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The Philadelphia Flyers salvaged a 2-2-1 homestand as they nipped the San Jose Sharks, 2-1 in overtime, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. The victory snapped a nine-game home losing streak against the Sharks that dated back to 2000.
As with most every game on the homestand, the Flyers played a good first period without much to show for it but a shot differential advantage. Unlike the past three games, the Flyers pulled this one out in the end.
Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said that everyone on the team showed resiliency, and opined that self-effacing remarks by captain Claude Giroux on Friday carried over to the rest of the team.
"If you want to call it that, [the difference] a little bit of puck luck through this stretch. It certainly would have changed some of the results, but that’s the way the game is. The thing about our team that we all like is that everybody stuck with it and I think that showed in the efforts from our captain yesterday talking about needing to be better and then him and the rest of the group going out and doing that today. That’s a really good, solid performance," Hakstol said.
The game was scoreless for two periods before Ivan Provorov cashed in on a long rebound to put the Flyers ahead, 1-0. Patrick Marleau got the goal back for the Sharks with a power play marker. During the first period, the Sharks had a would-be power play goal overturned for goaltender interference. In OT, Wayne Simmonds stole a puck from Brent Burns at center ice and scored on the breakaway to win the game for Philadelphia.
“I don’t even know who was near me," Simmonds said of his game-winner. "I was just trying to go full speed and just put the puck in the back of the net. We needed those two points desperately. It was huge for us. I thought we played a great game, starting in the net, going out and I thought every single guy on this team played great.”
Michal Neuvirth, making his fourth start in the team's last five games, turned back 23 of 24 Sharks shots to earn the win in goal. Former University of North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell took a hard-luck loss, stopping 33 of 35 Flyers shots including a couple that required 10-bell saves.
"I got kind of used to it on this home stand, not to face a lot of shots. For me, I was confident the whole game, feeling good. I didn’t watch the shot cam at all, I was just focusing on myself and doing my job," Neuvirth said.
Recently recalled forward Jordan Weal played his first game of the season for the Flyers, enjoying a solid all-around effort on a line with Sean Couturier and Simmonds. Roman Lyubimov was a healthy scratch in favor of Dale Weise on the fourth line.
Weal felt that his first NHL game since last season went well.
"It was a little different than last year because I played 43 games already this year in the season. The season grew, you could say. Compared to last year I was sitting around a lot of couldn’t really get my mojo going. It was nice to kind of jump right into it and my game is already there. It is just playing hockey now," Weal said.
"We were making plays down low [today] and working it really well. I thought the biggest thing was we didn’t spend much time in the D zone. We were breaking it up well and back checking hard and creating turnovers and going the other way. When you can do that as a team you will have a lot of success. ... If you can break out efficiently, the best teams in the league are the teams that break out the puck from D to forward to out of the zone and create offense that way. We did that well tonight and we just have to continue doing it.”
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play but had plenty of scoring chances along the way. Philly didn't so much kill two of their own three penalties as narrowly survive them. The first saw the disallowed goal erase an own goal off the stick of Chris VandeVelde. The second saw Neuvirth play without a stick for about 90 seconds.
“Sometimes a goalie doesn’t want it. It might be harder for them. Some goalies want something. He didn’t yell anything. If he wants something, he would tell us. You don’t have the paddle on the player’s stick. I don’t know. I don’t know how a goalie does it. He didn’t say anything so we didn’t bother," said Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who logged 4:22 of PK time among his 20:35 of overall ice time.
Explained Neuvirth, "I don’t think it would make much difference if I had a player stick for me. I would rather have the guys four sticks up front, blocking passes and have a good stick. Obviously, it’s not easy to play without a stick but, well, we got it done.”
The goalie admitted that he was a little surprised that the would-be first goal by San Jose was overturned after minimal incidental contact in the crease. Hakstol wasn't certain of a reversal but felt there was a decent shot.
"There’s always gray area to the challenges so great job by [Flyers video coach] Adam Patterson. All of the credit for that one goes straight to him. He radioed us immediately. There’s always gray area, but I think it’s the right call. Obviously, or else we wouldn’t have challenged it," Hakstol said.
With the Boston Bruins defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Saturday afternoon, Philadelphia remained one point out of the final wildcard playoff spot (with one game in hand). However, the Flyers did get some help from the Ottawa Senators, who shut out the New York Islanders, 3-0. Philadelphia is now three points up on the Islanders, but have played three more games.
FIRST PERIOD
Thirty-nine seconds into the game, the Sharks took a too many men on the ice bench minor on the afternoon's first line change.
Jakub Voracek snapped a side-angle shot on net with 1:36 remaining on the power play: the game's first shot. Voracek then point a right point shot through a Simmonds screen but Dell came up with a clean save for a stoppage. A Shayne Gostisbehere center-point shot was blocked out of the offensive zone, retrieved by the defenseman and then sent in deep where a peeved Gostisbehere steamrolled Justin Braun behind the net.
At 3:07, Radko Gudas and tangled near the San Jose bench after ducking a high Micheal Haley hit attempt. Gudas received a double minor (Nick Cousins served the extra penalty) for roughing while Haley only got two.
With 1:33 left in the minor, the Flyers caught a break as Kevin Labanc's bumping of Neuvirth at the end of the crease resulted in a reversed call upon Hakstol's challenge of an initial good-goal ruling. As Labanc swept the puck across the crease, Chris VandeVelde accidentally put the puck in his own net. With two seconds left in the penalty, Neuvirth gloved a David Schlemko shot for his first credited save of the game.
Gostisbehere was guilty of a bad turnover (credited as a Chris Tierney takeaway) near the 8:00 mark but no harm resulted. Neuvirth made a stop on a side-angle Brent Burns offering for a TV timeout at 8:15. Shots to this point were 4-3 in Philly's favor.
At 9:02, Simmonds made a great inside cut to elude Brent Burns but was robbed by a 10-bell glove save by Dell on a rising wrister from the left slot.
With time ticking down past the 11-minute mark, the Nick Cousins line had a flurry of chances near the San Jose net. The sequence ended as a Matt Read shot went up out of play. A TV timeout ensued. The Giroux line came out for the ensuing right circle faceoff.
The Sharks had a near 3-on-1 rush go awry near the 12:00 mark at one end. At the other, Ivan Provorov joined the rush on a good pinch but shot over the net.
At one end of the ice, Provorov made a nice defensive play to take Joe Thornton off the puck. He then made a good pinch at the other end. Shots were 9-4 Flyers with 3:00 left in the first period.
With 2:04 left, Read took a behind-the-net centering feed near the left post but was denied by Dell as he was knocked down. In the final 100 seconds of the period, Dell fought off a low center-slot wrister by Giroux for his 12th save.
Couturier went to the net for a potential scoring chance and was hooked off the play by Joel Ward with 47.2 seconds left. The Flyers went to their second power play of the game. With 9.9 seconds left on the clock, Dell covered the puck in the crease after a Gostisbehere shot through a Simmonds screen. Giroux fanned on a one-timer right before the horn sounded.
First period shots were 14-4 in the Flyers' favor. The Flyers took 1:13 of carryover power play time into the second period.
SECOND PERIOD
During the second period carryover, a wild shot by Schenn rimmed out of the offensive zone. Voracek then threaded a point shot on net that Dell appeared not to track but which hit him in the shoulder. The power play expired without a Philadelphia goal.
At 2:16, the Flyers benefited from a generous icing call as Gudas and Thornton arrived at the dots in a seeming dead heat. However, Thornton then won the defensive zone draw and the Sharks had an easy breakout. San Jose iced the puck again at 3:38 and yet again at 4:28. In between, a Provorov point shot handcuffed Dell but there was no Flyer nearby to bang the puck home so the Sharks' defense swept it to safety.
Gostisbehere, who had his head down and then was knocked down, turned over the puck and San Jose had a chance in close. Simmonds took a cross-checking penalty after the whistle as he felt Tomas Hertl took an extra poke at Neuvirth's arm as he skated by. Time of the penalty was 5:32 as the Sharks went on their second power play.
Neuvirth lost his stick and played with none for most of the penalty kill -- no skater handed him one -- but hung in there and the Flyers killed the penalty. Philly called timeout before a right circle defensive zone faceoff after Simmonds exited the box.
With 11:39 left in the second period, San Jose had a hand pass cancel out a good scoring chance -- the shot hit the post, anyway, but would not have counted if it went in. Gostisbehere lost a battle behind his net with Chris Tierney but stuck with it and the Flyers eventually cleared the zone on his side of the ice.
The line of Couturier, Jordan Weal and Voracek went to work in the offensive zone for extended pressure and Philly's 18th shot of the game. They were followed out by the Pierre-Edouard Bellemare line.
Melker Karlsson came in from the side and stapled Andrew MacDonald to the boards after the Flyers defenseman batted down an aerial puck at the blueline. Feeling their teammate had been hit high, several Flyers went at Karlsson and a scrum ensued. No penalties resulted.
Gostisbehere won a battle behind the net with a much larger Sharks attacker, enabling an easy breakout. Linesman Michel Corrier got hit in the midsection by a flipped puck but, after a stoppage of play for him to catch his breath, play resumed.
With 6:23 left in the period, Neuvirth stopped a side-angle shot by Marcus Sörensen for his 10th save of the game. A TV timeout ensued.
Simmonds down low and Gostisbehere from the right point (off a Giroux feed) had cracks at Jones but the San Jose goalie came up with his 19th and 20th saves.
San Jose iced the puck for the fourth time in the period with 28.9 seconds remaining in the middle frame. Cousins won the right circle offensive zone draw but no scoring chances resulted.
Second period shots were 7-6 in San Jose's favor (20-11 in Philly's favor overall).
THIRD PERIOD
A Sharks turnover deep in their own zone created a golden scoring chance for the Flyers in the opening minute of the third period. Simmonds was blocked by Marc-Edouard Vlasic on an initial shot attempt and then stoned by Dell on a followup.
At 2:40, the Sharks iced the puck. The Flyers controlled and Dell had to make his 22nd save as Gudas ripped a slap shot on goal. Shortly thereafter, Neuvirth denied a chance for Joe Pavelski from the bottom of the left circle set up by Thornton for his 13th save overall.
Weal darted all around the offensive zone, maintaining possession for the Flyers. MacDonald then received a pass from Voracek as he pinched in but hit the post. The rebound went out to directly to Provorov, who didn't miss from the deep left slot. The Russian rookie scored his 5th goal of the season, putting the Flyers ahead 1-0 at 6:22. The assists went to MacDonald and Voracek.
Joel Ward nearly got the goal back as he got open between the circles but Neuvirth fought it off. Brandon Manning took a holding penalty at 8:27 in the defensive zone, putting San Jose on their third power play.
Neuvirth came up with a tough save on a cannon of a shot by Pavelski. However, there was nothing he could do as Marleau notched his 20th goal of the season, getting open in the left slot just inside hash marks and beating Neuvirth on a fluttering shot that climbed upstairs. Labanc and Thornton got the assists at 9:23 as the Sharks knotted the game at 1-1.
Shots in the third period were 10-5 in the Sharks' favor through the first 11:10 (still 25-21 in the Flyers' favor overall) of the third period at a TV timeout. With 7:45 left, Nevirth tracked and stopped a tough deflection in front.
Weise was seemingly home free on net over the middle, but the play fizzled out at the end. Giroux set up a one-timer chance for an onrushing Mark Streit but Jones, who was not screened, came up with a clean glove save for his 26th save and a TV timeout stoppage of play at 14:40.
Cousins, arguably the Flyers' best player at drawing penalties on the opposition, gave some salesmanship to a trip in the neutral zone by defenseman Paul Martin at 15:46. The Giroux line kept the Sharks PK hemmed in for 90 seconds with multiple looks at the net and three shots on goal until Schenn fired wildly and the puck rimmed out.
Third period shots were 13-12 in the Flyers' favor (33-23 Flyers overall).
OVERTIME
After a giveaway by Giroux, Neuvirth kept the game going with a glove save on Labanc on a 2-on-1 rush at the 43-second mark.
Shortly thereafter, Simmonds stole the puck from Burns at center ice and sped off on a breakaway. The All-Star right winger move to his right on the forehand and stuffed the puck over the goal line just ahead of Dell's sliding skate save attempt to win the game for Philly at the 1:04 mark. Simmonds' 23rd goal of the season was unassisted.
OT shots were 2-1 in the Flyers' favor (35-25 overall in Philly's favor).
On Sunday, the Flyers will have a CBA-mandated full off-day; no on-ice or off-ice activity is permitted a minimum of four days per month. The team will practice on Monday and Tuesday before starting a western Canada road trip in Calgary on Wednesday and Edmonton on Thursday.
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