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Philadelphia Flyers 3, Nashville Predators 2 (OT): Too Many Men Dooms Comeback

Posted on by Jonathan Garcia

The Nashville Predators ended their long journey in Comcast Country as they took on the Philadelphia Flyers. After breaking their goalless in Buffalo on Wednesday, the hope was more would come this afternoon.

It didn’t exactly work that way. Filip Forsberg notched his third goal of the season very early into the game, but Michael Del Zotto and Colin McDonald would both score after him. It looked like Forsberg’s tally would be the only one the Predators would score, until Mike Fisher sent the game to overtime with 20 seconds left.

Unfortunately, the Predators are awful in overtime. An obvious too many men penalty doomed the Predators to go shorthanded, and the Flyers finished the game on the power play. Road trip over.

Random Observations

  • It was 17 games ago (Oct. 17th ) that Forsberg scored his last goal. He finally, finally broke that streak less than two minutes into the game to put the Preds on the board first. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t make another 17 for him to score again.
  • With Colton Sissons playing in favor of Paul Gaustad… Eric Nystrom gets promoted to the third line? Not exactly sure what the reasoning for that is, especially considering Cody Hogdson had been playing just fine with Calle Jarnkrok and Gabriel Bourque. Coincidently or not, that line was on the ice for two Philadelphia goals. Just swap Bourque with Austin Watson on the second goal.
  • Speaking of Bourque, the winger skated for only 3:36 of ice time before leaving the game with an upper-body injury. He would not return. With Miikka Salomaki on the IR and Gaustad out for now, there may have to be another call up if Bourque isn’t ready to go any time soon.
  • Former Predator and fan of adult film stars Michael Del Zotto tied up the game just a few minutes later. An argument could be made that Pekka Rinne should make that save, but you could also talk me into thinking the shot was just really good. MDZ was talented enough to be taken in the first round in 2008, after all.
  • Nystrom looked like he had a sure goal on a shorthanded chance. Michal Neuvirth had other ideas, and slide across the entire crease to stop him dead.
  • For all the times Nashville gets scored on during 6-on-5 situations, it feels like they hardly make any goals of their own with the goalie pulled. Just when it looked like this would be a loss for the Predators, Mike Fisher crashed the net and scored his second goal in two games. Credit Forsberg for doing yeoman’s work to get the puck to the net, but Fisher had two or three good whacks at the puck before it went it. Tie game, on to overtime.
  • Of course, Nashville hasn’t fared well in overtime in recent memory. Not only did they get shelled for the first half of it, but they also got caught out with two extra guys out on the ice. Peter Laviolette looked like he was going to strangle the refs for some strange reason, but it put the Flyers on a 4-on-3 advantage. They did not let that opportunity go to waste, and Shayne Gostisbehere ended the game.

The game was played pretty evenly for the most part, but the Flyers took advantage of the opportunities they were given. Given their place in the standings, you’d expect the Predators to come out of Wells Fargo Center with a win. So the road trip ends with a 1-3-1 record. Not exactly what they were hoping for. Preds need to find offense in the worst way, and they’ll get a chance to immediately right the ship when they come back to Nashville for a rematch with the Sabres tomorrow night.

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Game

  • Leftover Turkey: Like pizza and Chinese food, it’s just as good the day after, even if it’s cold.
  • Leftover Stuffing: My girlfriend made an old family recipe and it lives up to its name.
  • Bourbon and Eggnog: A mug made the afternoon game all the better./

Tweets of the Game

Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – War-on-Ice – HockeyStats – Natural Stat Trick

Roll the video highlights…


Talking Points