Instant reactions: Foerster injured, Flyers just don’t have it in loss to Crosby, Pens

Watch PHLY Flyers Postgame

Yeah… the Philadelphia Flyers just didn’t have it tonight.

Old foe Sidney Crosby scored a couple of goals, as he seems to always do, and Dan Vladar didn’t necessarily have his A-game, nor did the rest of the team in front of him. Tyson Foerster’s injury in the second period seemed to sap Philly of the life they did have, and this game just felt like it was all Pittsburgh Penguins.

First Period

Bobby Brink has the legs going early, picking up a chance as he maneuvers through the neutral zone and accepting a pass from Emil Andrae, carrying to the net and getting a shot on Tristan Jarry. Brink picked up a second chance off the ensuing faceoff, shooting through a screen after a feed off the wall from Matvei Michkov. A couple early shots for Brink, who has one point in his last eleven games.

Nice give-and-go play between Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak to finish a shift that saw their line with Owen Tippett move the puck well. Shots are 5-1 Flyers thorugh five minutes.

Jamie Drysdale is handling the puck like a grenade in his own end so far. Couple of turnovers down low in his own end.

The Penguins are cheating, as usual. After Garnet Hathaway delivers a hit in front of Philly’s bench to Blake Lizotte, Lizotte does the incredibly manly and brave thing, spearing Hathaway in the balls. What a badass! The referees call it a slash, and the Flyers get a power play.

Not the Flyers’ best PECOOOOOO, with an early chance and then a lot of trouble setting back up. Andrae did get a chance as it expired but couldn’t convert, and then the Pens come right down the other way and Sidney Crosby buries a rebound to make it 1-0. Dan Vladar seems to have thought he had it but it fell out f his grasp right in the crease and Crosby pounced. That’s 58 career regular season goals against Philly for #87 in his 92nd game matched up with the Orange & Black.

Zegras nearly tied it, taking a pass from the right wing wall off a rushing Tippett, but Jarry was there again. Jarry has made a lot of saves in tight, but it feels like the Flyers are almost getting TOO close, and not giving themselves enough room to fool the Pittsburgh netminder.

Shots are tied eight a piece with six minutes left in the first period. The pace has calmed a little from the first 10+ minutes, and it has been back-and-forth in terms of possession, but Philly has been getting fewer chances than they were early.

Vladar makes a big save do deny a cross-crease chance for Ben Kindel, and as the rebound crept towards the crease, Andrae cleared it for an icing. The Flyers need to do a much better job of denying entries than they are right now. Backing in a little too much.

The period ends with Philadelphia trailing by one. At some point the Pens had a shot taken away, and the total is 8-7 Flyers through 20 minutes. Not a bad period, but too much backing in and not generating shots from the mid-slot or creating rebounds and secondary chances on the forecheck.

Second period

Let’s see if more stuff can happen in the second, because that wasn’t the world’s most eventful period. Some decent hits and feistiness, and some medium-danger chances both ways, but really, I could go for a lot more action.

About 3 1/2 minutes into the period, Travis Konecny gets a rush chance off an outlet pass from Tyson Foerster, but hits the pipe on the short side, so the Flyers not only don’t score, but don’t get an official SOG and still don’t have one since halfway through the first.

But, Erik Karlsson gets called for tripping shortly after TK’s chance, and 23 seconds in they get a two-man advantage when Connor Clifton gets called for interference. It’ll be 1:17 (or less) of 5v3 time for Philly. And without. true center on the ice, Zegras gets tossed from the circle, and TK loses the faceoff.

Once they’re back in, they’re getting booed for some turnovers and inability to take advantage of the extra space and man power. But ANOTHER penalty gets called on the Pens. BUT BEFORE IT CAN BE CALLED FOERSTER PUTS A PUCK ON NET THAT BOUNCES THROUGH JARRY, TYING THE GAME! And because of the delayed call, neither Karlsson nor Clifton get out of the box. It looked like TyFo was actually looking to find Michkov on the backdoor but Jarry stuck his leg out for a kick save and it just kinda hit his lower pad/skate and drifted in.

Oh no. After a one-timer attempt, Foerster is furiously leaving the ice with one arm dangling. He’s throwing his stick and gloves. This doesn’t look great.

Now the Penguins are getting a power play (big surprise) on a holding call against Rodrigo Abols. Allegedly he held Ryan Graves in the offensive zone, but I don’t believe it, personally. And they basically score right away. Guess who? Sidney Crosby. It’s truly unbelievable.

Now Coots is in the box for holding and the Pens’ power play strikes again. It’s 3-1 thanks to Bryan Rust with 4:07 left in the second. Good shot. Whatever. Charlie summed it up perfectly a few minutes before Pirttsburgh’s third goal: The Flyers are only down one goal and are outshooting the Penguins 14 – 12, and it feels like Pittsburgh is in full control anyway. That Foerster injury just feels like it kinda sucked the life out of everyone.

Hey, a call against the Pens! This could help! Crosby gets called for tripping Andrae when Emil jumps up to field a puck with his glove and comes down with Sid’s stick in his feet. I thought they’d let it go, but the Flyers have a power play with 2:48 left in the second. And the Flyers end their own power play with an interference call against Andrae. His stick blows up on a one-timer attempt and when he goes to retrieve the puck he bumps Kris Letang and gets called for competing.

JJ & Boosh confirm Foerster is out for the rest of the game with an upper-body injury. If he’d have come back I’d have declared my allegiance to whatever deity Foerster told me to. But alas.

Kindel gives Sanheim a shot as the period expires and that draws a crowd. Nothing too crazy, though. It’s 3-1 Penguins and Pittsburgh will have 30 seconds of power play time when the third begins. Shots are 16-14, Pens.

Third period

The Flyers have been quite adept at erasing deficits, especially those of the two-goal variety, but unless they come out of the locker room with a much different mentality and energy than they’ve had, I don’t see this being a game added to the comeback ledger.

Karlsson nearly makes it 4-1 as the penalty expires in the beginning of the pewriod, but rings a wrister off the post. Crosby nearly made it a hat trick shortly after, but Vladar denied him from in close with the glove.

Philly has no jump to start the third. It’s all Penguins, even after the power play expires, and just like that, Anthony Manthy makes it 4-1 with 18:13 left. It may have hit Evgeni Malkin. Oh look at that, Rick Tocchet is challenging for goalie interference. Malkin was in the crease and made contact on his own. By the way they usually call it, that shouldn’t be a goal but it probably will be.

OH WOW, NO GOAL! Back to 3-1.

Noah Juulsen gets the Flyers first shot of the period. But hey after a quick offensive forray the Pens get called for interference when they turn play back their way, so here we go, can the power play make this a game with 16:48 left?

Michkov is in Foerster’s spot on the Zegras PP unit, but neither theirs nor the other makeshift group is able to bring the game within one.

The Zegras-Dvorak-Tippett line shows some signs of life, which is nice to see, getting a puck in on Jarry and getting a few whacks at it. Good for them.

Michkov to the box for slashing as he tries to get in on the forecheck so with 7:57 left, Crosby gets a chance to complete the hat trick. But no, it’s actually Tommy Novak who makes it 4-1. Welp…

Kevin Hayes scores on a breakaway to make it 5-1, on a nice outlet from Parker Wotherspoon. Hayes finishes on the backhand for his second on the year and salutes his brother after the tally.

Can this thing just end already? The Flyers are not doing a great job of protecting their goalie, who has been the MVP for the first two months of the season. Bad game all around.

Mantha cross-checks Tippett high with nine seconds left for some reason and the Flyers don’t respond because they really want this last power play I guess. Horrible game. Penguins win.

Watch PHLY Flyers Postgame