Takeaways: Flyers can’t beat Andrei Vasilevskiy, get shut out for first time this season

After a pretty exciting week, the Flyers went to Tampa and left without a goal. Brandon Hagel was the star of the game with two goals and an assist, while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 20 shots fired his direction. A sluggish start lingered well beyond the first period, with the Flyers never really finding their offensive game. In the end, the Flyers left Tampa Bay with a 3-0 loss.

The basics

First period: 15:34 – Brandon Hagel (Emil Lilleberg, Nikita Kucherov)
Second period: 16:00 – Anthony Cirelli (Hagel, Kucherov)
Third period: 19:45 – Brandon Hagel (Kucherov, Cirelli) (EN)
SOG: 20 (PHI) – 18 (TBL)

Takeaways

Dlo does what Dlo does

It was hardly surprising to see Nic Deslauriers drop the gloves in the opening frame, this time taking on a big opponent. Literally. Deslauriers found a more than willing combatant in Curtis Douglas, the Lightning’s 6-foot-9 face-punching winger. Despite the height difference, Deslauriers got the best of Douglas, eventually getting the takedown. Deslauriers certainly isn’t one to shy away from a fight against a bigger guy, as we’ve previously seen him take on the likes of Matt Rempe and Logan Stanley, and he’ll usually come away with the decision.

While there may have been some thought that this would wake the Flyers up, it did not. The Lightning continued to get the better of the Flyers through the remainder of the period, with Hagel getting the first and only goal of the period. Speaking of the first period …

Another slow start

In a now-familiar theme, the Flyers came out flat once again, with just four shots on goal through the first twenty minutes. This is a concerning trend, one that absolutely needs to be fixed if the Flyers want to stay in the playoff picture.

The first period shot total isn’t completely fair to them — they were credited with generating seven scoring chances — but they have to get more of these chances on net. It’s been a problem for them from the start, and while they’ve manufactured a number of comeback wins, constantly playing from behind isn’t a recipe for long-term success.

Checking in on the Andrae-Drysdale pair

The Flyers have a new, exciting pair on the blue line in Emil Andrae and Jamie Drysdale. Since being put together two games ago, they’ve shown a lot of promise and have both elevated their games even further. Unfortunately, that positive momentum came to a halt tonight. The two were on the ice for Tampa Bay’s first two goals, with Andrae in particular looking outmatched on both.

Hagel first danced his way through the Flyers’ neutral zone set-up, maneuvering around check attempts, before getting the puck to Kucherov along the boards and finding his way to the front of the net. There was enough forward help for Andrae to force a dump-in here, however he plays the entry very passively and essentially concedes the space to Hagel. It is then Andrae who is defending Hagel in front of the net, who gets the goal.

It was a tough look for Andrae, who had been playing some great hockey lately. Late in the second period, the Andrae and Drysdale pair had a strong offensive zone shift along with the Sean Couturier line, and looked threatening, but the Lightning were able jump on the counterattack and turned a positive shift into a disaster.

Not much needs to be said here: that’s a hard watch. It’s a tough spot, a 3-on-2 that was looking like a 4-on-2 from the neutral zone, but Andrae’s decision to hit the ice that early made it way too easy for Hagel. Despite the diving effort from Drysdale, Cirelli was able to double the Lightning’s lead with an easy tap-in.

The numbers weren’t any prettier. Shot attempts were positive for the pair, but shot quality and chances were heavily in the Lightning’s favor. With Andrae and Drysdale on the ice at five-on-five, the Lightning owned over 76 percent of the expected goal share, and scored both of their non-empty net goals. The two must be better, and will have their hands full with an tough opponent in the Florida Panthers up next.

Of course, these rush chances aren’t all on the defense. If a team is giving up a ton of odd-man rushes, as the Flyers were, it’s more on the forwards to adjust and be more responsible defensively. While they were the line burned on the second goal, it wasn’t a problem just for the Sean Couturier, Matvei Michkov, and Bobby Brink line. It was a problem that was present throughout all of the forward lines tonight.

Rolling all four lines

Recently the Flyers had been rolling all four forward lines, and with an extremely busy week ahead of them, it would have made sense for that to continue. Interestingly, the fourth line barely saw the ice in the third period. Down 2-0, it makes complete sense, but given previous usage, it might signal that Rick Tocchet really did not like what he saw from the line tonight — and for good reason.

The line of Deslauriers, Rodrigo Abols, and Garnet Hathaway finished with a corsi-for percentage below 20 percent, and generated little to no offense at all. We’re not looking for the fourth line to put up a ton of points, but they can’t lose their minutes this badly. With Nikita Grebenkin still hanging around out of the lineup, it’s time to make a change. With three more games this week, it would be understandable to want to give the fourth line a bit more ice time than they did tonight, but their play really did not warrant more than the one shift they had in the third.

Ersson was fine

Last, while this wasn’t some great showing from Sam Ersson, who did once again finish a game with a save percentage below .900, this one really wasn’t his fault. The first goal was deflected, with a heavy screen in front, and while a huge desperation save would’ve been great, it’s hard to blame him for the Cirelli goal. It’s been a tough start to the season for the Flyers’ goaltender, with an .850 save percentage in seven games played. The numbers weren’t good in this one, but Ersson wasn’t an issue in this one. Hopefully Ersson can build off of a solid enough individual performance moving forward.

All data via Natural Stat Trick

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