Flyers Drop Two Goal Lead, Collapse Against Top Ranked Ducks

The three wins that the Philadelphia Flyers carried into tonight’s tilt with the Anaheim Ducks came against the Florida Panthers, New York Rangers and New York Islanders. These teams, with a combined 11-19-5 record to date, are not exactly powerhouses in the NHL.

If the Flyers had truly  turned a corner with their last two games, the Ducks were the appropriate team to serve as a measuring stick.

Per the Flyers’ media notes, the Ducks had previously won 9 of their last 11 games, outscoring their opponents 37-25 (excluding shootout goals) in that span. They also led the NHL in even strength scoring with 31 goals, whereas the Flyers ranked 29th with a meager 12 goals.

An impressive first period couldn’t prevent the wheels from falling off the cart by the end, as the Ducks overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat the Flyers 3-2 in regulation.

Matt Read opened the scoring early in the first period, collecting his own rebound against goaltender Jonas Hiller at the side of the net and beating him with the second shot. The top three forward lines appeared to be in sync, trading scoring chances with the Ducks.

The penalty killing units came up big to preserve the one-goal lead when Wayne Simmonds headed to the box for high sticking.

A slashing penalty against Ryan Getzlaf (somewhat of an evening-out call) provided the Flyers their first powerplay of the evening, and somewhat astonishingly, it looked organized and competent. A no-look pass from Claude Giroux hit Vinny Lecavalier at the right circle. Lecavalier blasted it past Hiller to pad the lead.

The only hiccup of the first period that would keep it from being nearly perfect was a mis-play around the 17:00 mark. A pass back to the point from the offensive zone missed the defenseman and fluttered back to Steve Mason. Mason fumbled with the puck behind the net, causing a goal mouth scramble to ensue. The Ducks were able to score on the turnover, but the goal was waved off due to the puck being batted in with a high stick.

Even strength scoring? Check.

Strong penalty killing? Check.

Powerplay goal? Check.

Limited chances for the Ducks? Check.

So where and why did it all go wrong halfway through the second period? Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer asked head coach Craig Berube, “How puzzled are you by the third period meltdowns?”

“I thought maybe we were past that, but, we weren’t tonight obviously. Didn’t do much in the third until the powerplay and we got the goalie out,” said Berube. “I thought we were beyond that now, but we weren’t tonight… you can’t be that sloppy with the puck and expect to win the game.”

It’s maddening how inconsistent this group can be from game to game. It’s nearly impossible to prescribe a solution when the problems continually change day to day, week to week.

It seemed tonight as if the two biggest culprits for the drop in play were an increase in sloppy passing and a decrease in skating, both related issues.

With around four minutes remaining in the second period, the Flyers found themselves pinned in their own zone for at least a shift. They were able to clear the zone and get a line change, but when the puck found its way back to defenseman Nicklas Grossmann, he simply tossed the puck back out to the Ducks players right at the blue line.

Ryan Getzlaf skated in with Andrew Cogliano past Grossmann, banking the puck off the boards behind the net right onto Cog’s stick. Mason tried to go post-to-post in time, but couldn’t get there to stop the virtually 2-on-0.

After just one minute into the third period, defenseman Kimmo Timonen tried twice on the same shift to keep the puck deep in the offensive zone, a maneuver that followed Peter Laviolette’s system but was clearly not the safest move to be making with a one goal lead.

While Timonen was stuck in the offensive zone, Lecavalier fumbled with the puck at the blue line and turned it over right to Ducks forward Kyle Palmieri. With no defenseman in front of him, Palmieri skated in on Mason alone and beat him on the breakaway.

These were just defensive mistakes. The forwards, all “in sync” in the first period, couldn’t generate anything resembling a united offense. The Flyers, who outshot the Ducks 15-10 in the first period, found themselves outshot 16-6 in the third period and 37-28 by the final buzzer.

To say that this team needs to be completely blown up would be a melodramatic response to their 3-8-0 record. Tossing the baby out with the bathwater isn’t going to turn this team around this season or next.

This team just isn’t the right mix of players, though, and a trade or two needs to be made sooner rather than later to prevent these same mistakes from regularly wasting two goal leads. Steve Mason can’t carry this team on his back alone.