Flyers Fall To Pittsburgh Penguins

By Louis Cocco

Photo By Louis Cocco

The Philadelphia Flyers fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 at home last night, in their second of four contests versus their cross-state rival. During the first meeting of the two teams, the Flyers bested the Penguins in a shootout. The season series is now tied 1-1.

The Flyers came out of the gate relatively flat on Monday night. The team only got eight shots on net in the first period. Granted, the Penguins weren’t on fire either in the first, but they seemed to control the game. The second period is where the gap widened. 

The story was the Flyers' inability to capitalize on the power play. In the second period, the Penguins had four penalties called against them, twice sending them down two men. 

The Flyers’ power play units were not firing, as they were able to capitalize only once on those man advantages, when Tyson Foerster scored the lone goal of the game. 

Subsequently, Foerster left the game with an upper-body injury, which looked as if it was a re-injury of the arm that he spent a long time in the off-season recovering from (surgery and an elbow infection). Post-game, Rick Tocchet did not have an update on Foerster. 

On the flip side, the Penguins were able to capitalize three times on their four power plays in the rest of the game, taking advantage of the Flyers' defensive breakdowns.

Dan Vladar didn’t have the most stellar game, posting an .815 save percentage, his third worst of the season. However, the blame cannot be all on the goaltender: Vladar made some big saves. The Flyers did not help Vladar on either end, finishing with 20 giveaways on the night. By the end of the game, it felt like the Penguins were smothering the Flyers. 

The Flyers looked tired. Playing five games in eight days and coming off a four-game road trip around the East is not easy, but “you have to win tired,” as Head Coach Rick Tocchet said post-game. 

He spoke about how playing through fatigue is crucial.

“That’s where you really gotta dig in, stick to the game plan,” Tocchet said. 

Following the game, Travis Konecny emphasized that message, saying that there “always seems to be something” when you return from a big road trip. 

The Flyers are back at it on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabers to kick off a five-game homestand, where they will also face Colorado, San Jose, Vegas, and Carolina during that stretch.