The Philadelphia Flyers suffered a 3-0 shutout at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Monday night. Most of the game was quite low-event. Ultimately, Tampa's top line did all the damage.
Brandon Hagel (10th goal of the season) sent Tampa to the first intermission with a 1-0 lead. Anthony Cirelli (9th) extended the lead to 2-0 in the second period. Hagel (2nd of the game, 11th overall) added an empty net goal in the final 15 seconds.
Hagel, coming off a four-point game, had three points on the night. Nikita Kucherov collected three assists. Cirelli had a goal and an assist.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the shutout. In a losing cause, Samuel Ersson stopped 15 of 17 shots.
First period synopsis
There were only two shots on goal (both by Tampa) through the game's first 5:00 of play. Meanwhile, there was only one whistle over the first 8:08 before Ersson stopped and held a point shot for a stoppage. Shots were 3-1 Tampa.
Nick Deslauriers dropped the gloves and fought Curtis Douglas at 9:21. It was a tiring but methodical fight that saw both combatants size up one another and get set before engaging.
At 15:34, after a Tampa entry in the Philly zone, Hagel deflected an Emil Lilleberg shot into the net for a 1-0 Tampa lead. Nikita Kucherov got the secondary assist.
Tampa hemmed the Flyers in their own end on the next shift after the Hagel goal. The Flyers countered late in the shift. Later, in the final minute of the period, combined forechecking pressure from Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster set up a scoring chance for Travis Konecny.
Overall, most of the play in the period was in the Philadelphia zone. High-danger chances were 4-2 in Tampa's favor.
Shots: Flyers 4 - Lightning 7
Faceoffs: Flyers 7 - Lightning 6
Second period synopsis
Guentzel tested Ersson at 3:17 on the period's first dangerous scoring chance of the second period. Tampa pressured again on the next shift.
The Flyers got some traffic to the net five minutes into the second period. At 6:32, a Tippett shot bounced off the end boards and Vasilevskiy covered the puck as it came out in front. Shots on goal were 2-2 but the Lighting had the territorial edge.
The Flyers put together several shifts with improved territorial possession. Shots and chances remained hard to come by. Shots were 5-4 Flyers through 15:19.
Tampa made it 2-0 on a transition rush at 16:00. Anthony Cirelli went to the net and had a tip-in off a feed from Hagel. Kucherov earned the second assist.
Overall, the second period was a more evenly played frame after the first few minutes. High-danger chances were 3-2 Tampa in the mostly low-event frame.
Shots: Flyers 7 (11 overall) - Lightning 5 (11 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 8 (15 overall) - Lightning 8 (14 overall)
Third period synopsis
Through seven minutes, shots on goal were 3-2 Flyers. The only significant scoring chance belonged to Tampa.
A Chare-Edouard D'Astous high-sticking gave the Flyers the game's first power play after the whistle at the 7:00 mark. Tampa had a shorthanded scoring chance before Foerster went off for slashing at 7:35.
During the 4-on-4, Hagel broke through the defense and forced Ersson to make a very tough save. The brief Tampa power play produced no significant plays. Through 10 minutes, shots for the game's first 50 minutes were 14-14.
The Flyers had a golden scoring chance for Foerster in the right slot. The shot attempt got blocked. Three shifts later, James was denied by Ersson on a 2-on-1 counter.
At 16:06, Zamula took a cross-checking penalty against Hagel. After the kill, the Flyers pulled Ersson for a 6-on-5 attack. Hagel scored an empty net-goal off a 2-on-1 feed from Kucherov. Cirelli got the other assist at 19:45.
Shots: Flyers 9 (20 overall) - Lightning 7 (18 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 8 (23 overall) - Lightning 7 (21 overall)
Flyers Starting Lineup
Trevor Zegras - Christian Dvorak - Owen Tippett
Tyson Foerster - Noah Cates - Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov - Sean Couturier - Bobby Brink
Nick Deslauriers - Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae – Egor Zamula
Samuel Ersson
[Dan Vladar]
Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)
1. Between the pipes
Both teams featured a different goaltender from their previous game. The Flyers gave Ersson the nod, while Tampa starter Vasilevskiy returned after a night off on Saturday. Ersson played fine. Vasilevskiy stepped up as needed.
2. Balanced scoring
Tampa got all their offense from one line. The Flyers were shut out: not the type of balanced production anyone wanted.
3. Flyers special teams
There was no special teams play at all for two periods. In the third period, Philly had one abbreviated power play. Tampa had a short power play and one full one. Officially, the Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
4. Flyers forecheck
The Flyers forecheck made some promising plays happen when they were actually able to apply pressure. The bigger issue was the long stretches where forechecking opportunities were scant. The Flyers spent too much time defending in the first period. There were too many one-and-done forays. When actually able to get in and forecheck, the Flyers had their brief momentum spurts in the low-event game.
