The Philadelphia Flyers managed to score the first goal of the game for the first time this season. They even took a 3-0 lead into the third period. Those facts might only make their 4-3 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens sting that much more, though.
Wayne Simmonds continued his hot streak on Saturday, extending a 1-0 Flyers lead to 3-0, but Montreal managed to swing the game completely in the final frame. Whatever reason you attach to the letdown - maybe the Flyers “sat on the lead,” perhaps the Canadiens just turned things up a few notches - Philly finds itself 0-2-1, wasting a 35-save night by Ray Emery.
Andrei Markov (one goal, two assists) and Tomas Plekanec (one goal, one assist) were two of the biggest catalysts for the turnaround. After the Flyers generated a 27-18 shot advantage through the first two periods, the Habs fired 19 shots to just four for Philadelphia in that 180 of a third period.
Flyers coach Craig Berube on 3rd period: "When they got the first goal we stopped playing and we started watching."
— Adam Kimelman (@NHLAdamK) October 12, 2014
“Natural Stat Trick” might provide the best chart-based evidence, if you’re into that kind of thing:
That’s ... drastic.
If that doesn’t bum Flyers fans enough, they might really struggle to put together wins for the remainder of this month:
Tuesday: vs. Anaheim
Oct. 18: at Dallas
Oct. 21: at Chicago
Oct. 22: at Pittsburgh
Oct. 25: vs. Detroit
Oct. 28: vs. Los Angeles
Oct. 30: at Tampa Bay
On the bright side, they do get a decent breather between Tuesday’s game against the Ducks and next Saturday’s trip to face the Stars. They’ll need all that time to gather themselves for some big challenges.