POSTGAME 5: Strong Checking, Shootout Heroics Spur 2-1 Win

The Philadelphia Flyers captured a 2-1 (2-1) shootout decision over the Edmonton Oilers at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening. Excellent defensiver structure, tight gaps, active forechecking and a penalty-free game against the NHL's No. 1 power play club keyed the Flyers to being the better team for the decided majority of the game.

With the win, the Flyers pulled themselves back to "hockey .500" on the season, at 22-22-9. They are 2-9 in games decided beyond regulation (1-8 in overtime, 1-1 in shootouts). Edmonton is now 29-18-4 overall.
The Flyers played a strong first period and took a 1-0 lead to intermission on a goal by Kevin Hayes (16th of the season) at 7:50. The second period was basically evenly played, with a slight edge to the Flyers in scoring chances, but the only goal was by Evander Kane (8th) at 1:56. The teams took a 1-1 deadlock into the third period, and then overtime. A disallowed Oilers goal, overturned on a coach's challenge for goaltender interference loomed large.
In the shootout, the Flyers got goals in the second round from Morgan Frost and the third round from James van Riemsdyk. The Oilers had a second round goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins but Connor McDavid in the first round and Leon Draisaitl in the third round were unsuccessful on their attempts.
Carter Hart earned the win in net, holding the NHL's highest-scoring team to one goal on 35 shots through 65 minutes and then went 2-for-3 in the shootout. His immediate response to an iffy goal by Kane -- a stellar save on Kane very shortly after play resumed --- and a clean glove save on McDavid in overtime were among the highlights of the goalie's performance. He also benefited from strong coverage in front of him. Hart didn't face a high volume of dangerous chances but stepped up as needed.
Stuart Skinner played well in a losing cause for the Oilers. He denied 35 of 36 Flyers shots on goal in regulation and overtime. He was 1-for-3 in the shootout.
Frost played one of his strongest two-way games of the season. He led the Flyers with five shots on goal including two near-miss scoring chances. He also was credited with two takeaways and went 6-for-9 on faceoffs. Tortorella rewarded the player with a shift in the 3-on-3 overtime and a turn in the shootout.
The Flyers did an excellent job discipline-wise, both in terms of their overall puck management and staying poised when Edmonton had the puck and in terms of rendering Edmonton's lethal power play a non-factor by taking no penalties all night. The Flyers' power play was unable to score on three opportunities.
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 - 20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
Prompted by the Flyers' video staff, John Tortorella's challenge at 7:47 of a would-be go-ahead goal by Zach Hyman for goalie interference. It paid off. Had it failed, the Oilers would have had the lead and a power play. The challenge ended up being crucial to the Flyers collecting a point from a 1-1 regulation tie.
In overtime. the Flyers started with Laughton,Sanheim and Provorov. They kept up their usual 1F/2D rotation. With 1:30 left, Hart picked Connor McDavid clean with a glove save on a left hash-marks shot.With time ticking down to the final minute, Skinner denied Provorov one-on-one. With 5.1 seconds remaining, McDavid took the puck to the net and his one-handed try was stopped.
During the ensuing shootout:
* Konecny moved in from the right circle and was stopped: 0-0
* McDavid moved left from the right boards and ran out of room:0-0
* Frost moved in deliberately from the left circle and lifted a shot over Skinner for a goal: 1-0 Flyers.
* Nugent-Hopkins beat Hart through the five-hole for a goal: 1-1, tie.
* JVR waited out Skinner, moving in left from the right circle, and beat Skinner to the far side: 2-1 Flyers.
* Leon Draisaitl was stoned by Hart looking fo the five-hole: Flyers win the shootout, 2-.1.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Hayes turned a puck over in the defensive zone in the opening minute. Hart stopped a Zach Hyman shot, Shots on goal were 1-1 through four minutes. Shortly after that, Cates went to the net for a scoring chance.
At 5:32, a nice three-player passing sequence -- Frost dropping a pass to Farabee and Farabee finding DeAngelo joining the play for Philly's second scoring chance of the period.
The Flyers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 7:50 . The sequence started with Hayes getting his stick on a pass in the defensive zone. Laughton sent it to defenseman Sanheim, who carried up the ice and returned the puck to Hayes. From above the right circle, Hayes fired off a shot that found the net. The assists went to Sanheim and Laughton.
Philly got the game's first power play at 11;03. Allison made a good play at the net as he was tripped by Vincent Desharnais. Frost had a backhanded scoring chance off Allison's pass. On the ensuing power play, the Flyers were unable to generate any high quality chances.
In the latter stages of the period, Laughton intercepted a puck on the forecheck, made a cut to the backhand over the middle and set up a scoring chance for Tippett. With about 90 seconds left in the period, Hart stepped up to deny a McDavid shot from the center slot.
2) First period shots on goal were 10-7 in the Flyers' favor. Shot attempts were 16-14 Flyers., Scoring chances were 10-7 Flyers. High danger chances were 4-2 Flyers. Hart's toughest save was the late period opportunity for McDavid. The Flyers went 7-for-12 on faceoffs led by Laughton going 3-for-4. Credited hits were 9-6 Fyers (Allison and Deslauriers had two apiece). Both teams were credited with three blocked shot apiece.
All around, the opening stanza was a good one for the Flyers. They generally took good care of the puck. They made the Oilers work defensively. Philly also stayed out of the penalty box. The Flyers were deserving of the 1-0 lead they took to intermission.
3) The Flyers' Cates line narrowly missed connections on a scoring chance against the McDavid line with Sanheim joining the play. The set up missed connections. On the next shift, Hayes set up a point shot for York.
The Oilers tied the game at 1-1 at the 1:56 mark. Kane took a pass from McDavid and scored low to the glove side on what initially looked like a harmless shot. Mattias Janmark earned the secondary assist.
As the shift continued, Hart faced a much more dangerous chance for Kane from point blank range off a feed from McDavid. This time, Hart made the save.
At 3:04, the Flyers went on their second power play. Hyman was called for an accidental high-stick on Seeler in the Edmonton zone. The Oilers' Janmark had a potential scoring chance in transition but was ridden into the boards hard by DeAngelo to kill the play. The Flyers' power play generated little of note.
Wade Allison maneuvered nicely toward the net after 5-on-5 play resumed. He wasn't quite able to make one final move to tuck the puck into the net. Midway through the period, at 10:53, Hart stopped an Evan Bouchard point shot with some traffic in front. Shots on goal for the period at this point were 8-5 Edmonton.
At 7:11 Hyman had a partial breakaway. Hart denied the five-hole attempt.
At the 11:45 mark, Konecny had two cracks at the puck from the slot. Provovov also had a look.
Sanheim got caught up ice and Edmonton had a dangerous looking counter before Philly recovered. Shots on goal were 9-8 Oilers through 17:11.
At 18:18 Tippett dropped a pass to Sanheim at the bottom of the left circle. Skinner made the save. On the period's final shift, Frost snapped off a pair of shots. On the latter, fired from the bottom of the left circle, Frost hoped to catch Skinner cheating off the short side post. The goalie made the stop.
4. Second period shots on goal were tied at 11-11. Shot attempts were 18-16 in Philly's favor.Scoring chances were 12-11 Flyers with an 8-5 Philadelphia edge in high-danger chances. Faceoffs were 11-7 in Edmonton's favor in the second period 16-14 Oilers overall). Patrick Brown led the Flyers at 4-for-5 through two periods, while Cates was 0-for-8. Hits through two periods were 18-9 Flyers (9-3 Philly in the second period), led by four apiece for Allison and Deslauriers. The Oilers had nine blocked shots through two periods to five for Philly.
The second period stats accurately reflected the play during the stanza: evenly played with an uptick in scoring chances. Hart redeemed himself for the stoppable Kane goal under his glove with a 10-bell save on Kane moments later. Perhaps most importantly, the Flyers played another penalty-free period against the NHL's most-dangerous power play club.
5) Derek Ryan high-sticked Seeler in the defensive zone corner at 2:32. PP1 generated nothing. PP2 at least created an entry and good puck movement but a potential scoring chance for Tippett missed connections.
Sklnner made a great save on JVR's backhander at 5:35 after strong setup work down low by Laughton and Allison. At 6;17, Skinner stopped a slap shot from van Riemsdyk high in the zone.
At 7:47, there was heavy contact at the net as Foegele took the puck to the house, spinning Hart around in the process as Hyman put the rebound in the net. The Flyers challenges for goalie interference. The goal was disallowed.
Hayes coughed up a puck behind his own net. Hart stopped a point blast at 7:58.
Frost made a nice diving defensive stop to kill an Oilers rush. Philly iced the puck at 9:50. Shots were 7-3 Flyers at this point.
The Nugent-Hopkins line generated massive pressure against the Brown line.The Flyers survived a dicey scramble at the net. With 3:30 left in regulation, the Oilers were pressuring again. The Flyers kept play to the outside and Seeler deflected a cross-ice pass attempt out of play. Third period shots at the stoppage were 9'-6 Flyers. Nonetheless, the Flyers were in need of a positive momentum shift.
The next shift, with Laughton skating in place of Frost, was also dominated by Edmonton's Nugent-Hopkins line. Hart was tested twice.
Hart had to scramble on a wraparound try by McDavid that nearly bounced in. The Flyers finally got back up ice again for a Laughton shot on net. The Flyers controlled the draw and Cates had a glorious scoring chance.
Third period shots were 12-9 Oilers. Through regulation, the Flyers had a 33-30 shot edge, Third period shot attempts favored Edmonton, 23-19. Scoring chances were 12-10 Oilers with an even 5-5 split in high-danger chances.
Much of Edmonton's push came in the latter half of the third period. Overall, it was another period where the Flyers gave themselves a chance to win.