Flyers Get Outshot Again, Lose in Overtime to Hurricanes 3-2

The Flyers get outshot again and lose in overtime again.

Two nights after getting outshot 44-25 and losing 3-2 in overtime to the Devils, the Philadelphia Flyers went through some serisou deja vu Saturday night, getting outshot 40-18 and losing 3-2 in overtime to the defending Stanley Cup champion, Carolina Hurricanes.

After two games, the Philadelphia Flyers needed to play better defense and play better off the puck, and doing so at home is very important for the psyche of the team as well as to shake off the 7-0 loss on opening night.

The scoring started quickly; 10 seconds into the game, Sebastian Aho took a pass from William Carrier and buried it past Joseph Woll to give the Canes an early lead. The Flyers tied the game on a relentless effort by Owen Tippett, who buried one from between the circles.

In the second period, Travis Sanheim found Matvei Michkov open in front of the net, and the third-year winger buried his first goal of the season past Pyotr Kochetkov for the Flyers’ first lead at home this season.

In the third, after a penalty from Michkov, Aho took a one-timer from the bumper and buried it past Woll for the second time on the night, tying the game at two. In overtime, former Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere banged a shot past Woll on a questionable no-call on a cross-check in front of the net, lifting the Canes to a 3-2 overtime win.

Woll Continues to Impress Even in Loss

For the second straight game, Joseph Woll proved why Daniel Briere went out and pulled the trigger on bringing him to the Flyers. He gave up two goals, but on 40 shots faced, continuing to show the issue for the Flyers. The play by Woll has kept the Flyers in the last two games, and in tonight’s loss he was particularly busy in the second period, where he faced 17 shots. Things cooled down in the third as he only saw nine shots on goal.

The goaltending has become a strength for the Flyers over the last two games, and Woll has really stepped up in the face of the number of shots he’s seen in his two starts.

He’s played well enough to win the game, making several acrobatic saves, but the Canes did just enough to win. Two of the goals he gave up were on the power play, including the 4-on-3 overtime winner from Gostisbehere.

Power Play Woes Continue

The Flyers power play unit has been a disaster for the last half-decade, ranking last in four of those five seasons. This season, their power play unit looks much the same; despite having good personnel on the unit, they just haven’t put it all together. In this game, they were 0-for-5 on power plays, including the 4-on-3 they had to start the overtime period.

At this point, it’s in their heads, and it looks like they’re all pushing too hard when they’re on the advantage, and it shows in the way they are playing tight and not flowing as they do at full strength.

It starts with winning faceoffs, and on the power play they have not been successful in winning them. The faceoff wins have been coming at full strength, but they haven’t consistently won faceoffs with the man advantage, and this is the foundational thing that they need to work on to start to get things flowing on the power play.

The Shot on Goal Gap is Alarming

In the first three games, the Flyers have given up 38, 44, and 40 shots on goal. This is asking too much of your goalies and is a huge part of why the Flyers are winless so far this season. In this game, the Flyers had only 18 shots on goal, keeping them backpedaling all game. This is one thing that needs to change quickly because the offense still hasn’t really gotten going this season, and it’s hard to move the puck up the ice.

With Ramus Ristolainen leaving the game in the third period after taking a shot off the hand, the rest of the defense pairings need to step up to try and limit the shots peppering the net. Rick Tocchet needs a scheme to keep the defense tight around the net and generate more offense, because this hasn’t worked so far.

Under Tocchet, the Flyers have averaged 23 shots per game, and this season they are averaging 20 shots per game and giving up 40 shots on average. With the Flyers at 0-1-2 now, they need to step it up, and closing the shots-on-goal gap is the fastest way to get the first win of the season.

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