Too many blue jerseys were seen at the Wells Fargo center on Wednesday night. The Philadelphia Flyers fell to New York, 3-2, in overtime. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Philly heads into the third period up 2-1 and then they lose in overtime. Very familiar, I know. Owen Tippett and Scott Laughton scored for the Flyers, who were desperate for a morale boost after being shellacked, 7-0, by the Devils. Unfortunately, the Flyers dropped to 1-10 in overtime. New York picked up its eighth third-period comeback of the season. The Flyers went 0-1-2 against the Rangers (35-17-9) in their three-game regular-season series.
To the Action
Mika Zibanejad’s power-play goal just 2:51 minutes into the game was not the start the Flyers were looking for. The Rangers’ forward owns 16 career goals against the Flyers, his most versus any team. Philly’s February has been sad, to say the least. The Flyers are 2-7-1 in the short month. They allowed 4.00 goals per game and scored just 1.80. The Flyers have lost 12 of their last 15 games. They’ve scored just 2.13 goals per game over that span.
James van Riemsdyk most likely played his last game as a Flyer. The 33-year-old winger went scoreless against New York. Carter Hart and Igor Shesterkin were in goal Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The 24-year-old Hart finished with 22 saves on 25 shots. Shesterkin, last season’s Vezina Trophy winner, stopped 25 of the Flyers’ 27 shots.
New York made some mistakes by putting them on three first-period power plays. The Flyers answered on the third with Tippett’s goal to settle down Rangers fans invading South Philly. Tippett has been a bright spot in this dark season. He has 18 goals in 57 games and just turned 24 years old last month. Laughton’s second-period marker gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead and the 28-year-old a new career high of 14 goals. Chris Kreider tied the game with an impressive redirection. Vladimir Tarasenko won it for New York in overtime and also had two assists. The Philadelphia Flyers fell to New York.
Truth From Torts
“It’s just the pride of putting the uniform on,” Tortorella said Monday. “Listen, it’s hard for athletes to see other teams bolstering their lineup because they’re gearing it for it. We’re on the other end of that. We’re going to sell. We’ve talked about the process. I’ve talked about it and I haven’t stopped talking about it, that we have a long way to go. We do.
“But it’s hard for athletes to be toward the end of the season and have to go through it. They’re not martyrs. But I want to see guys just play with a little bit of pride here. I want to watch that, too. Because that’s a telling tale of what we want here on the bus, too, in Philly as we move forward.”
Young and Up and Coming
Elliot Desnoyers played his first regular-season game at the Wells Fargo Center after making his NHL debut last Saturday on the road against the Devils. The Flyers are very high on the 21-year-old forward. But Tortorella noted in the morning that the Flyers want Desnoyers back at AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley for the Phantoms’ playoff push.
Trade Deadline News
New York did not have prized trade acquisition Patrick Kane, who is set to make his Rangers debut Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. To no surprise, the Flyers are selling at the deadline. It marks their third straight season as sellers. The NHL trade deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. ET and the Flyers will be shedding pieces. Following the trade deadline, the Flyers are back in action Sunday when they host the Red Wings (6 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Al is one of the two co-creators of Edge of Philly Sports. Al started radio and podcasting in 2012 and covering sports in 2015. A lifelong Philly sports fan since watching the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers with his grandfathers at age 7. Al always looks at the other side of the hot topics and gives his different outlook on those topics. Web and Graphic Design.
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