Offense Explodes for 6 Goals
Game Events
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Forwards
The numbers for all players need to be taken with a grain of salt, as the Nashville Predators piled up a +22 Corsi differential in the third period as the Philadelphia Flyers protected their lead. This drove down the numbers for all Flyers.
Starting off, this game was a nice change of pace in terms of goal sources. Coach Dave Hakstol criticized the line of Matt Read, Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl after the last game, but they opened the scoring tonight. It was a bit of a weird play with a tangle up at the blue line let Read walk in untouched, but the goal counts the same as others. Laughton added another assist later on a beautiful long pass to Wayne Simmonds. This group still appears to be the fourth line in the pecking order, but it's a step in the right direction.
The third line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was the only Flyers line that didn't score tonight. They lagged behind everyone else statistically, although each of these players got a workout on the penalty kill tonight with seven penalties to work off. Bellemare went 1-for-7 on draws as well, which certainly didn't help.
It was also good to see the new second line of Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn and Sam Gagner get on the board. Gagner, in fact, absorbed a hit when jumping on a Nashville turnover, springing Couturier and Schenn for the goal. This line was having some of the better possession numbers on the team, but Couturier sat the entire third period with an injury. The Flyers will anxiously await the news there.
Last but not least, the top line watched others get the scoring started before finishing the job themselves. Simmonds' first goal came from a Laughton feed, but Claude Giroux had a hand in the next three Flyers goals. This line continues to tear up the scoresheet. Giroux has six points in his last three games, Jakub Voracek has 10 points in his last five games and Simmonds has six goals in his last three games.
Defense
In a bit of a change of pace, Mark Streit led the way for the Flyers defense against the Predators. He led the team in total ice time, and he and partner Nick Schultz were each plus-3 on the night.
Playing out the string with a lead doesn't play to the strengths of the Michael Del Zotto and Shayne Gostisbehere pair, leading them to have a so-so night. With all the PK time, Ghost played fewer total minutes than usual, although he did grab another power play assist when Simmonds tipped in his shot on the power play.
It was a forgettable night for Radko Gudas and Evgeny Medvedev. Medvedev had a very poor Corsi, which is unusual for him. He also took a penalty. Gudas added another six penalty minutes of his own and yielded two giveaways. They'll want to forget about this one.
Marc Naples is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter@SuperScrub47.
