PHILADELPHIA, Pa- Falling to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night in 1-0 shutout, the Philadelphia Flyers had a quick turnaround Thursday night as they hosted the Vancouver Canucks.
Meeting for the first time this season, the Flyers will face the Canucks once again on March 17th in Vancouver.
Starting in between the pipes for the Flyers, Ray Emery made his return after Rob Zepp took the last two starts. On the opposite end of the ice, Ryan Miller stood for the Canucks.
Dropping the gloves just 3:41 into the period, Wayne Simmonds and Kevin Bieska set the tone for the first period.
Rushing into the Flyers zone, Nick Bonino sent the puck past Ray Emery for the early lead.
Getting the first power play of the game, the orange and black went to work. With poor power play efforts, the Canucks gained control of the puck but were unsuccessful in scoring.
Sending Vancouver on the man advantage, Carlo Colaiacovo took a seat in the penalty box. Just 21 seconds into the power play, Canucks Captain Henrik Sedin lit the lamp for Vancouver increasing the lead 2-0.
With another chance on the power play as the clock clicked down to zero, the Flyers were unable to control the puck, ending the period with 2-0 lead for the Canucks.
Back on the ice for the second period, Canucks found themselves on an early power play opportunity with Zac Rinaldo in the box for high sticking.
Netting in the power play goal, Nick Bonino increased the lead 3-0. With the goal under review due to the puck hitting the cross bar, a good goal stood.
Following the goal by Bonino, Zepp replaced Emery in net for the Flyers.
Just over 30 seconds later, Jannik Hansen slipped the puck past Zepp to further the score 4-0.
Guilty of holding his hand on the puck, Bonino took a seat in the penalty box. Just 7 seconds later, Michael Del Zotto found his way to the box for elbowing. With 11 seconds of 4 on 4 hockey, Vancouver committed another penalty, giving the Flyers a 4 on 3 man advantage.
Unable to produce the game remained, 4-0.
With less than two minutes to play in the second period, Sean Couturier was guilty of tripping, allowing the Canucks another chance to capitalize. At the end of 40 minutes, Canucks held onto the 4-0 lead.
Skating on the ice for the third period, the Canucks had power play time remaining.
As power play time conclude, Couturier had a break away chance. Unable to control the puck, Couturier did not score.
In frustration, Rinaldo found himself exiting the ice with 5 minutes left in the period after receiving a 10 minute misconduct.
As the horn sounded, fans of the Wells Fargo Center booed the home team as they fell to the Vancouver Canucks 4-0.
“We’re gripping the sticks too hard and it kinda paralyzed us out there,” said Mark Streit describing the booing reactions from fans. “I know these moments are tough but you can’t stop playing. You got to stick with the program. Play the system. Eventually, you will get a bounce.” He continued, “We have passionate hockey fans. You sit in the stands and watch a game. They have the right to boo. I don’t blame them.”
After making his appearance in the second period, Zepp discussed his effort in net, “We got deflated after that first goal,” he said. “Vancouver is a great team and we weren’t able to recover from it.” He continued, “You go in there and try to calm things down a bit and there’s a breakaway. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make a save. You have to shrug it off.”
The injury bug officially hit the Philadelphia Flyers team over the last week. Braydon Coburn is expected to miss four weeks with a fracture to the foot and Nicklas Grossmann is out of the lineup for three weeks with an upper-body injury. The loss of two defenseman, the orange and black inserted Colaiacovo back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last 26 consecutive games.
But the injuries do not stop there.
On Wednesday night Flyers lost forward, Scott Laughton to a concussion after taking a hit late in the third period. Laughton is currently day-to-day and did not play against the Canucks.
Making an announcement earlier this week, Matt Read reviled his struggle with an ankle sprain that occurred in November.
Losing one of the biggest pieces of the Philadelphia Flyers team, the Flyers squad will be without starting goaltender, Steve Mason for another two weeks.
As the weekend approaches the struggling Flyers are set to hit the road for a two game road trip beginning in Buffalo on Saturday. Thursday night, the Buffalo Sabres dropped to the Minnesota Wild in a 7-0 loss.
Before returning home on Tuesday, the Flyers will make a pit stop in Long Island to face off against the New York Islanders.
Puck drop between the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers is set for 7 p.m.
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