POSTGAME 5: Comeback Bid in Chicago Falls Short, 3-1

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1, at the United Center on Monday night. The Flyers had an uneven performance and hurt themselves with undisciplined penalties that disrupted any rhythm although it does not result in any goals. The Blackhawks, at 5-on-5 were more opportunistic.

Goals by Erik Gustafsson (3rd) and Jonathan Toews (12th) built a quick 2-0 lead for the Blackhawks in the first 6:15 of the game. Less than two minutes later, Kevin Hayes (10th) converted a 2-on-1 opportunity to narrow the gap to 2-1.
The second period was scoreless. In the third period, Alex DeBrincat (41st) blasted home an insurance goal.
Felix Sandström settled in after giving up two goals on the first four shots he faced. He remained winless in the NHL, however, in stopping 30 of 33 shots. Kevin Lankinen earned the win with 33 saves on 34 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Blackhawks went 0-for-5.
TURNING POINT
The Flyers still remain winless on the season in any game where they've trailed by two goals at any point. The Toews goals exiting the penalty box in the first period proved to be the game-winner for Chicago.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Hayes generated the game's first shot on goal. At 1:44 of the first period, the Blackhawks opened the scoring. A giveaway by Joel Farabee started the sequence. Former Flyers defenseman Gustafsson pinched up on the attack and took a feed from Toews. From some distance, Gustafsson fired a shot past Sandström. The assists went to Toews and Dominik Kubalik.
At 4:08, Toews was called for an offensive zone slash. The Flyers generated good puck movement and four shots on goal but were unable to score. Adversity then hit as the penalty expired. Bobby Brink turned the puck over and, sprung from the penalty box, Toews received a lead pass from Sam Lafferty and went in alone on Sandström. The Chicago captain fired off a shot that seemed to go under the goalie's right pad and stick to make it 2-0 at 6:15.
At 8:03, the Flyers' picked off a bad pass by Gustafsson and broke out on a 2-on-1. Scott Laughton fed cross-ice to Hayes, who buried a shot in the open right side of the net to narrow the deficit to 2-1. Laughton and Travis Konecny received the assists.

Shots on goal were 9-5 in the Flyers' favor at the midway point of the opening period.
Travis Sanheim called for a cross-check on Alex DeBrincat along the defensive side boards at the 10:23 mark. Sandström made a tough save on a Gustafsson blast through a screen with 35 seconds left on the kill.
Sandström's best save of the first period came right around the 14:00 mark. The rookie goalie sprawled across to make a 10-bell stop on Philipp Kurashev off a Taylor Raddysh feed.
The Flyers went to their second power play at 14:26 as Lafferty was called for interference. On the man advantage, Morgan Frost snapped a dangerous shot on the net from the slot and Owen Tippett had a golden scoring chance on the rebound.
With two minutes left, Laughton was stoned on a breakaway. At the other end of the ice, Kubalik had an open lane to the slot with 1:10 left.
2) In a fairly wide-open first period, shots on goal were 14-13 Flyers. Shot attempts were 22-20 Flyers. Scoring chances were 9-8 Blackhawks but high-danger chances favored the Flyers by an 8-3 margin. The Blackhawks went 14-8 on faceoffs, led by Reese Johnson going 5-for-5. Despite taking a penalty, Sanheim led the Flyers with 10 shifts and 8:16 of ice time.
3) Active forechecking by Cates and company created some pressure in the Chicago zone and an offensive zone faceoff. The lone shot of the period through 3:46 belonged to the Flyers.
Hayes claimed a bouncing puck and powered to the net. Lankinen made the stop at about 5:16. Later, Konecny drew iron on a shot from the right slot.
Chicago's Gustafsson took a delay of game penalty for putting the puck over the glass from the defensive zone at 5:53. On the best ensuing opportunity, Frost was unable to handle a James van Riemsdyk rebound in front. Sanheim had a one-timer opportunity in the waning seconds. The Flyers had three shots on goal overall.
At the midpoint of regulation, second period shots favored the Flyers, 7-3.
At 14:57, Linus Högberg stripped an attacker cleanly of the puck. On the next shift, Ronnie Attard made a good neutral zone read. Laughton was called for slashing at 16:16, sending the Blackhawks on their second power play. With 43 seconds left on the Laughton penalty, Sandström tracked a Seth Jones point shot nicely despite some traffic in front. As the penalty expired, Jones hit the crossbar/post.
The Flyers, who had gone 11-plus minutes without a shot on goal, immediately found themselves shorthanded as James van Riemsdyk took an offensive zone hooking penalty at 19:02. Dylan Strome beat Nate Thompson on the first faceoff. Sandström denied a DeBrincat one-timer off a Patrick Kane feed. In the waning seconds of the period, Sandström stopped a rising short-side attempt by DeBrincat.
4) The checking improved in the second period, along with the puck management. There wasn't as much open ice or as many turnovers by either team. Second period shots on goal were 9-7 Blackhawks, with the Flyers' sputtering offensively over the latter 10 minutes of the period. Shot attempts in the middle frame were 19-16 Chicago (12-11 Flyers at 5-on-5). Scoring chances were 12-6 Blackhawks (6-5 Chicago at 5-on-5) with a 5-3 high-danger edge for Chicago (2-2 at 5-on-5). Hayes and Laughton were each 1-for-8 on faceoffs but playing well in other regards. Through two periods, Provorov led the Flyers with 17:54 of ice time, followed by Sanheim at 15:11.
5) The Blackhawks took 1:03 of power play time into the third period. Kane had a scoring chance on a set play right off the hop. Sandström later made a good stop in close on Raddysh.
Chicago had a lengthy 6-on-5 on a delayed hooking penalty on Attard. Attard blocked a shot just before the stoppage at 3:09. Again, the Blackhawks generated good puck movement and Philly had to go into bend-but-don't break mode.
Shots on goal were 8-4 Chicago through the first 6:30 of the third period. Both teams started trading off chances and turnovers thereafter. Chicago got the better of the play.
DeBrincat potted an explosive one-timer from the left circle off a feed from Kane as the Blackhawks made it 3-1 at 7:45. Jake McCabe got the secondary assist. An errant pass by Farabee that went off Hayes started the sequence up ice and the Blackhawks countered to score. Shots were 11-6 Chicago.
As he was diving for a puck, Hayes accidentally tripped Johnson at 10:51. Thompson had an early shorthanded foray. Cates pressured Jones into a turnover and started a counterattack that resulted in a scoring chance for Sanheim that was shot wide. Tyler Johnson had a scoring chance just before the penalty expired.
The Flyers juggled lines back at 5-on-5. Laughton centered Lindblom and Tippett on the next shift. On Laughton's next shift, he was back with JVR and Brink. van Riemsdyk crashed the net, leading to mild pushing after the whistle.
Philly pulled Sandström for an extra attacker with about 3 minutes left. Brink created a 6-on-4 power play for the Flyers as he was tripped by McCabe at 18:37. On the power play, a Brink shot resulted in a replay delay instituted by the Situation Room in Toronto. There was no goal.
Third period shots were 12-11 Flyers.