Flyers drop heartbreaker to Sharks

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – In a rare meeting between the Sharks and Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center, the two teams made every second memorable.   Puck possession, faceoffs, late game penalties, and disallowed goals (one as the horn sounded) all factored in as the visitors walked away with a 5-4 shootout win.
After two marginal wins against division rivals who sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Flyers needed to come out with plenty of jump against the San Jose Sharks.   They did just that in the first period by activating their defensemen offensively, throwing 16 hits, and firing 7 shots at Sharks goaltender, Antero Niitymaki, formerly of the Flyers, in the first 10:00.
They would finish the first with 9 shots from eight different players including three defensemen.
After two periods, the Flyers looked to be in the driver’s seat.   They had outshot the Sharks 23-15, led in hits 23-16, and after a Scott Hartnell goal at 6:15 of the third they held a commanding three goal lead.
The only spot on the ice the Sharks had a hold of was the faceoff circle, where they had won 61% of the draws on the night—Joe Thornton and Scott Nichol led with 75%.   In particular, they were winning clean draws in front of Flyers rookie goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky.
With five seconds left in the first period Jeff Carter fumbled a defensive zone draw against Thornton which allowed the Sharks defense to open the scoring off of a deflection from Ryan Clowe.
In the third period, the Flyers were never able to close the door.   They allowed San Jose to gain momentum, and penalties mounted.   A cross-checking call at 8:43 sent Carter to the box, and eight seconds after it ended, rookie Logan Couture stuffed the puck in the short side on Bobrovsky.   The goal cut the lead to one.
“We’ve got to stay out of the box,” Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger said. “We’ve got to keep skating. We had full control of the game. We were dominating every aspect. We got lackadaisical and started letting them, started playing a little river hockey, and they’ve got players that can put the puck in the net.”
At 11:26, Danny Briere headed to the box, and off the very first faceoff, Joe Pavelski pounded in the game tying goal.
“If you can’t hold a 4-1 lead with 13 minutes to go, the rest is, well, it doesn’t matter,” said Pronger.
Less than two minutes later, Briere would return to the box for a four minute high-sticking penalty, that the Flyers were lucky to kill off.   The 33-year-old centerman now ranks second on the Flyers with 51 PIM, just behind linemate Hartnell with 76.
“It’s always upsetting when you blow a 4-1 lead,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It doesn’t happen very often but when it does, it stings. We blew the 4-1 lead because of the penalties.”
In overtime, the Flyers again dominated play.   With the final second ticking off the clock, Mike Richards fired a shot that deflected off of, San Jose winger, Danny Heatley’s skate and in.   The referees however, declared it no goal, as it crossed the line a split second after time had run out.   The Sharks would go on to win in the shootout.   They are now 1-3 in the format.
“Like I said, we’re going to look back at this and it is going to sting because we kicked up a 4-1 lead,” Laviolette said.
Although an early 12 game winning streak has put the Flyers in a good position in the Eastern Conference, they’ll need to improve their play if they want to compete against the better teams.   They’ll get a chance to do just that against their division rivals the NYRangers this Saturday and then the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins at home on Tuesday.
Contact Chuck.Tay@prohockeynews.com Photographer Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com