Flyers goaltender Carter Hart came out to play from the opening face-off in only the second game of this two-week-old season for Philadelphia. The Flyers outshot the Kraken 16–8 and put a three spot on the board before the road-weary visitors knew what hit them. The Kraken did have their chances from Joonas Donskoi, Ryan Donato and Jordan Eberle, however, Hart was able to hold them off long enough for the Flyers to get their offense rolling.

And rolling they went.

Goals by Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny and Derick Brassard in a five-minute span ended up being more than enough to send Dave Hakstol’s team out of Philly with a convincing loss against his former team. There were still 40-plus minutes remaining, but the results were not much better.

Flyers defensemen Ryan Ellis and Justin Braun jumped into the scoring, with goals just over a minute apart in the second period, to give the home team a commanding 5–0 lead before the Kraken showed any signs of life. Unfortunately for Philipp Grubauer, Braun’s goal chased the Seattle starter from the game, as Chris Driedger entered the chat and tried to control the bleeding.

The change in personnel helped, if only for a short time. Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy picked up his own rebound after a long shot from the blue line and beat Hart to spoil the shutout. Soucy became the first defenseman to score a goal for the franchise on the play.

That was where the Kraken’s good fortune ended.

The third period was a mere formality, but it turned into a yard sale with forward Nathan Bastian ringing up penalty minutes like a lunch order at Dalessandro’s.

The Flyers added a third-period goal from 21-year-old Joel Farabee to put the cherry on top of the win for Hart and company. Driedger ended the night with some positive numbers, stopping six of seven shots, with a couple more shots drawing iron.

Anchor points

Just looking at the final score does not fully tell the story of this game. The Kraken were in control early on, but Hart was sensational. Once Giroux opened the scoring, the game seemed to fall apart. Seattle actually led the final two periods in shots 16–11, but the damage was already done. The third goal was the backbreaker, going off Soucy’s skate and past Grubauer.

Bastian had 27 minutes in penalties (minor, fighting and two misconducts), while the entire Seattle team only had 19 penalty minutes in its first three games.

Captain Mark Giordano had a rough night with a -3 rating, but he was battling.

As you might imagine, possession numbers looked pretty paltry for the Kraken. They were out-chanced 58% to 42% (5-on-5 Corsi). Seattle actually played pretty well in the second and third periods, though. They racked up a 53% Corsi in those final periods.

The Kraken are back in action tonight against the New Jersey Devils. The puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. PDT.

The post RECAP: Kraken humbled in loss to Flyers appeared first on The Rink.

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews started on the same line for this match-up, with Carl Dahlstrom slotting into Slater Koekkoek’s spot in the lineup being the only body to switch out. Corey Crawford got the start in goal, with Cam Ward still taking on the backup role.

Patrick Kane – Jonathan Toews – Dylan Sikura
Dylan Strome – Brendan Perlini – Alex DeBrincat
Dominik Kahun – Artem Anisimov – Brandon Saad
David Kampf – Marcus Kruger – Chris Kunitz

Erik Gustafsson – Duncan Keith
Gustav Forsling – Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom – Connor Murphy

Corey Crawford

First Period
The Blackhawks came on strong in the first four minutes of the game, peppering Carter Hart with a bunch of quality chances. Brandon Saad had the best one of the bunch, taking the puck in the corner, with a great individual effort to get through multiple defenders and get a shot off that ultimately missed the net. Travis Konecny had the best opportunity for the Flyers at around the 5:35 mark of the period, putting the puck past Crawford but ultimately drawing iron.

Gustav Forsling was called for a hold at the 7:15 mark of the period, giving the Flyers the first power play of the game. Crawford made a great stop, which led to a David Kampf clear. The start of the penalty kill made it look as though they were the ones on the powerplay for much of the first minute, with Saad, Kampf, and Marcus Kruger exchanging shots on Hart. The last minute had the Flyers coming fast and furious, with Crawford having to come up big with a couple huge saves.

At the 10:39 mark of the period, Scott Laughton made a turnover right to Patrick Kane, who skated around with the puck. He went out to the point, passing the puck around before it came to Erik Gustafsson, who shot and scored, giving the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.

A Goal for a Gus #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/6FUgKZZorO

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 22, 2019

The Flyers put on a passing clinic with just under seven minutes to go, getting off plenty of good chances on Corey Crawford, who stopped all of their shots. Sean Couturier flipped the puck out of the Flyers’ zone to Justin Bailey, who got a breakaway in on Crawford that was steered aside, as was the rebound.

Just half a minute later, the Blackhawks failed to put pressure on the incoming Flyers, leaving Corban Knight wide open in the middle of the ice as he came from the bench to snap it past Crawford, tying the score at 1-1, where the period would end.

Second Period
Just :59 into the period, the Blackhawks got their first power play chance of the game, as Shane Gostisbehere was called for a hook in front of the net. The Hawks didn’t generate a ton of chances, and mostly ended up passing the puck from their own zone, and the time that they did spend in the offensive zone was mostly passing the puck around.

Both teams tightened things up considerably in this period, not allowing many shots on their goaltenders, and mostly keeping one another at bay. The Blackhawks’ first really good chance of the period came when Dylan Sikura missed a rebound off a Jonathan Toews chance.

Gustav Forsling stopped a Konecny chance by stripping him of the puck after he got it inside in front of Crawford, stopping a breakaway opportunity from happening, and stopping another Flyers opportunity after that as well with a good stick. The second period ended the same way that it started, with a 1-1 tie.

Third Period
The period generally started the same way the second period did, with both teams generating chances against the opposing goaltender, but coming up short. Dylan Strome had the first good shot on goal of the period less than three minutes in, getting in a wrister that passed Carter Hart, but drew iron, keeping the score knotted up.

The Flyers’ Myers rang the puck off of the post at the 7:01 mark of the period, marking the first great chance for the Flyers. The Flyers’ Radko Gudas and the Blackhawks’ Chris Kunitz got into a skirmish in front of Hart after some good Blackhawks chances, but no penalties came of the play for either side.

With some traffic in front, James van Riemsdyk put on the brakes and lifted a backhand shot from forty feet out, putting the puck past a screened Crawford to give the Flyers their first lead of the game, 2-1 Philadelphia.

JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK GIVES THE FLYERS THE LEAD!#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/5lubxEYSHE

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 22, 2019

Ryan Hartman held Gustav Forsling at the 11:08 mark of the period as both teams were battling for the puck in the Blackhawks’ defensive zone, giving the Blackhawks another powerplay in the game. They didn’t end up generating many chances at all, with the Flyers’ defense stifling what few ones were generated.

The Flyers had another really good chance to score, but Ryan Hartman missed the opportunity as the puck eluded him. The Blackhawks pulled Crawford with over two minutes left in the game, hoping to come back and tie the game up at 2. Couturier managed to push past the Blackhawks and score an empty-net goal, giving the Flyers the 3-1 lead. Even with a flurry of chances, the Blackhawks weren’t able to tie the game up, and the Flyers left the United Center with a win.

The Blackhawks play a home and home series versus the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s game is at Colorado, with puck drop at 2 pm CT.

The post RECAP: Blackhawks Let Two Points Fly Away appeared first on The Rink.

7:30pm CST
United Center
TV/Radio: WGN

PROJECTED STARTERS

Chicago – Corey Crawford (12–15–3, SV%: .907, GAA: 3.06)
Philadelphia – Carter Hart (14–10–1, SV%: .919, GAA: 2.73)

TEAM STATISTICS

Power Play
Chicago (20.8%, 12th)
Philadelphia (16.7%, 23rd)

Penalty Kill
Chicago (73.1%, 31st)
Philadelphia (78.6%, 25th)

Shorts for/against
Chicago (32.4, 12th; 35.1, 30th)
Philadelphia (31.5, 18th; 32.4, T21st)

Shooting %
Chicago (10.3%, 7th)
Philadelphia (9.6%, 12th)

Faceoff %
Chicago (49.3%, T21st)
Philadelphia (54.9%, 1st)

Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 195lbs
Philadelphia 6’1” 197lbs

PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS

Chicago Blackhawks

Dylan Sikura–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane

Alex DeBrincat–Dylan Strome–Brendan Perlini

Brandon Saad–Artem Anisimov–Dominik Kahun

Chris Kunitz–David Kampf–Marcus Kruger

Duncan Keith–Erik Gustafsson

Gustav Forsling–Brent Seabrook

Slater Koekkoek–Connor Murphy

Philadelphia Flyers

Oskar Lindblom–Sean Couturier–Jakub Voracek

James Van Riemsdyk–Nolan Patrick–Claude Giroux

Michael Raffl–Scott Laughton–Travis Konecny

Phil Varone–Corban Knight–Ryan Hartman

Ivan Provorov–Travis Sanheim

Andrew MacDonald–Shayne Gostisbehere

Robert Hagg–Radko Gudas

Analysis

After dropping a heart-breaker against the Canucks on Monday, the Blackhawks return to game action on home ice against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. The Blackhawks left a big point on the table against the Canucks and there’s little doubt the players are feeling the regret of not capturing that second point.

The Canucks presented the perfect “trap game” scenario for the Blackhawks who, on paper, are clearly the better team. However, despite playing the night before, the Canucks came out as the better team for most of the game.

The Blackhawks currently sit four points back of the Coyotes for the final wild card spot. There is no doubt that Thursday’s game is important, especially with the two games this weekend on the horizon against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Philadelphia Flyers are in a similar position to the Blackhawks. The Flyers are six points out of the final wild card spot in the East and, despite being sellers at the deadline, have continued to play well enough to remain in the hunt.

A pleasant surprise for the Flyers has been young goaltender Carter Hart. The 20-year old goalie has given stability to the Flyers’ goaltending situation, after the team set the record for most goalies used in a season with eight.

The Flyers have just as much to play for as the Blackhawks do. There is no doubt the Flyers and former Blackhawks forward Ryan Hartman will come out “guns-a-blazing” on Thursday. It’s up to the Blackhawks to play the way they did in the final ten minutes of regulation against Vancouver in order to win these meaningful games down the stretch in hopes of making the playoffs.

Comment below in our live game thread tonight!

And look for the internet’s most robust recap of the game tomorrow morning on the-rink.com.

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