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Takeaways from Flyers’ 7-5 loss to Florida

Posted on by Jason MacNeil

The Flyers started slow, got back into the game, took the lead, then fell apart in a wild 7-5 loss to the Florida Panthers Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center, snapping a five-game point streak.

The basics

First period: 2:36 – Evan Rodrigues (Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen), 6:57 – Niko Mikkola (Matthew Tkachuk, Jesper Boqvist)

Second period: 3:00 – Aleksander Barkov (Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk) (PPG), 7:13 – Tyson Foerster (Joel Farabee, Matvei Michkov) (PPG), 9:31 – Nick Seeler (Unassisted), 13:35 – Carter Verhaeghe (Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov) (PPG), 17:41 – Owen Tippett (Matvei Michkov), 18:04 – Owen Tippett (Matvei Michkov)

Third period: 5:36 – Garnet Hathaway (Scott Laughton, Rasmus Ristolainen), 14:43 – Gustav Forsling (Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues), 18:01 – Sam Reinhart (Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov) (PPG), 19:49 – Matthew Tkachuk (Sam Reinhart, Dmitry Kulikov) (PPG)

SOG: 34 (PHI) – 28 (FLA)

Some takeaways

Penalty kill wickedly … not good

Granted, the fourth came via an empty-netter, but when you give up four power play goals you’re not defending well. Part of it was goaltending (Sam Ersson, you have NOTHING to worry about in terms of being the starter), part of it was not playing disciplined hockey. Regardless, the penalty kill took a nosedive on this night as Florida finished being successful four times in five chances.

Seeler’s wheels

Nick Seeler hasn’t looked great most of the season, but he saved his best for Thursday night as he scored a big goal midway through the second. Staying in the offensive zone, Seeler blocked a clearing attempt and took a quick wrister that found its way through Panthers goalkeeper Spencer Knight to make it a 3-2 game. The goal energized the team and riled up the Wells Fargo faithful for a while.

Fedotov starts, Kolosov finishes

The Flyers began with Ivan Fedotov getting the nod even though Sam Ersson was believed to be back into the mix. But Fedotov and the team didn’t look great in the opening period. He didn’t have much of a chance on the opening goal but the second one was an instance where you need to make the save. The first period was all that Tortorella needed to see before Aleksei Kolosov started the second.

The Flyers almost cut the lead in half when, on a delayed penalty to Joel Farabee, the Panthers pulled the goalie for the extra man. But an errant pass by Matthew Tkachuk slid back down the ice and narrowly missed the empty Panthers goal. After the Flyers successfully challenged a Panthers goal for goalie interference by Tkachuk, the Panthers scored again to make it 3-0 on a surgical rush up ice finished by Aleksander Barkov.

As good as Kolosov looked at times, he was beyond horrible on the fifth Florida goal. Looking like he needed directions or GPS to find the puck, Gustav Forsling’s shot should’ve been stopped rather easily.

Tippett two-step

Owen Tippett is streaky at times. None moreso than the second period when Tippett scored twice in 23 seconds against his former team. The first was a block on a clearing attempt by Tippett and then great pass from Michkov who shoveled the pass away from two Panthers to Tippett who beat Spencer Knight clean.

The second came after a crucial save by Kolosov. Here Tippett went up ice, got knocked down, got back up and got his own rebound to tie things up at 4-4. A four-goal second period against an elite team has to be a mental boost for the Flyers, who have struggled in the middle frame this year (16 second-period goals going into the game).

4 Nations representing

With eight Florida Panthers and three Flyers slated to appear at the upcoming 4 Nations Face Off, Thursday night’s game had roughly half of a full roster competing. And for the most part, the Panthers’ representatives fared far, far better than Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny and Rasmus Ristolainen. On the first four Panthers goals, nine points were garnered by the Florida octet, which ended the evening with a baker’s dozen points in total. (That’s 13, for those averse to baking.)

Farabee + Brink = good games, bad penalties

After Garnet Hathaway put Philadelphia up by one, the Flyers kept the pressure on Florida for all but a few strong Florida shifts. One of the better Flyers on the night to not score but be on the right side of the puck was Bobby Brink. Brink, who was purring in the chances for in all situations 13-2, took an interference penalty in the waning minutes of the third with the Flyers on the man advantage. Later Joel Farabee took a cross-checking call with under three minutes to go in a tie game. That was not killed off, giving the Panthers a 6-5 lead after trailing. As Tkachuk’s empty netter was scored, coach John Tortorella could be seen talking to or at Brink, most likely nullifying a Flyers power play.

Rust never dies

After having not played in a few days, the break obviously didn’t help Philadelphia early on, as two of the first five shots went by Ivan Fedotov. The rust was clearly apparent against the defending Cup champs, particularly in their own end with sloppy passing, missed assignments and just easing themselves into the game. This was compared to Florida looking to go for the jugular with the game not even ten minutes old.

The Flyers got their pajamas off, the sleep out of their eyes and seemed to pour themselves a stiff drink from that moment on, having a few opportunities thanks to Farabee. But as is the case with Mr. “Watch A Game,” he remains snakebitten despite looking to have a spring in his step. Just no puck luck where and when he needs it.

Foerster flub, Foerster redeems

Early in the game, the Flyers had a decent shift where Bobby Brink skated downtown and nearly scored. However the same shift Tyson Foerster bobbled a puck coming back then fell down. Evan Rodrigues managed to get control of the puck before sliding it through Ivan Fedotov to give Florida the early lead. On first glance it looked like Foerster might have been tripped or hooked but he simply fell down. Foerster thankfully didn’t see any bench time as he was out for his ensuing shift despite Tortorella visibly pissed by the miscue.

In the second, on the power play, Matvei Michkov appeared to be on the ice for the entire power play and got a much needed goal thank to his pass in the slot. The puck bounced off Joel Farabee’s skate before Foerster banged it home to make things 3-1.

Konecny dinged but okay

Travis Konecny looked to be clipped by Sam Bennett’s elbow late in the first period. He took his time getting back on his feet and was quite slow geting to the bench. The forward didn’t lose any time in the second and took his regular shift. In fact he took a lot of shifts as he lead all Flyers with over 21 minutes of ice time with still a half period left in the game.

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