POSTGAME 5: Flyers Struck by Lightning, 7-1

The Philadelphia Flyers' winless skid extended to eight straight games (0-6-2) as they got blown out, 7-1, by the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening. As has been the case often of late, whatever could go wrong for the Flyers, did. They yielded goals on counterattacks, a shorthander, a Tampa power play and more.

Tampa swept the three-game season series with the Flyers, winning once via shootout and twice in regulation.
Ryan McDonagh (2nd goal of the season) and Corey Perry (4th) established a 2-0 lead for Tampa in the first period. Rookie Taylor Raddysh (2nd, goals in back-to-back games) made it 3-0 early in the second period. That was followed by a rebound put-in by Boris Katchouk (first NHL goal) and an unassisted short-handed goal by Mathieu Joseph (4th). After Patrick Maroon (5th) extended the lead to 6-0 in the third period, Cam Atkinson (power play, 8th) broke up the shutout bid. Perry (power play, 5th) scored his second goal of the game and third of the season against the Flyers to restore a six-goal margin.
Carter Hart stopped 10 of 15 shots before getting pulled at 8:34 of the second period. Martin Jones entered the game in relief. Jones stopped 10 of 12 shots. Brian Elliott earned the win in net for Tampa. "Moose" stopped 38 of 39 shots.
Victor Hedman recorded three assists for Tampa. McDonagh had two assists on top of his goal for a three-point game of his own.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play but allowed a shorthanded goal. They were 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
TURNING POINT
The mentality quickly went from "Things will be different tonight" as the Flyers came out of the gates quickly and rapidly turned into "Here we go again" when the first adversity hit. Things unraveled from there.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) A rested Flyers time came out trying to go right at a Tampa squad that was playing for the third time in four nights and the fifth time in seven nights.The Flyers had each of the game's first three shots and six of the first seven. A good backchecking play by Oskar Lindblom helped neutralize Patrick Maroon on Tampa's first scoring chance. At the 7:08 mark, Rasmus Ristolainen was beaten off the rush by Alex Killorn. A scramble at the net ensued. The play was briefly reviewed to see if the puck crossed the goal line but it was ruled that it had not. Shots were 6-4 in the Flyers favor at that point.
There was no doubt about the puck crossing the line at 8:24 and 9:24 of the opening period, as Tampa grabbed a 2-0 lead. On the first goal, Ivan Provorov was blocked out at the offensive left point and Tampa eventually scored on the counter attack. McDonagh joined the rush and knocked in a Steven Stamkos rebound. The secondary assist went to Mathieu Joseph. On the second goal. McDonagh fired the puck off the end boards, and it went right to Perry, who scored inside the right post before a scrambling Hart could stop it. Ex-Flyers center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got the secondary assist.
2) The Flyers had a shot on goal 14-9, Corsi/Fenwick (58.54%/60.87%) and scoring chance (9-4, although an official 4-3 high-danger chance disadvantage) edge in the first period. But that was meaningless in the face of a 2-0 deficit in the cash register. There were also a couple of sequences where the Flyers passed up open shots or missed the net on good looks, as their offensive frustrations continued.
3) Sean Couturier missed the first shift on the middle period. He then returned to the game sporting a full face cage. At 2:56 of the second period, Tampa's fourth line scored against the Flyers first forward line and first defense pair. Hedman jumped into the play to claim the puck in the neutral zone and fed Raddysh, who ripped a rising shot from the top of the right circle over Hart. Ross Colton got the second assist. The Tampa 4th line struck again at 6:47 as Katchouk tapped in a rebound as it sat in the crease. The assists again went to Hedman and Colton.
4) Hart's night was done at 8:34 of the second period. The goalie came out of the net to play a clearing pass by the penalty-killing Lightning. Hart then fumbled it away to Joseph who scored on a hippity hop shot that slowly went into the vacated net. The Flyers lost a would-be goal with 3:10 left in the period because it was played by a Scott Laughton high stick. Second period shots were 10-9 Flyers.
5) The third period started with Couturier centering Morgan Frost and Cam Atkinson. Kevin Hayes centered Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny.
At 5:29, the Lightning made it 6-0, Hedman started with a keep. An overskate and then standing around by the Flyers devolved into a goal as Perry fed Maroon, who scored. At 6:38, a mass scrum ensued behind the Tampa net. The Flyers got a power play as Cal Foote got a double-minor for roughing and everyone else got two. The Flyers scored on the ensuing power play. Frost went cross-ice to Yandle, who passed to Giroux. Atlkinson then tipped home the puck from near the right post at 7:04. Perry opened a 7-1 lead for Tampa as he tipped home a McDonagh shot after the Lightning worked the puck around at will.
Third period shots on net were 14-9 Flyers.