Nikita Kucherov’s surgical performance (2g, 2a) handed the Flyers their worse loss of the season on Saturday night. Let’s wrap:
Hathaway’s First
At the 4:15 mark of the 1st period, the Flyers tied the game on a goal from Garnet Hathaway. The tally was Hathaway’s first of the season and first point. The bottom six forward has struggled mightily to produce this season and while offense has never been his forte, Hathaway is expected to occasionally chip here and there. His physical play has been notable in the last handful of games and continued in this game, especially with his first period fight with Tampa defensemen Declan Carlile.
“A little overdo,” Hathaway said of his goal. “I can’t go back and change anything that’s happened so far. It doesn’t help me to think back and wish I woulda, coulda, shoulda. It’s nice to help the team on the score sheet. We needed more than just that tonight.”
Tampa Bay allows the second fewest goals in the league with 112. They bottled Philadelphia up for the rest of the game and kept their foot on the gas offensively after the Hathaway goal.
Quick Strike Kuch
The Lightning are riding an 9-game winning streak, which is the longest active streak in the NHL this season. This is in large part due to the offensive excellence of Nikita Kucherov. The Flyers felt this firsthand on Saturday. Just 1:49 into the 1st period, Brayden Point won a puck off the far-side boards. The Flyers, who were overloading that side of the ice, lost track of Kucherov and he made no mistake with the puck once Point made the east/west pass across the rink.
Then, at the 6:05 mark, Point and Kucherov teamed up again, slicing through the neutral zone and into Flyers territory. Kucherov would go on to swing to the outside and pick a corner on Sam Ersson for his second goal of the game. Later, he would add two assists in the rout.
“I didn’t mind half the game,” Rick Tocchet said postgame. “Obviously, the third goal hurt us. They hit the weakside a lot and we talked about that. Then, obviously, they have some sharpshooters. Just one of those games.”
Shellacked
By the third period, Tampa Bay would turn the game on its head with four goals in the final frame. Much of that was laid at the feet of Sam Ersson, who made just 16 saves on 23 shots for an ugly .696 save percentage in the loss.
“We got to be better in front of him,” Owen Tippett said. “Those are tough games to play. Obviously, he deserves better and I don’t know if the sarcastic cheers is really appreciated but we got to do a better job in front of him.”
Sean Couturier echoed similar sentiments regarding Ersson’s performance, defending his goaltender from taking all the heat for this game.
“I mean, if you look at the goals, we gave up some quality chances,” Couturier said. “That’s not all on him. It’s on us to be better in front of him and support him. Limiting quality chances, that’s on us.”
They Said It
Rick Tocchet on Ersson’s game right now: “You’re going to have tough nights. If you’re going to have an NHL career, sometimes you’re going to be in the mud and you got to get yourself out of it. You got to work harder. Not just him, but anyone when you’re having a tough night or a tough couple of weeks.”
Garnet Hathaway on preparing for Monday against the Lightning: “We’re going to have to watch a lot of tape, I think. Talk about it. I thought we had a good gameplan coming in, I thought we executed some points of the game. It’s nice that we play them in two nights, but that’s the league too.”
Did You Know?
According to NHL stats, Nikita Kucherov became the third active player with multiple points in eight straight games. The others are Steven Stamkos (9 GP in 2021-22) and Connor McDavid (8 GP in 2018-19).
On Deck
The Flyers cap off a four game homestand with another matchup Tampa Bay on Monday night. Puckdrop is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast locally on NBCSP.
