Flyers Lineup
Forward lines
James van Riemsdyk – Sean Couturier – Joel Farabee
Scott Laughton – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny
Michael Raffl – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Andy Andreoff – Connor Bunnaman – Nolan Patrick
Defense pairings
Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg – Erik Gustafsson
Goaltenders
Brian Elliot – Carter Hart
Scratches
Nate Prosser, Shayne Gostisbehere, Oskar Lindblom, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Carsen Twarynski
Injuries
Morgan Frost (dislocated shoulder)
 Game Report
Game Report written by Amy Johnson
On Monday night, the Flyers kicked off their road trip with an uplifting 5-4 overtime victory against the Rangers. It started with a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, cooled off in the second period, and ended with Philadelphia battling to stay in it and come away with two points. It was a decent start to the week for a team looking to get back into good habits and gain some ground in the points race.
Coming into tonight’s game at MSG, both the Flyers and the Rangers had some surprising news. For the home team, it was announced just a little over an hour before the game that none of the New York coaching staff would be behind the bench for the game, due to COVID-19 protocols. Instead, Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) head coach Kris Knoblauch took up the helm along with Gord Murphy to get the Rangers through this game.
The Flyers, on the other hand, had a shakeup on the roster as Alain Vigneault announced that he would be making Oskar Lindblom, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Nate Prosser healthy scratches. In their places would be Andy Andreoff, Connor Bunnaman, Robert Hagg, and Erik Gustafsson. Brian Elliott got the start in net, with Carter Hart set to mind the crease against the Islanders on Thursday night.
First Period
It wasn’t a productive first period for the Flyers like they had on Monday night. Instead, it was the Rangers who potted two goals in the opening 20 minutes of play. Philippe Myers took an early slashing penalty, but his teammates managed to kill it off.
New York wasn’t playing particularly well, and in fact looked downright sloppy in some instances, but Philadelphia couldn’t put together a cohesive push against them to take advantage of the openings they were getting.
Brendan Lemieux got the scoring started when Adam Fox stole the attention of three Flyers players as he skated down the right wing. He quickly passed the puck in front to a trailing Lemieux, who Bunnaman couldn’t catch.
The Flyers played with fire a few times, including a moment when Claude Giroux turned the puck over and Elliott came up with a clutch glove save on Alexis Lafreniere. But St. Patrick’s Day luck soon ran out for Philadelphia as Artemi Panarin ripped a one-timer past Elliott after Joel Farabee got outworked along the boards and gave up the puck.
Second Period
There have been some low moments in Flyers hockey this season, but nothing could compare to the rock bottom the team hit in the second period of this game. I won’t even take you through the seven goals the Rangers put up on Philadelphia in this frame, as it might be considered cruel. No, that’s not a typo: nine goals against in 20 minutes. A statistic that tied an NHL record.
Pavel Buchnevich scored two goals back-to-back, both with the help of Myers who, in addition to Travis Sanheim, had one of the worst games this reporter has ever seen played.
There was a glimmer of hope when Nolan Patrick got in quick on Alexander Georgiev on a power play, but the New York netminder stoned him on the play. Not long after that, Jacob Trouba made it 5-0 and Elliott was pulled from the game.
If things looked bleak then, it was about to get worse. A mishandling of the puck at the blue line by Ivan Provorov led to Mika Zibanejad getting a shorthanded breakaway which he easily put away. It was the first shot Hart faced after coming into the game.
Zibenejad went on to score a natural hat trick, and Filip Chytil capped things off to send the teams to intermission with a 9-0 Rangers lead.
Third Period
Mercifully, the Rangers did not score again but unfortunately neither did the Flyers. The final frame was nothing special, and Philadelphia looked like ghosts of themselves. It seemed they did just enough to get out of the game without taking any more damage. In the post-game press conference, Vigneault called the performance “embarrassing”.
What’s Next?
There isn’t much time for the Flyers to wallow in self-pity. They get right back to work on Thursday night with the first of a three-game series against the New York Islanders, and they’ll need to dig deep to find an answer to the complete drubbing they took tonight.
Plus / Minus
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▼ Philippe Myers, Travis Sanheim, Connor Bunnaman, Ivan Provorov
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(@ThePressZone) March 16, 2021
