Flyers Fall Short in OT Against Oilers

The Flyers closed a brief homestand on Wednesday night against the Oilers for Military Appreciation Night. However, after an offensively difficult game, the Oilers took the 2 points in overtime. 

At the end of a dominant first period for Edmonton, McDavid earned his 18th assist of the season on Evan Bouchard’s goal. The goal slipped past Vladar after a congested net at the fault of Cam York, who was directly in front of Philadelphia’s goaltender. With a 13 to 5 shot difference in Edmonton’s favor in the first 20 minutes of play, the Flyers continue to struggle in the first period as they have so far this season. In years prior, the team has generally been successful in the first, a trainwreck in the second, and 50/50 in the third period. This year, the pattern has generally switched up to struggle in the first period. As a whole, the team comes out looking disconnected to start many of their appearances so far. The past week or so has been particularly rough with the brief injury bug in both Sean Couturier and Tyson Foerster, as the adjusted lines on their behaves have taken longer to click. 

This leads to the catch-up in the second period. The recent pattern has been a stagnant first half and productivity in the second, and Wednesday night was no difference. After an Oilers penalty for hooking Owen Tippett, Michkov extended his goal streak to three consecutive games with a power play snapshot. A dominant play from York to Mickov, back to York for the final pass to Michkov for the goal kept the Oilers on their toes and allowed Michkov a beautiful top-corner goal through all Edmonton’s defensemen. 

Just as the pattern goes, the Flyers played a dominant third period, outshooting Edmonton 9-5. After each team served respective penalties early on, things got heated midway through the third. After Edmonton’s Trent Frederic skated into Dan Vladar, earning himself a 2 minute minor for goaltender interference, Vladar snapped back and earned himself his third penalty of his career for roughing. The penalty against Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark was served by Emil Andrae. However, Philadelphia still got the man advantage as Janmark served a 2 minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct against Noah Juulsen. 

The Flyers scored with 23 seconds left in the game to take the lead, yet the goal was called back for offsides. The game then went to overtime. 

After an offensively lacking game for Philadelphia, Edmonton scored a little over a minute into overtime for the win. Our offense generally lacked the same hunger and drive we’ve seen recently, with fans growing increasingly worried about Owen Tippett. Head coach Rick Tocchet shared that he too was looking for more in the young forward, expressing his need to use his mind more on the ice. He shared that Tippett is a naturally skilled forward, yet needs to tap into his intellect in game situations. 

However, our defense was particularly strong, assisting in reducing the high-chance situations for Edmonton against Vladar. Additionally, Vladar earned second star honors after 29 saves on 31 shots throughout the night.

The Flyers begin the first of their back-to-back weekend in St. Louis tonight at 8pm, before heading on the road to Dallas for another 8pm puck drop on Saturday. The Blues have gone 3-5-2 in their last ten games, compared to the Flyers 5-3-2 as their goaltending looks to stay hot and Michkov keeps heading in the right direction.