POSTGAME 5: Preds Drop Flyers, 2-1, in OT

The Philadelphia Flyers lost in overtime to the Nashville Predators, 2-1, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. It was another tight-checking contest for most of the day. The outcome came down to a deflected puck on the opening shift of overtime as Matt Duchene (16th goal of the season) scored at the 34-second mark.

The first period was scoreless. In the second period, Nino Nieddereiter (14th goal of the season) broke the deadlock. Kevin Hayes (17th) responded on a blueline-in breakaway goal at 10:40. The third period was also scoreless. Duchene ended the game quickly in OT.
Carter Hart stopped 23 of 25 shots in a losing cause. Juuse Saros earned the win with 23 saves on 24 shots.
The Flyers did not receive a power play in this game. The Predators were 0-for-1.
With forward Kieffer Bellows on waivers, the Flyers recalled Olle Lycksell from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. However, Tortorella elected to start 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
25 James van Riemsdyk - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 74 Owen Tippett
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - xxxxxx
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo/ 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
At the 34-second mark of overtime, Johansen dropped the puck over the blueline to Duchene. Duchene fired off a shot that went off York's skate and past Hart to win the game for Nashville.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) A good backchecking play by Sanheim broke up a potential 2-on-1 rush for the Predators in the opening minute of the game.
Braun showed a quick defensive stick to break up a developing play for Nashville at 5:18.
The Flyers had a 3-on-1 counterattack chance against Roman Josi. The Preds' defenseman conceded a shot to take away a passing lane but Konency tried to thread the puck through. Josi broke it up, and the Flyers did not get a shot out of it at 10:24. Shots on goal were 3-2 Predators.
Around the 13:00 mark, the Frost line showed good patience in forechecking and cycling the puck. Finally, Farabee had a shot on net from the deep left slot. Saros made the stop.
At 15:55, Hayes set up Tippett going to the net on a mini 2-on-1. Saros stopped Tippett's backhander near the net.
Nashville had their best chance of the opening period at 18:03. Yakov Trenin claimed an aerial puck, moved past Sanheim and was one-on-one with Hart. The Flyers goalie won the battle.
In the final minute of the opening stanza, van Riemsdyk had a breakaway opportunity on Saros. JVR's wrister from the slot went off the left post and stayed out.
Ristolainen knocked Filip Forsberg down near the corner on the Flyers' zone. Forsberg's head appeared to hit the ice. After being tended to by the trainer, Forsberg skated to the dressing room with some assistance from teammates.
2) Most of the first period was low-event and tight checking, played no deeper than the tops of the circles at either end. Shots on goal were 7-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were 19-17 Predators. Scoring chances were 6-4 Flyers. High-danger chances were 2-2.
The Flyers were just 4-for-12 on faceoffs (Ryan Johansen and Colton Sissons were each 3-for-3 for Nashville). The Flyers blocked 10 shot attempts while Ryan McDonagh had three blocks among six for Nashville.
3) Tanner Jeannot and Nicolas Deslauriers, who chirped at each other and nearly dropped the gloves in the final shift of the second period, fought each other 13 seconds into the middle frame.
Sanheim lost his man, Niederreiter, who drove to the net to receive a Matt Duchene pass and chip it upstairs for a 1-0 Predators lead at 1:43. Hart had no chance at a save. The secondary assist went to Cody Glass.
Konecny jumped into the middle to intercept a cross-ice pass and fire off a quick shot above the circles in the Predators' zone.
The Flyers had a 2-on-1 opportunity Konecny's pass intended for DeAngelo missed connections. At 3:20, Juuso Pärssinen was stopped point blank by Hart.
Pärssinen 3:20
The Predators went on the power play for the first time 5:02. York was called for holding behind the Philadelphia net. With 1:06 left in the kill, Laughton nicely followed a dumped-in puck to the net, forcing Saros to hold it for a stoppage. Philly killed off the penalty in good shape.
Philly drew even at 1-1 with a goal at the 10:40 mark. Diligent neutral zone work by Brown and Farabee led to Farabee sending Hayes in all alone on Saros with a nice pass near the offensive blueline. Hayes made several dekes from forehand to backhand and finally tucked the puck home on the backhand.
Hayes and Konecny narrowly missed connections at about the 12-minute mark of the middle frame.
At 12:48, the second fight of the middle period broke out. Farabee took exception to Pärssinen bumping Cates with the Flyers center facing the boards. Farabee went right to Pärssinen and the fight ensued.
In the latter half of the second period, for the first time since the next-to-last game before the All-Star break, Tortorella reunited the line of van Riemsdyk, Frost and Tippett. At around the 15:10 mark, JVR set up Frost at the doorstep for a Grade A scoring chance. Saros made the bang-bang save.
Laughton seemed a bit shaken up in taking a hit in the offensive left corner. But he went off in his own and was out for his next shift, breaking up a play by getting his stick in the passing lane.
Konecny was dumped to the ice as Jeremy Lauzon finished a check with a glove to the face. Konecny put a retaliatory one-handed slash (weakly) to the back of Lauzon's leg. Cates then exchanged chirps and a shove with Lauzon but it did not escalate.
4) Second period shots on goal were 10-9 Flyers. Shot attempts were 21-18 Predators. Scoring chances were 13-4 Predators per Natural Stat Trick but high-danger chances were less lopsided at 5-2 Nashville. Through two periods, the Predators won 20 of 33 faceoffs. As with the first period, the Flyers blocked 10 shots (bringing their 40-minute total to 20). Seeler led with five blocks for the game to that point.
5) Early in the third period. Trenin had a shot right off the faceoff after a clean faceoff win by Nashville following a Flyers icing. At the other end of the ice, Tippett hit the post off a setup pass from JVR.
Through the first 3:50 of the period, shots were 1-1. Pärssinen had a crack at a goal from the doorstep at 4:21 off a cross-ice feed.
The Flyers got caught on a long shift in the D zone for the Frost line but the Predators missed the net twice on point shots. The shift was prolonged by JVR having the puck bounce away when he an unpressured clearing opportunity.
Through 7:33, shots on goal were 4-4. The next two shots belonged to Nashville. Frost made a good defensive recovery after losing a faceoff following an icing. At the end of the shift, Tippett had a nice rush but fired a backhander wide of the net.
Through 13;26, third period shots were 6-4 Predators (21-21 for the game).
With about five minutes left in regulation, Hayes had another breakaway chance. This one he was unable to finish. Saros got a piece of the puck.
Third period shots on goal were 10-7 Predators (24-24 through regulation). Shot attempts were 27-10 Predators, who controlled the majority of the territorial play. Scoring chances were 10-6 Nashville with a 4-3 high-danger edge to Nashville.