Flyers Road and 1st-Period Woes Continue Haunting

First Period Problems

Andrei Vasilevskiy

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been the best team in the NHL for quite a stretch. With a 23-2-2 record since December 17th, Andrei Vasilevskiy has led the way with a 19-0-2 record to go along with his remarkable .933% save percentage over the same time frame. In their first matchup against the Flyers, the Lightning barely scraped by with a 1-0 win on what some would call a cheesy goal. Vasilevskiy wasn’t solved in that game, and their second meeting wasn’t much different. Last year’s Vezina Trophy winner was the star of the show again, stopping 30 of 33 shots. which doesn’t sound that crazy, but most were some very high-danger opportunities. Particularly, his save against Robert Hagg in the third period. See the Lightning’s Twitter account’s GIF below.

Flyers Make it a Game

In the third period, while down 4-1 after a snipe by Brayden Point, the Flyers decided it was time to make a comeback. James van Riemsdyk, who now has 8 points on his 5 game point streak, made it 4-2, followed by a third goal by captain Claude Giroux less than a minute later, while the net was empty. In the end, the Flyers comeback would fall short thanks to a Nikita Kucherov tally on the empty net with just 22 seconds remaining. Had the Flyers controlled the play in the first period they way they did for most of the final 40 minutes, they’d have been the first team to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy in regulation in almost three months. Instead, they move back to the loser column, giving a chance to their Metropolitan Division rivals to knock them out of a playoff position once again.

A Different Team Every Period and on the Road

According to hockey-reference.com, the Flyers have played especially poor on the road during the first twenty minutes of games. In opposing arenas, they’ve been outscored 47-26 in the first period, 34-26 in the second, and beaten opponents 32 times to their 28 in the third. At home, however, they’ve outscored opponents in all three periods (by a wider margin in the third), scoring 24-17 in the first, 32-18 in the second, and 41-24 in the third. This all goes along just fine with their remarkably varying 13-15-3 on the road while being 19-5-4 at the Wells Fargo Center. If this team could get it together at opponents’ arenas, they’d be pretty safe in a top divisional playoff spot, instead of fighting for the wildcard.

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