Schenn makes some noise on second line
PHILADELPHIA >> While putting most of his game-breaking forwards together in one nice little top-line package, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol preached about the need for secondary scoring from his other guys.
Since Shayne Gostisbehere was shown the way down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, however, the Flyers’ path to solving their nagging scoring problems has become a little clearer.
Hakstol did get his wish, as newly packaged secondlinemates Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn both did scoreboard damage to the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday night. But it was long-distance blaster Gostisbehere who turned the game around, scoring a remarkable goal and setting up another to help key a 4-3 Flyers victory in a Wells Fargo Center homecoming game.
Stale off a three-game California losing skid that featured just five Flyers goals, Hakstol stuck with the top line of Claude Giroux between scoring wingers Jake Voracek and Wayne Simmonds and hoped some help would come their way.
It did, indeed, as Couturier sent Schenn in on a breakaway and he made good on it against Canadiens goalie Ben Scrivens only 5:06 into the game for a 1-0 lead.
Schenn would then chip in two assists, including one on the Couturier goal that made it a 4-2 Flyers lead 5:41 into the third period that thanks to a chaotic final few minutes and an ill-timed Couturier penalty would prove to be a game-winner.
“We need all four lines going on a consistent basis,” Couturier said. “Some nights we have two or three lines and if one line is not going, it’s going to cost us at some point. If we can get everyone going on the same page and pushing in the right direction, we’re tough to beat.”
Provided, of course, they don’t beat themselves.
Against a Canadiens team that has been listing dangerously since goalie star Carey Price went out with a lingering lower body injury Nov. 25, the Flyers had two junctures in which they came close to doing that.
The first came courtesy of former Canadiens grinder Ryan White, who was clearly feeling the blood rush against his old team.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” White said. “It’s a big game for me. I was excited to play tonight. Maybe a little too excited a couple of times out there.”
That happened late in the second period, with the Flyers dominating with a 3-1 edge on the scoreboard and a 22-7 bulge on the shots board. It was then that White let those bubbling juices boil over. He took two penalties of aggression, a borderline call of interference that actually looked like a cross-check and another more blatant boarding infraction, which briefly turned the tide and could have sent the Flyers spinning.
“I was just trying to bring some energy to the rink,” White said. “They were tough calls. The second one I was maybe just playing a bit too hard. ... The ref thought it was a boarding call because I hit him a little too hard. But the first one, that was my fault. Just not a very smart penalty.”
The Habs didn’t score on the ensuing power play, with goalie Michal Neuvirth making a few outstanding saves. But the Habs’ pressure never relented and finally Brendan Gallagher scored with 2:57 left in the period to bring Montreal to within 3-2.
White then took the second penalty with 57 seconds left, and the Flyers had to hang on to keep their lead into intermission.
For the Flyers this season, that’s been a positive indicator. In their previous 11 games in which they entered the third period with the lead, they had lost only once.
The Flyers had no trouble killing the remainder of the penalty in the third, then Couturier’s putback goal off a Nick Schultz slapshot that bounced off the backboards gave them a 4-2 lead.
The heart of that lead had been provided by Gostisbehere, quiet on the California trip but looking to make some hay with his shot back home. So he unloaded a 50foot bullet of a shot that beat Scrivens and slipped inside the near post 3:20 into the second for 2-1.
Gostisbehere then uncorked another on a powerplay shot that Simmonds redirected past Scrivens for a 3-1 lead. That would be just enough to keep the Canadiens, now 5-12-1 without Price in the lineup, at bay.
“I just wait for things to de- velop and I put it on net,” the rookie Ghost said. “They do a great job tipping them. (Simmonds) is one of the best in the league at it for a reason. It definitely showed tonight. I’m doing the easy part; I’m just putting it on net.”
Doing what comes ral then?
“He has a bomb from the point,” Schenn said of Gostisbehere. “There’s times that he’s beating goalies when there is no traffic.”
The Flyers seemed fine after Couturier’s goal had spotted them the two-goal edge in the third. But Couturier was called for a high stick with 3:19 left in regulation, and the Habs pulled Scrivens for a two-man edge.
After several long flurries around Neuvirth, a replay showed a goal by Daniel Carr with 54 seconds
natu- left, cutting the Flyers lead to one. It was shortly thereafter that Neuvirth almost handed the game back to Montreal. With about 11 seconds left, he tried to clear a puck by throwing it right up the slot - and it bounced off Montreal’s Max Pacioretty and fell to his feet. Luckily for Neuvirth, his teammates locked up Pacioretty and swept the puck away.
“I’m glad we got it done,” Neuvirth said. “I’ve got to make sure I freeze it or I clear it. ... I knew that time was clicking. I was just trying to clear the zone.”
Asked what he was thinking when he saw Pacioretty block his clearing attempt, Neuvirth said, “I blacked out. I don’t remember.”
White, however, had a theory.
“I think Neuvy was just trying to give us a little bit of a heart attack,” he said.
That’s what happens when the juices are flowing.