made and we just didn’t make them, bottomline.”
The Flyers’ lone highlight came in the first period during a center ice tilt. Heavyweights Nic Deslauriers and Curtis Douglas dropped the gloves, and it was Deslauriers with an eight-inch height disadvantage ending up on top of the 6-foot-9 winger.
Next up on Philadelphia’s road stand is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion: the Florida Panthers (11-9-1). Florida won the first meeting this year 2-1 and Philadelphia snagged the two points in their second matchup 5-2. The season series finale is set for Wednesday night with puck drop scheduled at 7pm/ET.
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