Phanatic Hockey Editor
Take a mental note and frame it, because one moment in an overtime the Philadelphia Flyers simply dominated turned into a second straight loss on the road to begin their best-of-seven series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
This one happened 15 minutes and 15 seconds into the extra session. That blur in the middle of the screen in your mind is Travis Konecny, sprung on a lead pass by Trevor Zegras and behind four defenders. Konecny, the first-line winger, he of the 1 goal on 8 total shots through 8-plus games in the postseason. He’s blowing in on ‘Canes goaltender Freddie Andersen, the game on his stick.
And he not only fails to record a shot on goal, he misses completely because he's shooting prematurely. You can drive yourself nuts with multiple rewinds of the replay. You can even choose to believe what one beat said about inside information from a "source with access to inside data."
Travis Konecny had the game on his stick here. pic.twitter.com/1xRiIiCRMZ
Then, with 66 seconds remaining until the green light to signal the end of a period would have saved the Flyers for the third time in this postseason, Taylor Hall squeaks a rebound through Travis Sanheim’s legs and past Dan Vladar to give the hosts a 3-2 win in Game 2 of this Eastern Conference semifinal and a 2-0 series advantage.
“I should have finished that,” an expressionless Konecny said – but in a low tone and with some urgency – when asked what he could do as a leader to keep his teammates from being demoralized. “It should have been over and we’re going home with a win, but we’re going home to our fans and we know what it’s like there. We’re excited.”
Clearly this is a case of the front-facing leadership putting on a stoic face in the midst of serious adversity. What’s unstated is their faith in the *process* of scoring although the results speak for themselves.
It was the last and most important missed opportunity which dogged the Orange and Black since they tallied twice in a 39-second span early in the contest. After Jamie Drysdale’s power-play strike just over 4 minutes in, seven other opportunities with the advantage, including one in the extra session whose aggression was neutered by a lack of precision, fell by the wayside.
As it turns out, those two early goals essentially bought the visitors the rest of regulation, as Vladar continually worked to erase the imaginary line of Hurricanes’ momentum that crept away from Andersen and ever closer to him for the final 55 minutes, 19 seconds.
The creep began 5 minutes, 40 seconds after Sean Couturier’s even-strength goal, when Nikolaj Ehlers one-timed a shot home on the advantage and cut the hosts’ deficit to 2-1. It caught up to Vladar when Seth Jarvis netted the equalizer with 8:39 to play and it was bona fide clench time from there.
In the interim, Couturier missed a partial breakaway. Porter Martone couldn’t get the handle on a sliding puck within 5 feet of Andersen. Another Sanheim chance in close missed the net.
By the end of regulation, Carolina led in shots on goal, 35 to 21, while doubling up its foes in total shot attempts, 64 to 32. The hosts also won 34 of 58 faceoffs and spent considerably more actual playing time inside the offensive zone than Philadelphia.
In Game 2, the Flyers attempted to flip on its head what the Hurricanes did in Game 1, use a quick burst of scoring to subdue a willing opponent. But it ended up slowly exploding in their faces.
Where the ‘Canes gained strategic and physical strength from their 2-0 advantage in the first period on Saturday, the Flyers’ strength on Monday seemed to be chipped away minute by minute. The only phase of their game visibly unimproved from Saturday’s opener was the penalty kill, which only surrendered the one score, but each chance demonstrated the Hurricanes’ commitment to puck movement and the Flyers’ commitment to moving like monuments.
It didn’t matter the momentum swung in the other direction with the visitors racking up an initial 9-1 shot edge and 15-8 overall during the fourth period. As we all know, in playoff OT, it never matters who has more or the better of play and scoring chances. The one that goes in counts and it belonged to Hall.
Let’s not forget Andersen, who ended the night having stopped the final 33 shots he faced.
“To be down two and just kind of stick to our game and wait for our opportunities and capitalize, that was huge,” Jarvis said. “It speaks a lot to our leaders, to Roddy (head coach Brind’Amour) to keep everyone calm and trust in the process. I’m really proud of how we did that tonight.”
The OT loss on Monday marked the 11th time in franchise history the Flyers dropped the first 2 games on the road in a best-of-seven series. Nine of the previous 10 times, they came up short.
Included in this string of woe was a memorable run to Game 7 of the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals that featured a moral victory in defeat, as well as the record-setting triumph 16 years ago in Boston after rallying from an 0-3 series hole.
This series simply doesn’t feel like either of those. Don’t tell that to Konecny.
“We’ve played in the big one that advanced us here,” Konecny said when asked how their overtime approach on Monday was different from regulation.
And what about the future? “Be confident. We want to make plays with the puck. Back each other up when there’s mistakes and we go from there,” he added.
If you listen to or read team-friendly personages on social media, the set-up is already there.
The Flyers skated with the Hurricanes better this time, but were victimized by bad luck. After all, didn’t they go beyond regulation in all four regular-season meetings? Surely they’ll put it together with better effort and better execution on home ice. Once Owen Tippett’s back he’ll provide the necessary jump. Forget they lost the first three and in the last one, the Flyers needed it way more. This time, it’ll be different.
Carolina’s trust in the process on home ice netted them actual results and an almost iron-clad series edge. Philadelphia’s trust in the process seems to be mired in the theoretical, hidden behind false confidence, and is running out of time.
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