Philadelphia Flyers Stunned by Late Senators Goal: Stats and Analysis
The Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators played the expected low-scoring game, where a leaky goal at the worst possible time cost the Flyers a point.
Given the Philadelphia Flyers‘ defensive woes this season, there were plenty of reasons for pessimism heading into a matchup with the Ottawa Senators. While the Senators can barely score, they concede even fewer and sit third in the Atlantic division. This is pretty much the polar opposite of the Flyers this season, and usually defensive tightness outlasts offensive bursts.
The game was every bit as tight as expected, but the Flyers got a major early boost when Nick Cousins scored on a breakaway. Given that Ottawa has scored 2 or fewer goals in 9 straight games, that put the Flyers in the driver’s seat.
This lead lasted 20 minutes, until a defensive zone miscombobulation allowed the Senators to tie the game. Fortunately the Flyers regained the lead, and had a real opportunity for an insurance goal with 3 consecutive power plays. Despite some good pressure, that goal never came.
This left the door open for a sucker-punch goal by Kyle Turris that stunned the Steve Mason and the Flyers. From there, neither team scored again until Erik Karlsson scored the winner several rounds into the shootout.
Forwards
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Defense
Goaltending and Special Teams
This was hardly Steve Mason’s worst game of this season, but it was probably the case that Craig Anderson outplayed him. The Flyers looked primed to take a 2-1 victory (that would have been a season low in goals allowed), but the aforementioned goal by Kyle Turris was a stunner. On that, Mason got caught and Gudas didn’t do enough to help him.
The special teams also could’ve been better. Neither team scored any special teams goals in this one, but the Flyers had the momentum and a 2-1 lead but failed on to score on 3 straight power plays. Nothing terrible there, but it was an opportunity for the Flyers red-hot powerplay to clinch the game.
Up Next
The Philadelphia Flyers play the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. It could be a wild one, as both the Flyers and Jets are near the leaders in goals scored, and at the bottom in goals against. Winnipeg’s 18-year old forward Patrik Laine currently leads the league with 12 goals.
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