The Philadelphia Flyers let their emotion get the best of them. Shutout by the New Jersey Devils 5-0 Wednesday night at Prudential Center.
[the_ad id=”875″]
It is hard to beat a team three times in a row. Not to mention, three times in a matter of 12 days.
But, due to the NHL scheduling this season, tonight marked the third meeting between the Flyers and Devils in the past 12 days.
Unlike the first two, both wins by the Flyers, tonight was a different story. One that saw the Devils score four times in the 2nd period.
The scoring started 54 seconds into the period on the penalty carried over by Morgan Frost at the end of the 1st period.
Thereafter, the Devils would score three more times over the next 12:50 of play. The final two coming 63 seconds apart and ending the night of Samuel Ersson.
With the game feeling like it could get out of control, John Tortorella decided to protect his #1 goalie instead of keeping Ivan Fedotov fresh for tomorrow. A move that could set up Ersson to be back in net again tomorrow against the New York Islanders.
[the_ad id=”876″]
The Flyers have done a good job this season not letting their emotions take control of the game. But, tonight, some of that emotion led to frustration and an eventual boiling over point.
For the fourth time this season, the Flyers gave up four goals in a period.
The second period is one of those periods where you burn the tape and move on.
While the scoreline says one thing, the way in which the goals happened say another. Three of which, the Flyers just left Samuel Ersson out to dry.
One was one a loose puck in-front on the power-play, two were on odd man rushes, and the fourth was on a long shift.
In any case, this is just another one of those games the Flyers must go through in there rebuild to get better. Learning to adapt and harass their emotion is something they need to work on. Especially when losing one of their top players, Owen Tippett, 90 seconds into the period to injury.
[the_ad id=”877″]
Owen Tippett left tonight’s game after his first shift in the 2nd period and did not return due to an upper-body injury. He will be re-evaluated tomorrow in Philadelphia.
Tippett was leveled in center ice by Brenden Dillon when trying to play the puck. No penalty was called on the play and on replay it was one of those bang-bang plays that happen every so often in the NHL.
The Flyers fall to 23-23-6 on the season.
Next up, the New York Islanders tomorrow night at 7:30pm at the Wells Fargo Center.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bruce Bennett – Getty Images
[the_ad id=”875″]
