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Drysdale gets work, needs work

Defenseman Jamie Drysdale seems to need a lot of work on the basics. A simple clear in his own zone about four minutes into the game should’ve been just that. Instead Drysdale turned away from the forechecker and then threw a horrid pass that was intercepted just inside the blueline. From there the Panthers almost scored and seconds later hit the crossbar. It wasn’t a great first as Drysdale was dismal in trying to help the first power play unit, nearly getting nailed for an interference penalty at the Florida blueline. He ended the first 40 minutes being down 19-8 in shot attempts at five-on-five.

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As bad as Drysdale was in getting the Flyers in sync, Emil Andrae did not have that problem, at least on the power play. The second unit was the antithesis of the first unit as the five guys featuring Andrae was passing with precision and purpose for an entertaining shift. The blueliner was also the polar opposite in terms of chances for with a 63.64 percent five-on-five after two periods. In the third during another power play he was fantastic, feeding Farabee with a great pass that just missed tying things up.

Power kill

The Flyers’ power play was the talk of the team early on because, well, they were scoring. But consider just how stellar the penalty kill has been given the goaltending issues and the fact the team defense has been sadly lacking at times. Against a Florida team that was humming (7 for 19 the last few games) the Flyers didn’t give the Panthers a whole lot thanks to smart anticipation and even better sticks on their first chance.

It might have been another reason why Philadelphia opted to challenge the Dmitry Kulikov goal for hitting the netting over the glass. A delay of game with a strong penalty kill was probably worth taking the risk.

Laughton’s line loose

The trio of Farabee, Scott Laughton and Bobby Brink looked good for the most part all night (although some poor coverage on the second Panthers goal was irksome). Laughton broke through Florida’s defense for a solid chance and the line was buzzing most of the middle frame. It was another strong shift that led to the following line drawing a penalty. Here, Anthony Richard made the most of the chance by scoring his first of the season.

The line was reaping the coach’s confidence as they seemed to be the Flyers’ second line on this night, getting far more ice time than Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster and Anthony Richard and each of them rewarded with time in overtime (including two great Farabee chances). It makes one wonder if a Michkov return on Monday in San Jose (assuming he’s not scratched for three games) means Frost begins to ride the pine as was the case in 2023-24. Frost finished regulation with just 7:31, ahead of only Nic Deslauriers and had minimal ice time in the third. A chance to redeem himself in the shootout went for naught.

The Flyers were Michkov-less Saturday night in Florida. And while they could’ve used him on this night, Philadelphia fared fine in a 4-3 overtime loss to the red hot (and defending Cup champion) Panthers, taking home three points in their three-game road trip.

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The basics

First period: 4:57 – Joel Farabee (Scott Laughton, Bobby Brink)

Second period: 5:32 – Nate Schmidt (Evan Rodrigues, Aleksander Barkov), 8:40 – Dmitry Kulikov (Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart), 13:00 – Anthony Richard (Travis Konency, Rasmus Ristolainen), 14:56 – Sam Bennett (Carter Verhaege, Niko Mikkola)

Third period: 9:47 – Garnet Hathaway (Scott Laughton, Nick Seeler)

Overtime: No scoring

Shootout: Aleksander Barkov – goal, Travis Konency – no goal, Sam Reinhart – no goal, Owen Tippett – goal, Anton Lundell – no goal, Bobby Brink – no goal, Matthew Tkachuk – no goal, Sean Couturier – no goal, Evan Rodrigues – goal, Morgan Frost – no goal

SOG: 37 (PHI) – 31 (FLA)

Some takeaways

No Michkov, but still a quality effort

As mentioned earlier, the Flyers went without Matvei Michkov for the second consecutive game. The Flyers jumped out to an early lead thanks to some good fortune and being in the right place at the right time. A shot around the boards by a Flyer hit a partition in the glass. Then a fat rebound from Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky left Bobby Brink with a chance he capitalized on.

Tippett feeling it

Winger Owen Tippett does not look like the struggling, slower forward he looked the first 10 games of the season. Instead he looks like the guy well worth the big contract he signed in the offseason. Tippett should’ve had his third in three games (fourth if you count the shootout winner) halfway through the first when he was in on a breakaway (his first of two in the period). On the first he beat Bobrovsky clean, but not the post. The second also came up without a tally. And he also caught an errant Bobrovsky pass on his backhand but wasn’t able to get the speed on it into the empty net before the Panthers keeper scrambled back.

Ersson returns

With no discussion of an EBUG on this early evening start, goaltender Sam Ersson was back and seemed no worse for wear early on in the game. The Panthers had some sustained pressure early but Ersson kept them from opening the scoring. The Flyers did a tremendous job starting the game on time, not easing their way into it. Philadelphia had a 9-3 shots advantage more than halfway through the first, or roughly half of the shot total they had amassed in a handful of recent games.

The first bugaboo though was a huge one as the Panthers made it 1-1 when sniper Nate Schmidt beat Ersson cleanly on a shot that should’ve been stopped. Ersson looked as if he was screened but replays showed otherwise.

The biggest question mark was whether the Flyers would cave in, giving up another goal shortly thereafter. They didn’t and they did. Florida looked to have scored minutes later but the Flyers called a timeout before challenging the call believing the puck hit the netting. The goal wasn’t overturned, leading to the Flyers getting a delay of game penalty in addition to being down one. Ersson had a rough second as the Panthers took the lead less than two minutes after the Flyers tied things up. The third goal he didn’t have much of a chance on as some tic-tac-toe passing left him dead to rights.

But Ersson was money in the third and overtime, keeping the Flyers in it with key saves at key times. Had the Flyers had any luck in overtime and converted one of a handful of breakaways it wouldn’t have gone to a shootout.

Hathaway haunts again

After scoring the winning goal in one of the Flyers’ more memorable games last season in this same arena, Garnet Hathaway was at it again in the third period. This time he beat Bobrovsky between the legs and like a lot of goals this week for the Flyers, it looked like a curling rock just crossing the T-line. (Google it, I’m saying it was a slow sliding puck.)