Sandstrom errors costly in loss to Panthers
PHILADELPHIA » About the only big save Flyers goalie Felix Sandstrom made Sunday night was his head coach’s tongue.
Sandstrom made three errors on the ice against the high-powered Florida Panthers, more than enough to contribute mightily to a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers at Wells Fargo Center.
Not only did the Flyers’ backup goalie set the stage for a lost night for a Flyers team that outplayed the Panthers and outshot them 33-15, he timed it so that at the top of a final-10-game stretch, the Flyers find their hold on the third playoff spot out of the Metropolitan Division to be down to two precious points to the warming Washington Capitals.
And oh, by the way, the Caps hold two games in hand over the Flyers.
To his credit, the importance of this baffling loss wasn’t lost on the goalie.
“It was a different game for sure,” said Sandstrom, who in the wake of the Carter Hart sexual assault charges and Cal Petersen failure and too much reliance on starter Sam Ersson was making only his third start of the season.
“I think we pushed at them really hard, but we didn’t get the goals,” Sandstrom said. “Guys worked hard out there. But it was a weird one for me for sure. I need to be able to save them for sure. I’m not too happy about today.”
That put him in the majority in his locker room, if only because it seemed tough to so outplay one of the NHL’s best teams and come away with zilch in the points department. But at the top of his postgame enlightenment, head coach John Tortorella
was almost giddy before his goalie saved him time at the podium.
“I thought we played really well,” Tortorella said. “We could build off the whole game. We played a good hockey game.”
So that was what he said after two quick questions. As for Quizzo No. 3, whether he agreed with Sandstrom that the goalie could have played better, Tortorella responded with only a smile and a shrug. Then he bolted from the interview room.
Maybe he’s trying to take the heat off his pressurized backup goalie. Or not.
Either way, there was almost no answer for the way Sandstrom bobbled a shot by Sam Reinhart 10:34 into the first and looked behind him in the net at a 1-0 Panthers lead. He couldn’t glove a saveable shot by Vladimir Tarasenko during a Panther power play 55 seconds into the second period for 2-0.
Then, at 4:43 of the third, Sandstrom made like Charlie Brown on a Carter Verhaeghe shot, letting it go off his glove and in for a killer of a third goal.
The Flyers, at one point outshooting the Panthers 12-1 over the second part of Period 2, still continued to dominate the bulk of the action. But only a power play goal by Bobby Brink late in the period, after Tortorella had pulled Sandstrom for a temporary two-man advantage, got a puck past Florida backup goalie and former Flyer Anthony Stolarz
(32 saves).
He’s been gone from the Flyers locker room for five years now, but they could use him now more than ever.
“Just one of those nights,” Sandstrom said. “Why and how didn’t I have them? I just have to be more detailed and make sure I probably track them better, so I can hold them instead of letting
them bounce off me.”
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NOTES » Reinhart scored an empty net goal in the last seconds for his 50th of the season. He’s just the second Panther ever (Pavel Bure the other) to score 50 or more in a single season. … The Flyers scratched one-time shooting star Cam Atkinson for the fourth straight game and sixth out of the last seven.