Postgame 5: Flyers Fall to Chicago, 5-1

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-1, at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday evening. Other than a portion of the second period, the Flyers were unable to get to their game consistently.

As with Thursday's game in Montreal, the Flyers found themselves staring at a two-goal deficit by the end of the first period.  The Flyers were guilty of passing up several open looks in an effort to make "perfect" plays instead, and also missed the net on nine shot attempts. Defensively, the Flyers struggled to make stops.  

The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead at 2:01 of the first period. Lukas Reichel (4th goal of the season) attempted a wraparound. Samuel Ersson had his skate up against the post, rather than inside the post, and Reichel jammed home a follow-up attempt. The assists went to Jarred Tinordi and Andreas Athanasiou. 

Chicago took a 2-0 lead at 17:00. Philipp Kurashev (16th) skated untouched and with downhill momentum to take a cross-ice feed from Connor Bedard. From 35 feet, Kurashev wristed the puck in the net. The assists went to Bedard and Alex Vlasic.

The Flyers cut the gap to 2-1 just 17 seconds into the second period. Tyson Foerster (20th goal of the season) gained the offensive zone and wired a 46-foot shot that eluded Arvid Söderblom. The lone assist went to Garnet Hathaway.

Needing a defensive stand on Chicago's first power play of the game, the Flyers fell back into a two-goal hole. A tic-tac-toe puck rotation was finished off by Nick Foligno (17th) at 17:28 of the second period. The assists went to Kurashev and Tyler Johnson.

The Flyers never made much of a push in the third period and eventually fell further behind.

A neutral zone turnover fluttered off Egor Zamula's stick to Reichel. Joey Anderson scored at the other end low to the glove side for a 4-1 lead at 9:09. 

MacKenzie Entwhistle (5th) scored off the rush for a 5-1 lead at 14:33. The assists went to Anderson and Wyatt Kaiser.

Ersson stopped 19 of 24 shots.  Söderblom made 28 saves on 29 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. Chicago was 1-for-3.

Nick Seeler returned to the Flyers' lineup after an 11-game absence due to a lower-body injury. Noah Cates returned after missing Thursday's game in Montreal for personal reasons. Denis Gurianov also dressed for the Flyers. Cam Atkinson, who played on Thursday, exited the lineup along with Olle Lycksell and Ronnie Attard.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
71 Tyson Foerster - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 10 Bobby Brink
27 Noah Cates - 14 Sean Couturier - 15 Denis Gurianov

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Erik Johnson
50 Adam Ginning - 5 Egor Zamula

33 Samuel Ersson
[82 Ivan Fedotov]

TURNING POINT

The last thing the Flyers could afford was another slow start. The Reichel jam-in and the Kurashev goal in the first period put the Flyers in dire straits. The Laughton fight and Foerster goal turned the momentum tide but special teams turned it back in a negative direction as the second period progressed.

POSTGAME 5

1) The Poehling line started the game for the Flyers. The Blackhawks had the game's first shots, including the Reichel tally. 

Hathaway had a tip near the net at 4:14. At 5:01, Konecny created a chance for Tippett.

The Flyers went to the game's first power play at 6:51 on a hooking penalty as Jayson Megna was called for hooking. Brink had a prime chance in the right slot off a Frost setup but double-clutched. 

At 10:25, Konecny had a breakaway, but shot high and wide of the far side post. Shots on goal were 6-4 Chicago at 14:28. Laughton was stopped from the left hash marks on the next shift. Chicago took a 2-0 lead at 17:00 on Kurashev's goal.

Laughton dropped the gloves with Ryan Donato at the 19:00 mark.

2) First period shots on goal were 10-7 Chicago Shot attempts were 21-17 Flyers. Scoring chances were 15-6 Flyers. High-danger scoring chances were 7-4 Flyers. Faceoffs were 7-6 Flyers.

3) Foerster got a goal back just 17 seconds into the second period. On the second shift, Konecny hit the post to the glove side. Through five minutes, shots on goal were 4-3 Flyers.

Philly went to the power play at 5:04 on goalie interference penalty on Bedard. The Flyers generated only one late rush and otherwise struggled for entries. At 8:27, Ersson flashed the leather for a glove save on Bedard.

The Flyers went to the power play again at 11:21 as Tinordi tripped Couturier in the Chicago zone. Once again, the Flyers couldn't capitalize. With play back at 5-on-5, the Philadelphia top line had a chance off the rush.

The Blackhawks went to their first power play at 16:39 as Laughton was penalized for tripping Athanasiou. The Flyers' struggling penalty kill was unable to come up with a stop, and Chicago restored a two-goal lead on Foligno's power play goal  at 17;28. 

4) Second period shots on goal were 13-9 Flyers (20-18 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 23-15 Flyers (44-31 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 9-7 Flyers (24-13 Flyers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 3-2 Flyers (10-6 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 9-5 Flyers (16-11 Flyers overall).

5) Through 4:33 of the third period, shots were 2-1 Flyers. Konency fired a long-range and unscreened shot on net at 7:12.

The Blackhawks iced the puck at 8:42. Chicago made it 3-1 at 9:09 on a counter off the Zamula turnover. 

Laughton was called for high sticking at 10:05, putting Chicago on their second power play.  Donato was called for interference at 11:13.Another penalty followed at 11:45 as Tippett was sent off for interference (giving Chicago at 20-second four-on-three power play).