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5 Observations: Flyers’ Winless Streak Reaches 6; Another Key Player Injured

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Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers
Travis Sanheim recorded his first goal of the season, but the Flyers lost in the shootout, 5-4, to Montreal on Saturday.

In a wild Saturday night game in Montreal, Cole Caufield scored his second goal to tie the game at 4-4 with 1.9 seconds left in regulation. Then Nick Suzuki got a backhander past Carter Hart for the only goal in the shootout to down the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4.

“I thought we played hard. We just don’t know how to manage a game. It certainly wasn’t from a lack of trying,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “I’m not mad.”

The Flyers have lost six straight (0-4-2).

Here are my five observations:

1. Travis Sanheim delivers.

Travis Sanheim jumped into the play off a turnover and Scott Laughton found him with a nice backhand pass, and he scored just 39 seconds into the first period for his first goal of the season.

Sanheim needed a game like this to spark his offense. He was moving his legs a lot more, which added to the Flyers’ attack. Sanheim later intercepted a pass and pushed it to Owen Tippett, who wired it high into the net at the 2:55 mark of the first period for a 2-0 lead. That’s how the Flyers can make up for the loss of Travis Konecny and other injured forwards. Sanheim can be a 40–45-point defenseman if he can play more as he did against the Montreal Canadiens.

2. Owen Tippett stays hot.

He got that first-period goal. Tippett had a nice scoring chance in the second period that hit off the crossbar. His second goal came off a face-off win/shot to tie the game 3-3 in the second with just over four minutes to go in the period.

He was a force at both ends playing his best game as a member of the Orange and Black. He finihsed with 17 shot attempts, including six on goal.

“It’s not very often you get it clean like that,” Tippett said, talking about his faceoff goal.

3. Tony DeAngelo has to play better defense.

Ivan Provorov covers a lot for Tony DeAngelo when he gets caught up ice. That’s what happened on the Canadiens’ first goal at 4:07 of the first period, cutting the Habs’ deficit to 2-1. The Philadelphia Flyers thus lost some temporary momentum.

DeAngelo, who played a career-high 31:24, got in there way too late. Provorov can’t do it all himself.

4. Scott Laughton had a tough game.

A Scott Laughton crosscheck gave the Canadiens got a 5-on-3 for 34 seconds. Caufield wound up and rocketed a shot past Carter Hart that went five-hole to tie the game 2-2 with less than three minutes to go in the first period. Suzuki did provide a screen.

While on a power play in the third period, Laughton was rocked by Brendan Guhle’s hit and he landed on his head and went to the locker room.

Tortorella had no update on Laughton after the game.

5. Kevin Hayes scored the go-ahead goal.

Kevin Hayes was having a bad game at center, but Noah Cates lined up at center, won the face-off, and Nick Seeler took a shot on Jake Allen. Hayes was there to knock in the rebound to give the Flyers the 4-3 lead at 8:17 of the third period. That was a big in-game adjustment that worked out.

But in the end, the Flyers lost again.

Breakaways

The Flyers will travel back to Philadelphia to play the Calgary Flames at home on Monday….There was a goal taken off the board in the first when Canadiens center Sean Monahan pushed Hart’s pad and the puck crossed the line. It was called a goal and then the Flyers had to win the challenge….Montreal had 26 giveaways………Hart made an arm save off a Caufield shot in the second period that was a potential game-saver…..Martin St. Louis won a Stanley Cup with Tortorella coaching him in 2004 and on Saturday he faced his old coach from behind the bench for the first time. The Flyers’ power play was 0-4 including a four-minute power play….Zack MacEwen had two assists….The 2022 first overall pick, Juraj Slafkovsky was on the ice for two goals.

Will Flyers regret bypassing on Cole Caufield (twice) in the 2019 draft?

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