POSTGAME 5: JVR Lifts Flyers to Shootout Win

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Minnesota Wild via shootout, 5-4 (1-0), at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening. James van Riemsdyk tallied the lone shootout goal for either team to give Philly its second shootout win of the season.

Scott Laughton (17th goal of the season) opened the scoring at 12:58 of the first period. Oskar Sundqvist (10th) answered with a deflection goal at 16:35.
At 7:26 of the second period, Joel Farabee (13th) restored a 2-1 lead on a deflection goal off a Cam York shot. Minnesota scored the next two goal to go from a 2-1 deficit to a 3-2 lead as Matt Boldy (24th) and Marcus Foligno (7th) tallied from distance. A Rasmus Ristolainen power play goal (3rd) at 19:37 sent the game to the third period deadlocked at 3-3.
In the third period, Minnesota took a short-lived 4-3 lead on a Boldy rebound goal (second of the game, 25th of the season) at 13:32. Philly got it right back at 14:16 on a tally by Tyson Foerster (2nd).
Carter Hart stopped 20 of 24 shots during the hockey game and went 3-for-3 in the shootout. Marc-Andre Fleury denied 30 of 34 shots in regulation and OT before going 2-for-3 in the shootout.
The Flyers went 1-for-1 on the power play. The Wild were 0-for-3.
Nicolas Deslauriers was a late scratch after warmups due to an upper-body injury. Kieffer Bellows stepped into the starting lineup in his place.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 74 Owen Tippett
22 Brendan Lemieux - 48 Morgan Frost - 52 Tyson Foerster
25 James van Riemsdyk . 13 Kevin Hayes - 57 Wade Allison
20 Kieffer Bellows - 21 Scott Laughton - xxxxx
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
54 Egor Zamula
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
The Wild had a 26-second carryover power play to start overtime. The Flyers killed it off. After exiting the penalty box, Tippett fired a shot on net from the right wing. The teams were back on equal footing at 3-on-3. With 1:05 left, Ristolainen hit the crossbar. In the shootout:
Top of 1st rd: Foerster was stopped on a low wrister.
Bottom of 1st: Hart denied Mats Zuccarello's five-hole attempt.
Top of 2nd rd: JVR lifted a backhander over Fleury for a 1-0 lead.
Bottom of 2nd: Gaudreau tucked a backhander wide.
Top of 3rd: Frost was stopped by Fleury's left pad.
Bottom of 3rd; Boldy's five-hole attempt was denied to end the game.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Shots on goal were 3-3 through 8:27. The closest the Flyers came to a goal was a near carbon copy of Lemieux's goal against Carolina on Saturday: Frost had a takeaway from the goalie behind the net and centered it out to Foerster. This time, the shot was blocked (by Goligoski).
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 12:58 on a rush Sanheim orchestrated from his own zone and then jumped into as the play moved up ice. After receiving a pass from van Riemsdyk, Sanheim fed across the ice to Laughton, who finished it off the left side. The assists went to Sanheim and JVR.
The Flyers built an 8-3 shot on goal edge by 14:39 of the first period. Wiith 4:20 remaining, Tippett intercepted an errant Minnesota outlet pass and fired a shot that was blocked near the net.
The Wild tied the game at 16:35. Sundqvist deflected home a puck in the slot off a Jake Middleton point shot. The secondary assist went to Frederick Gaudreau.
In the final minute of the period, a Hayes shot from the right circle rebounded into the slot. JVR was unable to capitalize.
2) First period shots on goal favored the Flyers, 10-4. Philly had a 19-10 shot attempt edge. The Flyers held a 7-4 scoring chance advantage and 4-1 high-danger chance edge.
Breakouts were crisp. The Flyers were quick to get on pucks off the forecheck. It was a very solid all-around period for Philly but Minnesota still got the game to intermission tied at 1-1. Faceoffs in the first period were the one area the Wild dominated, winning seven of eight.
3) Zamula was called for a holding penalty behind the Philly net on Mats Zuccarello at 1:59. The Flyers killed it off in good shape. They did, however, have a shorthanded 3-on-1 opportunity and twice passed up shots, ultimately not getting a shot off.
After play moved back to 5-on-5, the Frost line had an odd-man rush. Fleury stopped Frost's shot from the deep slot. The shot produced a rebound but the D cleaned it up.
Farabee made it four straight games with a goal at 7: 26. The Flyers worked the puck around the board and then up high to York at the point. Farabee tipped the point shot home from in front of the net. The assists went to York and Cates.
At 9:02, Ristolainen had an uncontested slap shot on the net from several feet inside the point. Fleyray made the stop. At the other end, Middleton joined the attack and was stopped in close by Hart. Shots for the period were 7-5 Flyers through 10:16.
Allison powered the puck to the net at 12:55. JVR wasn't quite able to get to the rebound.Tippett combined with Lemieux for a near miss chance around the 15-minute mark.
Minnesota re-tied the game at 15:41. The scorching hot Boldy received a pass from Marcus Johansson and from the deep slot above the circles, sniped a shot upstairs. The helpers went to Johansson and Joel Eriksson Ek.
The Wild grabbed a 3-2 lead at 18:16 on their 14th shot of the gane. Foligno scored from the right circle above the dot. Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Hartman received the assists.
Philly went on their first power play at 18:37. Eriksson Ek was called for interference behind the Flyers' net. Philly cashed in at 19:37. Frost entered the Minnesota zone and passed to Farabee. Farabee went to Farabee. Farabee passed to Ristolainen, who went to DeAngelo. DeAngelo then fed the puck back to Ristolainen. The Finn wired home a point shot to knot the game at 3-3.
4) Second period shots on goal were 12-10 Flyers. Shot attempts were 24-21 Flyers. Scoring chances were 14-8 Flyers with a 6-2 high-danger edge. The Foligno goal looked stoppable for Hart, as the shot went through him. Farabee for the Flyers and Middleton for Minnesota were on the ice for all six goals -- three by Philly, three by the Wild -- through the opening 40 minutes.
5) Cates was called for a neutral zone trip -- a rare penalty on the player -- at the 31-second mark of the third period. Hart came up with an excellent save on Eriksson Ek during the kill.
Through the first 6:47 of the third stanza, shot on goal were 7-3 Flyers.
At 11:48, Hart made a very tough save as Gaudreau quickly re-directed a cross-ice pass on net. Shots were 7-5 Flyers.
With 6:44 left in regulation, Hart absorbed a Boldy shot in the breadbasket. However, the Wild won the ensuing faceoff, Provorov couldn't find a loose rebound and Boldy tucked it home on a backhander for his second goal of the game. Jonas Brodin and Johansson got the helpers at 13:32.
The Flyers wasted little time retying the game at 4-4 on a sniper's goal by Foerster from the right circle. The assists went to DeAngelo and Frost at 15:16. Fantastic shot by Foerster, and a well-orchestrated rush leading up to it.
Tippett had the puck taken away from him up high in the defensive zone and was called for hooking Boldy at 18:26. Laughton intercepted a pass and cleared it down the ice to allow a line change. Cates cleared one in the final four seconds. Minnesota took 26 second of carryover power play time (4-on-3) into OT.
Third period shots were 11-9 Flyers. Shot attempts were 19-18 Flyers. Scoring chances were 11-4 Minnesota with a 5-1 high-danger edge to the Wild.