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Takeaways: Barkey’s brilliance blown as Flyers choke to Blueshirts 5-4 in shootout

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The Flyers negated a strong 40 minutes and an even stronger debut by Denver Barkey with what essentially was a choke job, losing to the host New York Rangers 5-4 in a shootout and blowing a two-goal lead in the third.

The basics

First period: 19:24 – Artemi Panarin (Mika Zibanejad)
Second period: 6:42 – Travis Sanheim (Denver Barkey, Owen Tippett) (PPG) , 7:05 – Owen Tippett (Denver Barkey, Cam York), 10:18 – Trevor Zegras (Jamie Drysdale, Noah Cates) (PPG), 12:23 – Artemi Panarin (Unassisted), 14:36 – Rodrigo Abols (Travis Sanheim) (SHG)
Third period: 9:13 – Vincent Trocheck (JT Miller, Gabriel Perreault), 17:27 – Mika Zibanejad (Scott Morrow, Will Cuylle) (PPG)
Overtime: No scoring.
Shootout: Artemi Panarin – Goal, Trevor Zegras – No goal, Vincent Trocheck – Goal, Travis Konecny – No goal
SOG: 32 (PHI) – 27 (NYR)

Some takeaways

Line juggling galore

With news about an hour before gametime that Christian Dvorak wouldn’t be playing, the Flyers obviously did some line juggling with some combinations. Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny, who were both wingers on the line with Dvorak, found themselves together. It’s just that Zegras was down the middle with Carl Grundstrom promoted to the team’s proverbial top line. Meanwhile, Denver Barkey, making his National Hockey League debut, was on the wing with Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett. The only constant with the Noah Cates line while the bottom trio saw Garnet Hathaway as a healthy scratch for the first time all season.

While the fourth line didn’t do a lot in the first two periods, the combination of Nikita Grebenkin, Rodrigo Abols, and Nic Deslauriers were the only three Philadelphia forwards whose Corsi For percentage were over 51 per cent through 40 minutes. Grebenkin was at 80 percent while Abols and Deslauriers were 60 and 55.56, respectively. Yes, it was kind of a weird one.

Sam still not the man

Sam Ersson might be called on to do a bit more heavy lifting this week with word that Dan Vladar is dealing with an injury. Ersson wasn’t tested a lot in the first, with just five shots halfway through the first. However, he wasn’t exactly swallowing the puck up, allowing some rather juicy rebounds that the Flyers were fortunate to get to first. He was also lucky on a gaffe that saw Rangers center Sam Carrick take the puck away from the goalie and throw it in front. But enforcer Matt Rempe couldn’t connect.

Sadly, a ridiculous defensive miscue between Deslauriers and Grundstrom left Rangers star (and somebody you might wish to cover) Artemi Panarin essentially alone who made no mistake and beat Ersson low on the stick side to open the scoring late in the first. It also seemingly marked the 50th time the Flyers gave up the first goal in 34 games.

It might have been enough to make Ersson bend, yet he didn’t break. Early in the second he had a good stop on a Will Cuylle attempt. And after the Flyers scored twice in 23 seconds, Ersson didn’t allow a quick game-tying goal on the next Rangers chance. That changed a little when Tippett gift-wrapped a neutral zone pass to Panarin who beat Ersson high on the stick side. It might have been a good shot, but the optics suggested Ersson should’ve had it.

Perhaps the biggest save Ersson made was in the dying seconds of the second when Scott Morrow was stoned by the goalie in close. Unfortunately, another huge rebound Ersson created in the third saw Vincent Trocheck put it in (deflecting it off Grebenkin’s skate) between his legs to cut the deficit to one.

Unable to come up with a big save late in the game to seal the victory, Ersson allowed two goals on two shootout opportunities while Zegras and Konecny came up short. As has been the norm, Ersson finished with 23 saves on 27 shots for another rather hideous .852 save percentage.

Letting sleeping dogs lie

While not much was made of it, Matvei Michkov’s run in with the Sabres goalie Thursday night might have woke Buffalo up the rest of the way. The game changed after that and the Flyers left with a loss. On this day, the Flyers held a 3-1 lead midway through the second and had a shot differential that almost mirrored the Sabres total around the same time in the game. Unfortunately, after Panarin’s second goal, Deslauriers nailed Brendan Othmann. Othmann took exception and attacked Deslauriers’ fists with his jaw repeatedly.

It could have been a momentum swing towards the Rangers. The Flyers responded in a big way scoring their first short-handed goal of the year. But, in the end, it was in vain.

Barkey’s beautiful beginning

Denver Barkey got his nerves settled right off the bat, skating on the starting line along with Couturier and Tippett. Unfortunately, the next few shifts saw Philadelphia on their heels as New York had a few chances. The Flyers had a great opportunity early when Nikita Grebenkin tried to deke Rangers’ goalie Igor Shesterkin but was foiled. That was equaled seconds later when the Flyers got into the dirty area and Shesterkin came up huge again, this time on Barkey who received the pass from Tippett.

The winger looked like he belonged on both sides of the puck, extremely responsible in his own end while seemingly fine at the other end. He never looked to be doing too much or panicking in the defensive zone, just showing a level of maturity that should bring a smile to Flyers fans and the front office for the future. As if that wasn’t enough, Barkey earned his first point in his career on a great pass to Travis Sanheim. Barkey took the puck away from New York’s Noah Laba and got the puck to Sanheim who beat Shesterkin for a power play, game-tying goal.

Twenty-three seconds later, Philadelphia struck again. This time Barkey again fed Owen Tippett with a nice pass who put the Flyers on top 2-1.

While having a multi-point period, the youngster also drew a penalty on Panarin who slashed Barkey, resulting in a Flyers power play. Barkey wasn’t on the ice for this one, but the Flyers scored again with a man up. Zegras shot a bullet beyond the Rangers keep to give the Flyers a nifty 3-1 lead.

Over 40 minutes, Barkey had a 60.54 share of the expected goals in just over nine minutes of play in all situations. Not a bad debut for the young’un! He also nearly had his first goal of his career in the third but was stopped before he slid into the end boards. And he set up Rasmus Ristolainen not once but twice on one shift in the third with gorgeous saucer passes.

Special teams have a weird one

Philadelphia took the opening penalty, this time a minor against Grundstrom. The Flyers attacked the Rangers throughout the penalty kill, allowing just one very good chance over the two minutes. Grundstrom, who left the box, delivered a good hit on defenseman Will Borgen, knocking him flat on his back.

The Flyers first power play was in the second after the Rangers lost their collective brain cells, thinking liberties were taken against them. After establishing some possession time, the Flyers didn’t capitalize. However, on the other side of the puck, Philadelphia scored their first short-handed goal of the season with Rodrigo Abols took a pass from Sanheim to give the Flyers a two-goal lead.

Philadelphia needed a kill with three minutes to go. Ristolainen took a delay of game minor. And with the win on the line, Zibanejad blew a shot by Errson to tie the game late. A two-goal lead blown against a team struggling to score at home is a huge missed opportunity for what should’ve been a regulation win.

To throw salt in the wound, the Flyers had not one but two power play chances in the overtime. Neither time they got the game-winner. One notable change was seeing Couturier, after he won the faceoff, head to the bench to bring Michkov on. It’s something the Flyers should’ve done much earlier in the season but better late than never.

TK has generally a great game

Travis Konency can drive a person crazy. On this afternoon he was good. Very good. From killing the Grundstrom penalty on one of the two units to battling hard on a shift late in the opening frame, Konecny was looking like he feisty, fiery best. Konecny’s best chance was early in period two when Emil Andrae tried to deliver a sweet pass that he wasn’t able to steer into the net. And although he didn’t show up on the scoresheet. Konecny definitely put in an honest effort on this afternoon.

Sanheim avoids injury

Travis Sanheim took a puck high in the face halfway in the third and had to leave for the locker room. It looked like he was cut but hopefully didn’t seem anything major. The Flyers had to go with five defenseman for a bit which wasn’t great considering how vital Sanheim is to munching minutes. Fortunately Sanheim returned and had a shift in overtime as well.

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