The Philadelphia Flyers were out-everything in terms of the eye test, the metrics and the basic box score statistics Wednesday night in Nashville. But, the only thing they beat the Preds on was the scoreboard for a head-scratching 3-2 overtime win.
The Basics
First period: 8:17- Roman Josi (Alexandre Carrier), 12:46- Scott Laughton (Ryan Poehling), 16:18-Ryan O’Reilly (Gustav Nyquist, Brady Skjei)
Second period: No scoring.
Third period: 19:48- Morgan Frost (Travis Sanheim, Sean Couturier)
Overtime: 2:31- Sean Couturier (Travis Konecny, Rasmus Ristolainen)
SOG: 27 (NSH) – 23 (PHI)
Some takeaways
Frost thawing out
He did nothing on the score sheet after the first two periods, but Morgan Frost was the lone forward on the Flyers to be even in chances for (8-8). He had some steadying shifts in the second period which is a statement considering just how lethargic the Flyers were in creating any kind of offensive momentum. If Frost can keep this going for a little while it might end up being something to build on for the immediate future, not long-term.
If wondering just how bad the Flyers were, the following forwards were under 25 per cent chances for five-on-five after 40 minutes: Bobby Brink, Garnet Hathaway, Noah Cates, Ryan Poehling. Only Travis Konency, Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee and Sean Couturier were over the 40 per cent threshold.
Although looking like he wouldn’t be used with the game on the line, Frost was clutch in the dying seconds. With the net empty and the Predators missing a few empty nets, he redirected a Travis Sanheim redirection that beat Juuse Saros to give the Flyers another well-unearned regulation point with 11.6 seconds to go.
Never a doubt. 🫡#PHIvsNSH | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/LXyEnXMCHs
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 28, 2024
Kolosieve? Could’ve been
Aleksei Kolosov has an odd way sometimes of making a glove save. There’s a little flare though but seems needless. What was needed was saves, something he could’ve done a little more in the opening period. Aside from that he looked a bit out of sorts, having one puck nearly bounce off him and in the net early in the game. That seemed to be a forerunner of what came minutes later when Roman Josi went around the net and saw the puck bounce off Travis Sanheim into the net.
After Scott Laughton’s tying goal, the Preds regained the lead when Ryan O’Reilly took a one-timer and beat Kolosov on what appeared to be a pretty bad angle.
Ryan O'Reilly bags his fourth goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/EGBfo27375
— Predators On FanDuel Sports Network (@FDSN_Predators) November 28, 2024
Had the Predators not looked like they were clones of Owen Tippett with their missed shots percentage ridiculously high, chances are Kolosov would not have been on the ice to start the second. As it stood the Flyers, much like the Ottawa game, had a puncher’s chance of winning the game despite really having no business being in it. Travis Sanheim on two occasions saved what looked to be goals, one near the goal line while another he bounced the puck away from danger.
Andrae and the D no grande
Emil Andrae was visible early in the first period, confidently making some good offensive plays that nearly resulted in a goal for them but Predators goaltender Juuse Soros was there to make the save. But after that the pair of he and Rasmus Ristolainen caved in during the first period. Andrae was 7-14 in terms of chances for during the period. It seemed to be the norm and not the exception after the first period as none of the three pairs had any real success getting the puck going in the other direction.
In the second period, the Flyers took a penalty. Nashville didn’t score but it might have only due to the hockey gods as Helge Grans, Nick Seeler and Ryan Poehling were each sucking wind after being on the ice for over two minutes. Nashville, who were at a shooting gallery for the first period, did not stray from the blueprint for the first half of the second period as the shot attempts stood at 46 for Nashville and, er, 18 for the Flyers roughly 28 minutes in. Before the end of the second that number stood at a staggering 60.
Slow start
The Flyers had a good first shift courtesy of the Couturier line but from there on it was very little hit and a whole lot of miss. Maybe the team were honoring Scott Hartnell by having a number of them falling down for some reason. Other times the puck seemed to be bouncing around a bit. But that got a break thirteen minutes in when Scott Laughton shot the puck at Saros and it somehow went into the net. It’s not pretty (well pretty awful for Saros) but they all count.
Just like Laughts drew it up! #PHIvsNSH | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/aQ3hZdo6X7
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 28, 2024
Wrong end of hits
The Flyers knew they were playing against a bigger and rather heavier team. And they didn’t do much in terms of delivering punishment. They took a few big hits. Travis Konecny was nailed early in the second period on a clean hit and Michkov was knocked off the puck on what initially appeared to be a scoring opportunity. Later in the second Garnet Hathaway tried to hit Adam Wilsby (making his NHL debut) but took the brunt of it himself, appearing to bounce off Wilsby.
The first real hit the Flyers delivered nearly tied the game as Rasmus Ristolainen nailed Alexandre Carrier in his own zone. It seemed to galvanize the Flyers a bit as they were finding their legs and not being pushed around as much as earlier. A span of over seven minutes without a whistle resulted in a flow that helped Philadelphia get back in the fight. Ristolainen throwing his body around and skating like the wind? Who is this masked man the Flyers first acquired from Buffalo?
And a slow finish…….NOT!
The Flyers had blocked 29 shots with four minutes to go in the game. They had two shots on goal in the third period. In short they were not good. The rope-a-dope on this night was much more on the dope side as too often they were on the losing side of puck battles, turnovers and just general play.
Which is why Morgan Frost tied things up late in regulation and then this happened….
CAPTAIN CLUTCH. #PHIvsNSH | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/7gD8Rdi1b8
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 28, 2024
