Dud of a delay of game call saps power play

PHILADELPHIA » Not that the Flyers have been anything close to power-play stylists in recent weeks, but they were denied a valuable man-advantage opportunity in an unusual way late in a 5-2 loss Saturday to the Boston Bruins.

Down, 4-2, with 8:06 to play, the Flyers were ready to enjoy a power play after Brandon Carlo had been penalized for tripping Derick Brassard. But as Claude Giroux was ready to face-off in the Boston zone against Patrice Bergeron, the linesman hesitated to drop the puck, which was tipped before it hit the ice.

Though replays showed that it was Bergeron’s stick that touched the puck, the Flyers were whistled for a delay-of-game penalty.

That not only wiped out the power play, but opened a four-onfour situation, which David Pastrnak expertly exploited to for a dagger goal and a 5-2 lead.

Giroux reacted angrily to the penalty, which was served by Zack MacEwen. More than a few other Flyers appeared angry.

“Now, we’ve calmed down a little bit,” Brassard said afterward. “But if you asked me about it 15 minutes ago, I’d probably answer differently. There’s a lot of new linesmen around the league. You just have to find a way to work with them.

“Bergeron kind of pushed in on the ref and that puck never touched down. G has been around forever, so he knows. That could have been a huge power-play goal for us, and then we could have come back at the end and tied it. That’s why were kind of upset a little bit. But it is what it is.”

If there was a reasonable explanation for the call, it was not made clear to Alain Vigneault.

“They didn’t give me an explanation,” he said. “They just said we had a penalty.”

With a 14.89 power-play percentage, sixth from the bottom in the NHL, the Flyers were 1-for-5 with the advantage Saturday, Brassard scoring from Giroux and Ivan Provorov at 9:25 of the second.

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Brassard, who has benefited from centering a line with Giroux and Cam Atkinson, scored twice Saturday.

“I grew up playing against (Giroux) in junior, and I know what kind of player and competitor he is,” Brassard said. “I kind of feed off his energies. He gets fired up and I love it. He’s a big-time player.

“It’s been a lot of fun playing with Cam and G.”

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Kevin Hayes, whose lower body was injured in a Thursday loss to Tampa Bay, was scratched.

An abdominal surgery kept Hayes out of the lineup until Nov. 16, and he played two games before being re-injured. The Flyers have not linked the problem to that surgery.

Vigneault expects to have more clarity within the next two days. “Soon as I know more,” he said, “you’ll be the first to know.”

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His thumb dislocated last week in a victory over Calgary, Patrick Brown is facing the possibility of surgery.

“It’s rehab or surgery, so we’re just debating on both,” Vigneault said. “We should know more in the next couple of days.”

Max Willman picked up many of Hayes’ duties.

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Martin Jones made his fifth start in goal and faced 44 shots, including 21 in the first period. The problem for the Flyers is that he only stopped 39. Jones was particularly ineffective when Craig Smith skated in alone on the right wing and beat him with an ordinary shot at 1:28 of the third.

“He had it on his forehand,” Jones said. “I thought he might try to pull into the net, but he took a quick shot, short side, and beat me.”