Flyers Crash Against Canucks, 5-2

Dan Heaning

November 21 2017

(Kate Frese/SB Nation)

Things got ugly quick for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks leaving fans to wonder if the team can right the ship in time to save the season.

By Dan Heaning, Sports Talk Philly staff writer

The Philadelphia Flyers season is tailspinning out of control. Yes, the team is only a few points behind the top three in their division. However, thanks to a 5-2 loss tonight to the Vancouver Canucks, fans of the Orange and Black are starting to run out of reasons to believe they'll catch up.

The opening frame started off well for the Flyers, they generated the bulk of the chances and carried most of the play. Philadelphia opened the scoring at the 12 minute mark, when Valtteri Filppula won an offensive zone faceoff to Travis Konecny. Konecny tapped a pass to Ivan Provorov at the point and the Russian blueliner let a howitzer rip. Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom had to contend with seeing past the battle between Michael Raffl and Canucks defenseman Alex Biega in front and a deflection off his own defender. The result of which was Markstrom thinking he was going to catch the puck in the chest but instead watching it go by his blocker side.

One minute and 42 seconds later, a puck battle along the boards won by the Canucks coupled with both defensemen up too high allowed a Henrik Sedin poke pass to find his brother Daniel Sedin for a breakaway opportunity. Daniel Sedin deked to the left and slid the puck off the post but the disc banked off Neuvirth into the net. While it was initially waved off, it was confirmed to be a good goal after review.

Less than twenty seconds later, Jordan Weal attempted his own poke pass in the neutral zone. The attempt went off Alexander Edler and to his defensive partner Derrick Pouliot who found a streaking Brock Boeser. With the pass in tow, the former UND star skated down to the right circle and beat Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth to the blocker side.

Things got ugly in the second, a pair of power play goals put the game away for Vancouver.

Boeser tallied on the power play to make it 3-1 after the Sedin twins took advantage of the Flyers penalty kill structure. Henrik Sedin's backhand pass at the point to Daniel Sedin spread out the Flyers defenders forcing them to each take a man. However, no one accounted for Boeser, who Daniel Sedin found all alone in the slot, and the leading scorer for the Canucks roofed it over Neuvirth's glove side for his ninth of the season.

The Flyers penalty kill lost all structure later in the period when a Sam Gagner point shot created a scrum for the puck. With both Robert Hagg and Provorov tied up on one Vancouver forward, Sven Baertschi was left all alone to deposit the puck past Neuvirth and Provorov.

After the tally, Neuvirth's dreadful evening concluded. He was mercifully pulled in favor of Brian Elliott. With an outing like this, it may be another few weeks before Neuvirth sees another start.

Jake Voracek scored at the midway point of the final frame with a slap shot from above the left circle. However, it was too little, too late for Philadelphia to muster any sort of comeback.

The Flyers will have to shake off this bad loss in a hurry as they're back at it tomorrow night in Brooklyn as they take on John Tavares and the New York Islanders from the Barclays Center. The game is set for a 7 p.m. start and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus.

With the Flyers last in their division, it'll be a vital game for the team as they try to stop this Thanksgiving tailspin from completely tanking the season.

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