Late in the first Drysdale used his speed to break up a chance by Nikita Kucherov who looked like he walked away with a Best Supporting Actor award as he collapsed to the ice. Remarkably, neither smelling salts were needed nor were the last rites performed on the gifted Lightning forward. Both Drysdale and coach John Tortorella weren’t happy with the call and a make-up call seconds later on Tampa evened things up.

Pinching D

Both Drysdale and Travis Sanheim were giving themselves the green light numerous times in the game. In the third, a Sanheim wraparound nearly tied things up. But the Lightning had their own chance when Brandon Hagel was stoned by Fedotov on a breakaway. The amount of pinching made for a rather entertaining if low-scoring game as both teams seemed to excel on the counter-rush whenever there was a turnover.

The Flyers held their own most of the game, with Sean Couturier having a strong attempt midway through the third that Andrei Vasilevskiy again turned aside. It was continuous action for a chunk of the final frame with both sides tightening up a little bit more.

Konecny not getting much luck

During some four-on-four time in the first, Konecny lost the puck in his skates and Kucherov scored on a breakaway. It wasn’t a miscue that saw the struggling forward benched.

In the second, it looked like Konecny tried to break his drought on his own goalie when, short-handed, Konecny rifled a shot back down to Fedotov who thankfully blocked the pass to kill some more time. Sadly, in the third period, Konecny and Tippett bore down on a two-on-one. It was a prime chance to tie things 1-1 but Konecny at best got his shot tipped or at worst missed way wide. He’s in his own head more than probably any critic or fan is, not a great way to go down the stretch.

Not getting much but not giving up too much

Philadelphia only had two shots in the first 10 minutes but they had a good chance by Olle Lycksell which Vasilevskiy got with top of his stick. Later, Travis Sanheim didn’t get as much wood as he wanted on his attempt but unlike Nick Seeler’s high wrister earlier, it did get on the net. The Flyers didn’t give up a whole lot and were rarely running around in their own end. But with the talent level not great, the effort level has to be at its maximum in order to give Philadelphia a boxer’s chance at two points. With a 14-11 shot advantage halfway through the game, the plan to stick around against a strong team was working as best as it could.

In the second period, on another power play, Michkov looked like he beat the Tampa keeper but the whistle blew before the puck crossed the line. Coincidental minors resulted from the scrum around the Tampa net.

Bad time, bad penalty

The Flyers probably deserved a better fate on this night. With the goalie pulled, Couturier was off balance following a check on Erik Cernak in the Lightning’s end. Couturier’s stick caught Cernak, drawing a double minor with just under two minutes to go. It was almost a given the Flyers would pull Fedotov to at least be at even strength. However, the Flyers botched the play, leading to Jake Guentzel scoring the insurance goal in an empty net.