Instant reactions: Michkov scores again, Flyers fall in OT after comeback

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The Philadelphia Flyers followed a familiar formula in this one, starting slow and falling behind only to come back on the strength of lockdown defense and timely goal scoring.

Philly allowed only a single shot to reach Sam Ersson in the final 28 minutes of regulation, completely stymying the Ottawa Senators’ attack after the early lead was taken.

And of course, because Sam Ersson started and because Ottawa/Philadelphia always go longer than sixty minutes, we got some free hockey.

Tim Stützle won the game in OT on his team’s second shot in over half an hour of game time. It was a well-earned point, but the slow start negated what was an otherwise solid performance. Philly has points in three straight, but if they’re ready to play from puck drop today, we’re talking about a winning streak.

First period

The Flyers spent most of the first two minutes pinned in their zone while the Sens worked the puck around the perimeter, and whenever given the chance Philly was unsuccessful breaking out. Eventually, Ottawa got the first shot of the game which Sam Ersson was able to freeze, but the Flyers are once again stuck in their end quite a bit to start the game.

Ottawa makes it 1-0 on a failed breakout turnover by Bobby Brink, as Tim Stützle buries a one-timer off Ersson’s mask and into the net, and right after Michael Amadio walks through the middle of the Flyers defense after a perfectly executed breakout/break-in, with Claude Giroux feeding Amadio, who was able to take his time working the puck to his backhand to beat Ersson. Horrendous beginning to the game for Philly. No jump whatsoever, no urgency, there was absolutely zero coverage in the middle of the ice on the second goal, and the Sens are up 2-0 after 6:20 of game time.

Philly got a legitimate chance at the midway mark, with Travis Konecny pickibng off a break out pass in the middle of Ottawa’s zone and sending a shot in, but Linus Ullmark made the juggling save. With 10:01 left in the first, the Flyguys have 2 shots on goal. They’ve started slow recently, but the two-goal deficit makes this a little more than a “gotta get it going” situation.

PECOOOOOOOO! Trevor Zegras draws a slash out of Artem Zub and Philly has a chance to get within one on the man advantage. The Flyers are using two defensemen, Travis Sanheim and Cam York, with Matvei Michkov, Sean Couturier and TK on the first unit. They had some perimeter possession but no great chances and now it’s the Zegras group for the second half of the PP, and their best chance was finding Bobby Brink in the middle and he fanned on the shot. Not an inspiring effort against the league’s worst PK.

Now the Sens get an opportunity, as Emil Andrae is whistled for interference. The Flyers kill it (of course) and now have three minutes to cut Ottawa’s lead in half before intermission.

The Flyers got a really good chance late with Brink forcing a neutral zone turnover, skating the puck to center and feeding Owen Tippett on the right wing, and Tippett put a lot on the wrister but it caught the heel of Ullmark’s glove, and Tipp’s goal drought extends into a ninth game.

Sens are up 2-0 after one, and the Flyers are having one hell of a rough time stringing passes together to get the puck out of their end and through the neutral zone. The failed breakouts are adding up, and that just reduces the amount of time they’re spending on offense, even if they’re not bleeding high danger chances. Have to play in the offensive zone more, and that starts with cohesive breakouts.

Second period

A couple fairly obvious interference calls could’ve been made in the opening minutes against Ottawa, but the officials have decided that the weak standard they set on the call against Andrae won’t be upheld equally.

About five-and-a-half minutes in, the Flyers finally applied some pressure when the Grundstrom – Cates – TK line started to get some pressure, including a chance out front for the recently promoted Grundstrom and after an icing, the Flyers earned a power play, drawing a slash from Nick Cousins. They need something to get themselves and the building to wake up, maybe this power play is that something.

The Zegras unit is having a lot of trouble setting up and finally do after buring about 70 seconds. Once they got going, they had some near-chances but weren’t able to finish them off and the penalty expires without a goal.

MATVEI MICHKOV SCORES! Michkov skates with the puck behind the Sens’ net, pushes back off Jake Sanderson to create some room, walks into the slot and beats Ullmark. THAT’S THE MICHKOV WE NEED TO SEE! FEISTY AND SKILLED! It’s now 2-1 as we go to a commercial break with 8:31 left.

The pace of the game has really picked up after a very boring first half of the period. The Flyers have accumulated some chances lately, with even Noah Juulsen getting into the action where he helped set up a chance and then later in the shift gets boarded by Dylan Cozens, gets up to retaliate but the officials protect Cozens and escort him to the box in a move reminiscent of Martin Havlat 20 years ago.

Juulsen goes for roughing for some reason so it’ll be 4-on-4. Pretty dumb call, but Juulsen didn’t act hurt so it’s just a minor, and then Juulsen trying but being prevented from getting at the guy who attempted to injure him receives the same punishment. OK.

Philly really took control of the latter part of the second, and now lead the shot battle 15-11 through 40 minutes, although still trailing by a goal. It was nice to see the Orange & Black pick up the pace and test Ullmark and the Ottawa defense, but they still need the equalizer. Zegras has had some opportunities, and he exchanged words with Ullmark as the teams left for intermission. I’m feeling a big third for #46.

Third period

Michkov is going to the box for tripping after a good shift in the offensive zone for his line. They applied pressure and had some chances, but Michkov takes the stick minor while trying to race for a loose puck and as Shane Pinto leaned into his edge Matvei got his stick on the skate blade just enough to topple him. Overall, strong shift for that group, though.

The Flyers kill the penalty once again and get back on offense with Michkov out of the box. Offensive zone faceoff with 15:00 left in regulation.

Cates, Brink & TK are putting all kinds of pressure on in the o-zone, and get a post on one of their chances, but so far the Flyers have been unable to tie the game. Philly is leading in shots, 18-11, and have really had all the momentum since halfway through the second.

The Flyers haven’t been giving up anything, 11 shots in total, none midway through the third, and FINALLY THE OFFENSE COMES THROUGH!

Jamie Drysdale ties the game on a rebound (off Dvorak’s skate?) off a Zegras shot from the left circle. Ullmark tried to sell interference while also flipping to try to get over to Drysdale, but to no avail on either. And Brink almost gave Philly the lead on a scramble in front, but Ullmark was there.

Dvorak gets credit with the primary assist, so that puck did glance off his skate in front of the net, right to Drysdale.

The Flyers have allowed only one shot on Ersson since there was 7:51 left in the second period, but weren’t able to pull ahead in regulation, so we’re headed to 3v3 overtime.

Overtime

On their second shot in 30+ minutes, Stützle put a puck behind Ersson on a feed from Drake Batherson. Bummer.

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