PHILADELPHIA — Although they spent much time early in the game looking very much like the Flyers of last spring’s freefall, this latest version of trying Flyers actually staged an impressive comeback Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.
Having fallen behind because the now 7-12-2 Blackhawks got two goals out of their fourth line against a defensively shaky home team, the Flyers shrugged that off and put on an exhibition of redemption.
First Noah Cates, the former 38-point checking line center of two years ago, finally scored his first goal of the season, looping a wrist shot from the top of the slot past sharp goalie Petr Mrazek. It seemed to open a floodgate, as not long afterward a similarly statistically cold Sean Couturier tipped home a shot for his first goal in five games.
The tie carried into overtime, where, gifted with a power play, Couturier laid a perfect pick on a lonely Chicago defender while Travis Konecky skillfully placed a pass to Matvei Michkov, and the Russian rookie lifted the puck home for a 3-2 win.
Redemption for a couple of veteran players, and for a club that simply can’t seem to consistently perform at a level of which it should be capable of playing, at least more than occasionally.
“We’re just trying to play consistently in the right way every day,” Cates said. “It hasn’t been going in for me up until today. It doesn’t change anything but having some confidence and seeing one go in is nice.”
As for the way his club had let an offensively short Blackhawks team cash in twice off its fourth line, including a goal and assist by long-ago Philly prospect Pat Maroon, Cates added, “It was getting a little stagnant. We were getting our chances but nothing was going in.”
But then Wizard of Razz coach John Tortorella changed up a couple of line pairs, and voila, the third period was all Flyers. And yet, Tortorella would say later, “I don’t think we played poorly by any means, (even) when we went down 2-0. We had chances we could finish.”
Well, yeah, but they didn’t, and isn’t that the point?
Like there was a 2-on-no-one-but-the-goalie breakaway for the Flyers, and Scott Laughton could do nothing but shoot into Mrazek’s padded body.
Then came a 4-on-2 Flyer fast break, which really wasn’t fast at all. That resulted in a turnover, and back went the Blackhawks to score the first goal, by Lukas Reichel.
And there was Flyers goalie Alexei Kolosov, who on a couple of early and easy Chicago shots, amazingly gave up a rebound right back into the scoring slot — and somehow didn’t get scored upon — then was clearly beaten on a shot that somehow rung off the post and bounced away.
Luck has something to do with redemption, too.
Kolosov, playing because Sam Ersson is on the injury shelf and Ivan Fedotov gave up four goals to Carolina the other night, then doubled down on his misfortunes by completely botching the shot that became Maroon’s goal.
But after that, he seemed to shrug off what had taken place and settled down.
But this game primarily turned around in the third because Couturier plotted that course.
So-so himself of late, he was in the right place at the right time to lift that game-tying goal home. In overtime, he helped shut down Chicago’s 3-on-3 early efforts.
Then when gifted with the power play, Couturier set a perfect pick that enabled Michkov to score off a great Konecny pass.
“Not many moments are you going to get (that),” Michkov said through a translator. “When you get that moment, you have to be cold blooded and really efficient.”
You will see a lot of that in the future, and Couturier wants to be around long enough to see it himself.
“We’ve seen his offensive side of the game since Day 1 of camp,” Couturier said of the rookie. “I think he’s still learning the defensive side of the game. He’s learning and improving every day. He wants to get better and it’s nice to see him grow as a player. I’m sure it’s just the beginning.”
As for the well-planned winning goal, he added, “When it’s 4 on 3 there’s a lot of time and space to make plays, set plays up, have a plan. The guys just executed well.”
The guys don’t always execute well, no matter what Flyers line is on the ice. The defense, which finally returned Cam York and Emil Andrae from injuries, has a long way to go.
And everyone is wondering how long it’ll be before Ersson can go again, because he’s desperately needed. But as management keeps saying, this will be a long rebuild and it’s not near done. At least a comeback or two along the way should help keep people interested.
Contact Rob Parent at [email protected]
