The Flyers had a chance to go into the All-Star break with a roar. Against the hosts of the All-Star festivities, they went into the break with a whimper.
A poor second period hurt the Flyers, and they were never able to recover in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, sending them into the All-Star break on a sour note.
Let's jump right in with our Postgame Review.
Postgame Points
- Tampa Takes It to Philly – Back in late December, it seemed almost shocking that the Flyers were able to pull out a win on the road against the NHL's best team in Tampa. The Flyers were that much of a mystery bag and the Lightning had established themselves as one of the best in the league this season.
This was more like what was expected then. Tampa outclassed the Flyers in this game. The trio of Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Vladislav Namestnikov proved to be lethal in the end. The Lightning also got contributions from their upstart youngsters in Brayden Point and Yanni Gourde.
And in goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy was his usual self, completely taking away the bottom of the net and swallowing up essentially all chances the Flyers had.
It was a pretty good first period for the Flyers, one that would have led to more success if the Flyers had stayed with their game and Tampa continued to flounder. Make no mistake about it, Tampa tightened up in the second and late in the third and took it to the Flyers.
- Consistency - It's hard to argue the Flyers inconsistencies now. They lost to the Penguins on Jan. 2, 5-1. They won the next four games. They lost to the Rangers on Jan. 16, 5-1. They won the next four games. They lost to the Lightning on Thursday, 5-1.
It's been a very good month for the Flyers, now a 8-3-0 record in the month of January, but the three losses haven't been hard luck at all. They've been straight up clunkers.
- Power Play Woes - The Flyers did get a power-play goal in the game, but it was what happened on an earlier power play that really defines the struggles.
In a position to get a late second-period goal to make a game of things again, the Flyers allowed a rush the other way and Ryan Callahan dipped and maneuvered his way in on goal for a beautiful shorthanded tally.
As nice as it looks on any hockey highlight reel, it was the eighth shorthanded goal the Flyers have allowed this season. It's not just the number that's a problem. The timing of these goals is crucial. In a spot where it could have become a one-goal game again, Tampa turned it into a three-goal second period. Without a doubt, this was the turning point of the game.
- Kon-tinuing to Surge - The Flyers lone goal came from a familiar source. For the fourth straight game, Travis Konecny lit the lamp.
For a few moments, there was a chance that it could have turned the game around. There was just under seven minutes to play, the Flyers were back within two and the goal came on a roll of the dice from coach Dave Hakstol, who pulled Michal Neuvirth while the team had a power play in desperation of getting on the board.
Regardless of how the remaining time in the game went, this little streak Konecny's on and the fire he is playing with now that he is on a line with Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux and seeing power-play time as well, you have to hope that a break as long as this weekend's All-Star break doesn't cool him off too much. He's been a joy to watch lately as he emerges into a regular scoring threat.
- Time to Reflect and Recover - With Claude Giroux being the Flyers only representative at the All-Star Game, the rest of the Flyers get some much needed time for rest and recovery.
This will also be a good time to reflect. Entering the game on Thursday, the Flyers had a chance to take over second place in the division by themselves. They obviously didn't with the loss and with other teams having success in the division on Thursday night, the Flyers dropped back into the second wildcard spot as the All-Star break hits.
But the margin is narrow and there's no room for error. One of the big reasons the Flyers are in a playoff position and have been rising in the standings is because of how spaced out the losses have been. When you lose only three times in 11 games, the points start to pile up and ground can be made up easily. So for the Flyers, this will be a test as to how the return from a break. They went 5-2-0 in the seven games out of the bye week and into the All-Star break, which was certainly a good start to their second half. But after the All-Star break, there is no stopping the schedule and the push for the playoffs at that point.
Quotable
"A loss is a loss. They all feel the same. It’s definitely not what we’re looking for. It doesn’t matter when it is even if it’s coming off a 10-game losing streak or a win, I think after we get this out of our system, we’ll bounce back, we’ll be better." – Flyers forward Travis Konecny
"Sour taste we have in our mouth after tonight’s game, honestly in a lot of ways we played a more complete game tonight then we did the last couple. But you end up with this result like I said, it’s not a great way and a great feeling to go into the break. That being said we’re coming off of a stretch where we’ve played very well, the guys have really pushed hard and we’ve been able to make up a little bit of ground here. We’re in the fight and it’s gonna be a dog fight now coming back as soon as we come back off the break. The schedule doesn’t lighten, it really doesn’t lighten up for anybody though. It’s gonna be a dog fight and we just gotta keep finding ways to gain points and as I’ve said all the way along, trying to keep finding ways to get a little bit better." – Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol
Play of the Game
The only goal of the game for the Flyers, a power-play goal for the red-hot Travis Konecny.
By the Numbers
The Flyers outshot the Lightning, 37-22, and finished the game with a 57.78 CF% at even strength. So what happened? The heat map tells the story. A lot of the Flyers chances came from the outside, and the ones that were in tight on the goalie were in an area where he makes a ton of saves just by using his amazing stretches and splits to completely cover the bottom half of the net. The Lightning on the other hand got to the dirty areas and got quality chances when they did.
