The Philadelphia Flyers returned home Tuesday night after a rough road trip with some cause to believe they built some momentum coming out of the trip. It took all of 57 seconds to dispel that notion.
The Colorado Avalanche immediately threw the Flyers onto their back foot with a lucky goal against Michal Neuvirth, who has been so good, and the Flyers never recovered.
The game remained within striking distance through the first period, but the real killer was the second period. Again the Flyers began a period miserably. Colorado scored only 25 seconds into the period, and it was 3-0 only a few minutes later.
The Flyers revitalized power play never got a chance to make a difference, and the even-strength offense continued to be impotent. The team was booed off the ice, and the Flyers will again do some soul searching.
The final Corsi tally was 57-52 Avalanche, but a better indicator might be the 29-14 edge the Avalanche had in shots on goal through two periods. Over 60 minutes, the Flyers missed 13 shots, and had another 16 blocked. It was just not a good night in any respect.
Game Flow
A. 0 – 1, Iginla (Holden, Soderberg). On-ice PHI: 12, 28, 93, 22, 55
B. 0 – 2, Duchene (MacKinnon, Landeskog). On-ice PHI: 24, 14, 17, 15, 32
C. 0 – 3, Duchene (Holden, Barrie). On-ice PHI: 24, 14, 25, 22, 32
D. 0 – 4, PPG, McLeod (Barrie, Soderberg). On-ice PHI: 25, 76, 15, 32
Forwards
Another game of generally positive possession numbers for the Giroux line, getting the better of the Avs shutdown players of Comeau-Soderberg-Iginla and Beauchemin-Johnson, but still no goals to show for it. Jake Voracek gets the worst numbers, though he created some chances that teammates couldn't finish.
The Couturier line really got abused by the Avs top line of Landeskog-Duchene-MacKinnon. The Corsi tally in the matchup was lopsided, and this line was on the ice for both of Duchene's second period goals. Their overall Corsi numbers were boosted in the third period, but it was already 3-0 by that point.
The Schenn line didn't see a whole lot of ice time, but generally held their own. Sam Gagner even got a few shifts with Voracek and Giroux, but didn't have much to show for it.
Ugly numbers for the Laughton line, and Scott Laughton himself had a few minutes less 5v5 ice time than his linemates.
Defense
Streit-Del Zotto were most likely to see the Duchene line, and they really got eaten up with an approximate Corsi of 20 percent in that matchup. Truthfully, no defense pair could handle them on this night.
Schultz-Schenn continues to perform. Nick Schultz, in fact, was the only plus Corsi player against the Duchene line. Schenn, for his part, added 9 hits and over 21 minutes of ice time, second on the team behind Del Zotto.
Lastly, Brandon Manning's stat line is flattered by a +10 Corsi third period. Before that, he was -1. It is also worth noting that the pairs were shuffled for much of the third period, with Del Zotto-Gudas and Streit-Manning. It's hard to say if we'll see those pairs again next game, as Medvedev may return to the lineup and create a few new pairs.
Marc Naples is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @SuperScrub47.
