POSTGAME 5: Comeback Falls Short in 5-3 Loss to Jets

The Philadelphia Flyers overcame a 3-0 deficit against the Winnipeg Jets only to lose, 5-3, at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening

In the first period, the Jets picked the Flyers' apart for three goals on their first six shots. Tallies by Axel Jonsson-Fjällby (4th goal of the season), Kyle Connor (24th) and Mark Scheifele (29th) built a 3-0 lead by the time the game was 8:31 old. A late-period goal off the rush by Ivan Provorov (3rd) on a setup by Owen Tippett narrowed the gap to 3-1 at 18:39.
In the second period, the Flyers came on over the latter half of the period. Finally, a Kevin Hayes tally (PPG, 14th) at 18:27 narrowed the Winnipeg lead to 3-2.
The Flyers made the most of another power play chance, this time early in the third. Hayes (PPG, 15th of the season, second of the game) converted a Morgan Frost rebound at 2:35 to tie the game at 3-3. Philly subsequently killed off back-to-back penalties but then a soft five-hole goal by Karson Kuhlman (3rd) at 8:44 put the Jets back on top. Kevin Stenlund (3rd) added a late empty-net goal.
Felix Sandström stopped 26 of 29 shot in a losing cause. David Rittich earned the win with 28 saves on 31 shots.
The Flyers went 2-for-4 on the power play. The Jets were 0-for-5.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
32 Felix Sandström
[79 Carter Hart]
TURNING POINT
The Flyers showed a lot of dogged determination to chip away at a 3-0 deficit and battle all the way to tie the game. Sandström did a good job battling through all the early adversity he faced, right up until he allowed Kuhlman's goal that dribbled between the pads. Unfortunately for the Flyers. they didn't have another successful comeback in them.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Trying to establish an immediate forechecking presence, Tortorella started the game with the fourth line. MacEwen landed a solid hit on Karson Kuhlman.
The Jets Pierre-Luc Dubois received a tripping penalty at the 58-second mark. The Flyers' power play was short-lived. At 1:40, van Riemsdyk was called for a hook in the offensive zone. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Farabee was blatantly tripped in the neutral zone but no call was made.
The Jets took a 1-0 lead at 4;53 on their second shot of the game. Axel Jonsson-Fjällby deflected a Brenden Dillon point shot into the net. Neal Pionk received the secondary assist.
A 2-on-1 rush for WInnipeg turned into a 2-0 lead on their third shot. Farabee attempted a pass-out from behind the net. Sanheim was pinching and Cates was below the left dot. The Jets countered. Perfetti passed across, eluding DeAngelo's sliding block attempt and Connor sniped one home from the slot. Nate Schmidt earned the secondary assist at 6:14.
At 7:54, Sandström snapped a Nikolaj Ehlers shot from high in the zone out of the air with his glove.
The Winnipeg lead grew to 3-0 on their 6th shot. With no coverage at the back door, Scheifele slam-dunked a cross-ice feed from Wheeler. Ehlers got the secondary assist.
At the 17:10 mark, Allison took the puck away from a Jet high in the Winnipeg zone and fired off a deep slot shot that RIttich stopped.
At 18:39, the Flyers got on the board. Receiving a pass from York in the defensive zone, Tippett carried the mail down the ice. Seeing Provorov crashing the net, Tippett put a pass across to the back door and Provorov knocked it home. The assists went to Tippett and York.
2) First period shots were 14-10 Flyers (shot attempts were 18-16 Flyers. Scoring chances were 11-10 Jets with a 6-4 high-danger edge to Winnipeg. Faceoffs were 8-7 Winnipeg. Winnipeg was credited with 14 hits to 11 for Philly. Alllison was credited with a pair of takeaways for the Flyers.
Sandström wasn't given much of a chance on any of the three goals he gave up.. The Flyers left the back door wide open. Philly also had trouble dealing with the speed of Nikolaj Ehlers in particular. The Flyers got better as the period went along but they fully deserved to be staring at a multi-goal deficit.
3) On the first shift of the second period, Seeler landing a clean and heavy hit on Karson Kuhlman behind the Flyers' net.
Konecny received a hooking penalty on Dubois in the D zone at 1:13, putting the Jets on the power play.The Jets got their puck movement cranking in the latter portion of the man advantage and generated two shots on goal -- with pressure continuing after the Konecny penalty expired.
JVR missed the net with an open look off a Tippett feed. At 5:34, at the end of another shift where the Flyers (25-48-74 line) was in the defensive zone for an extended period but kept everything the perimeter, Sandström held on to a Dylan Samberg shot for a stoppage.
Konecny turned a harmless looking play into a dangerous one. Rittich stopped TK's snap shot as he cut in. It was the Flyers' second shot on goal through 8:34.
A slightly errant back-door pass from Laughton to Hayes gave Rittich just enough time to recover for a save.
Winnipeg went on its third power play at 10:22. MacEwen was whistled off for roughing, vehemently disputing the call (to no avail. of course). Ten seconds into the power play, Provorov took a deflected puck to the head. He went off under his own power.He returned for the second shift of the PK. The Flyers killed it off in good shape.
At 13:26, Sandström gloved down a Dillon point shot with traffic swirling in front. On the next shift, Schmidt had an uncontested shot from the top of the right circle.
At 16:44, Schmidt took a needless interference penalty after JVR chipped a puck out of the defensive zone. It was an easy call for the officials. The Laughton unit generated some puck movement. The Hayes unit bagged a goal at 18:30. The puck rotated from Cates to DeAngelo to Cates again and then over to Hayes, who ripped a goal home from a sharp angle. The assists went to Cates and DeAngelo.
4) Second period shots were 12-8 Winnipeg (25-15 Jets in shot attempts). Scoring chances were 14-7 Jets (8-4 high-danger edge to the Jets). Second period faceoffs were 10-7 Flyers.
The early part of the second period saw the Flyers in "bend but don't break mode". Philadelphia gained momentum from their penalty kill. The late goal by Hayes, playing in his 600th career NHL game, gave the Flyers a fighting chance heading into the third period.
5) The Flyers went on the power play at 2:21 as Jonsson-Fjällby tripped Laughton in the Winnipeg zone. Frost fired off a low shot from the left side, looking for a rebound. The puck went right to Hayes, who fired off a quick shot into the open right side of the net to tie the game at 3-3. The assists at 2:35 went to Frost, who created the rebound chance and DeAngelo for getting the puck to Frost from the point.
At 3:49, Rittch came up big one-on-one against Konecny. The Jets went back to the power play at 4:38 as DeAngelo was called for slashing the stick. Dubois missed a seemingly wide open net on a back door play. On a shorthanded forray, Konecny was called for holding behind the Winnipeg goal line at 6:10. WInnipeg had a brief 5-on-3.
The Flyers got through the kill and seemed to have all the momentum, Then Sandström allowed an extremely leaky five-hole goal by Kuhlman on a puck that basically rolled off the Winnipeg player's stick at 8:44. The lone assist went to DeMelo.
York took a high-stick to the face from Jonsson-Fjällby at 9:04. The Flyers went to the power play. This time, Winnipeg killed off the penalty.
Jonsson-Fjällby went down heavily as he blocked a Ristolainen slapshot off his foot. He had to be helped off the ice at 15:15.
With 3:41 remaining, the Flyers iced the puck. Cates lost the ensuing draw to Scheifele. Winnipeg didn't score but precious time ticked off the clock. At 17:20, Konecny tried to pick a corner but fired over the net.
The Flyers called timeout at the stoppage with 2:40 on the clock. Sandström was pulled for a 6-on-5. The Flyers were unable to win a long battle along the boards. The Jets iced it with 1:10 left. In a scramble near the Winnipeg net, DeAngelo was unable to thread a shot through bodies in front. At
At 19:33, Stenlund jumped on a puck in the neutral zone and scored into the empty net.Dubois got the lone assist.
Shots on goal in the third period were 9-8 Flyers.