The Good, Bad, and Ugly: Flyers’ hot streak flames out against Panthers
The Philadelphia Flyers’ six-game point train came to a crashing halt against who else but the Florida Panthers?
It got good, bad, and ugly against the Eastern Conference caboose.
The Good
The team that averaged 4.2 goals per game over its six-game point streak disappeared in the first two periods. However, after Jakub Voracek received a cross-ice pass from Oskar Lindblom to put the Flyers on the board, the once-silent Wells Fargo Center ignited over the last 15 minutes of the game. The Flyers recorded 16 shots, more than half of what they recorded over the first two periods. If they played like that for the first two periods, who knows what could’ve happened? Brian Elliot kept the team in the game even through its worst defensive stretches. He can’t be blamed for the loss, but if the offense had ignited sooner, he would have earned a deserved win.
The Bad
The penalty unit was on the ice and lately, that has not been good. Eight minutes into the second period, the Flyers gave up a power play goal to Aaron Ekblad. Brian Elliott was a brick wall before that, making 24 saves in the first two periods, only to lose sight of the puck and give up the quick goal to Ekblad. The team wasn’t able to set up in the opposing ice much at all in the second period. The last-place Panthers looked like they were having their way with a team on a hot streak, and that just shows how streaky the Flyers really are.
The Ugly
The offense had some untimely turnovers that pressured Elliott. Sometimes he bailed out the team, sometimes he couldn’t. A giveaway by Claude Giroux with three minutes remaining in the second period led to a scrambling defense that couldn’t handle two Florida wingers on the attack. Evgenii Dadonov scored the goal that iced the game regardless of the Flyers’ third period outburst. These costly giveaways led to power plays as well, such as a turnover in the offensive zone where Ivan Provorov was sent to the box for tripping. This turned into the Ekblad goal, showing us that yes, turnovers lose games.
The Flyers will next face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center.
Photo: Irish Haines
Authors
Drew Bishop is a sophomore on-air personality and writer for WHIP Radio. He writes for Temple Volleyball and appears on The Main Event, Stadium Talk, and Temple Talks Philly.
