In the previous 10 games since the holiday break, the Flyers‘ only two losses had come against teams that are juggernauts in the NHL standings. Otherwise, the team took care of business against every other team playing for a lottery pick more than a playoff berth at this time.
Until Thursday, when the Flyers could never seem to find the ability to finish and paid for their mistakes in a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at Wells Fargo Center. The win marked the Blackhawks first regular-season win in Philadelphia since 1996.
The Flyers got off to a good start by getting the first goal of the game. At 8:52 of the first period, Morgan Frost finished off a nice rush with a goal high over the glove of Petr Mrazek to make it 1-0 with his 10th of the season.
Despite scoring the only goal of the period, the Flyers trailed in shots, 9-7, through 20 minutes.
In the second half of the second period, the Blackhawks started to take over.
First, Jonathan Toews re-directed a point shot by Seth Jones to make it a 1-1 game at 9:51. Six minutes later at 15:51, Reese Johnson scored off a turnover to give Chicago the 2-1 lead.
Through two periods, shots were 22-20 Flyers.
Just 35 seconds into the third, Tyler Johnson extended the Chicago lead by scoring on a rebound off the rush to make it 3-1.
The Flyers fired 16 shots on goal in the third to just nine for the Blackhawks, but were unable to beat Mrazek for the rest of the night. In the final minute, Philipp Kurashev iced the game into an empty net.
Carter Hart made 25 saves on 28 shots in the loss. Mrazek made 37 saves on 38 shots in the win.
Toews finished with a goal and an assist for Chicago. Jake McCabe had two assists.
The Flyers return to the ice on Saturday night on the road against the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Blackhawks | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Flyers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Morgan Frost (10) (Nick Seeler, Rasmus Ristolainen) 8:52
2nd Period
- CHI Jonathan Toews (13) (Seth Jones, Jake McCabe) 9:51
- CHI Reese Johnson (3) (Colin Blackwell) 15:51
3rd Period
- CHI Tyler Johnson (5) (Patrick Kane, McCabe) 0:35
- CHI Philipp Kurashev (7) EN (Toews, Taylor Raddysh) 19:18
Game Statistics
| Blackhawks | Flyers | |
| Shots | 29 | 38 |
| Power Play | 0/0 | 0/2 |
| Hits | 24 | 22 |
| Faceoff % | 50.0% | 50.0% |
| Giveaways | 9 | 10 |
| Takeaways | 8 | 7 |
| Blocked Shots | 23 | 16 |
| Penalty Minutes | 4 | 0 |
