Monday night the Philadelphia Flyers had the Colorado Avalanche come to town for a grand celebration of Erik Johnson. The former 2006 first overall pick celebrated a milestone achievement of playing in 1000 career games on Saturday, and a planned celebration was held Monday. Friends and family, former teammates, and even Denver Legends Jon Elway and Peyton Manning all sent in touching video tributes to celebrate the career of a phenomenal defenseman. It was an amazing night and a fantastically orchestrated gesture from the Flyers to congratulate a storied player’s career in the NHL. Heading into a game against an injured cup contender hopes of beating them weren’t very high but the vibes sure were. Injured Colorado Captain Gabriel Landeskog a Stanley Cup winning teammate of EJ surprised everyone by attending the road trip and coming down to the ice for pictures with Johnson, another incredible gesture. It’s widely known how loved this player is by his teammates on ice and in the locker room, it was very nice to witness the support in person on a special night. Oh and it was Dollar Dog night so it was just that much more extra special to be there in person tonight, I had 5 myself.
The Flyers were coming into this game riding a 3 game Win Streak following a dominant performance against Buffalo on Saturday and looked to build off that further. Colorado was just coming off a loss that snapped their own 3 game win streak as the Avalanche slowly but surely have main roster players trickle back in from injury. The 2022 Stanley Cup champs have been without their Captain Gabriel Landeskog for nearly 2 years, and have started this season with the most injuries to main roster players than any other NHL team. Despite that, their monster players are delivering with Nathan Mackinnon, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen all amongst league leaders in points to start the season. I felt coming into this game we would see it decided by goaltending, a massive question mark due to injuries and uncertainty from both teams. Justus Annunen would get the start for the Avs as Aleksei Kolosov would make his third start, and first since suffering a minor injury, for the Flyers.
1st period- I would be remiss to start talking about this game without discussing the very scary freak incident that occurred shortly in the first period. A referee Mitch Dunning would collide with Colorado Defenseman Josh Manson and go down on the ice without moving. After quite some time the scary scene saw the official leave on a stretcher to the hospital for precautionary measures. Last word I had heard he had feeling to all extremities and was going to be okay, the stadium went silent and had the life sucked out of the room it felt for quite a bit afterwards.
The first period was mostly uneventful, Though Colorado kept the Flyers hemmed in their zone for the bulk of the period. By the eye test I didn’t see Matvei Michkov take a single shift for nearly the first 10 minutes it seemed. It wasn’t until they were finally able to do more than get the puck to the neutral zone for the Avs to just tag up and go right back in. The Flyers were just getting cycled by the vastly superior team and it showed, unable to even register a shot for what felt like ages. Despite the lack of zone time puck possession, the Flyers were able to keep the game scoreless thanks to some big saves by Kolosov. The frustrating part for me was watching the Flyers waste a gift of a power play as Nathan Mackinnon was sent off the ice for a full 2 minutes. The Flyers powerplay has been bleak for awhile now but that is a moment in a tie game you have to capitalize on. While their best player is off the ice and you have the man advantage you’ve simply got to convert. It was yet another disappointing waste of time power play from the Flyers where Mack got to get a nice 2 minute rest before getting right back to destroying them. Period ends 0-0 with a whopping 18 shots total from both teams.
2nd Period- I’m not sure if it was the 5 hotdogs I ate or the total lack of effort out there but the second period was nearly a snooze fest from the Flyers. A lot would happen from the other team, but the Flyers would take the only 2 penalties in the period, and manage a staggering 5 shots on goal this period. That’s about all I want to say about the Flyers efforts in the 2nd period, Kolosov was solid.
Colorado was given far too much time and space for their superstars to create, shockingly they did just that and scored with ease. After some fancy passing from Mackinnon and Rantanen, Cale Makar is left alone in the slot against Kolosov and he beats him clean. Moments later, after more cycling from the Avs and failed clearing attempts the exact same goal would be scored again. Difference this time being the ever mysterious “goaltender interference” call. This time it works in the Flyers favor, and we found ourselves still down 1-0. Cale Makar would eventually have the last laugh though, as a late WEAK penalty called against Michkov would result in a powerplay goal from Makar again. Kolosov would have a solid game in my opinion, but this was not his brightest moment. Makar’s should is a low grade slider across the ice with zero elevation, looked like shuffleboard out there and it still went in. That situation you want to see a save from the goalie despite the traffic in the way, not a pretty one to let in. We would head to the third down 2-0.
3rd Period- The third period would begin with fireworks from the referees and would stay that way for roughly the first 10 mins of the period. The “Let em play!” crowd was not to have their way as a total of 6 penalties were called in the third period. That doesn’t include the blatant trip against Travis Konecny in the offensive zone that went uncalled. The whistles were hot and there wasn’t much room out there for the first 10 minutes a lot of chippy hits. Once the Ref-apalooza was close to ending, the Avalanche would once more find themselves in the attacking zone with ease. As a penalty was set to expire during 4 on 4 play, Kolosov would make the initial save from a Mikko Rantanen shot. Koly would end up kicking a rebound right out to Casey Mittelstadt to bury in the open net. 3-0 Colorado. Fans started to get up and leave their seats, I presume just to buy more dollar hot dogs because there was still 12 minutes of game time left to watch of course. With less than 9 minutes to go the Fly Guys would finally start putting together a solid effort. Snake bitten goal scorer Owen Tippet would rip one home from a ways back towards the blue line to get the party started with time to spare!
The Flyers suddenly had life, the Avalanche could not clear the puck from their zone every cycle seemed to work for the Flyers. Not even 2 minutes later and Tyson Foerster would show everybody on the ice why it is crucial to play to the whistle. Bobby Brink’s should would land underneath the Avalanche goalie, a scrum would ensue in front of the net. The goalie never truly had the puck and credit to the refs they never blew the whistle once. Tyson Foerster would quickly poke in there find the loose puck and bury it giving the Flyers their second goal inching closer to the comeback. The remaining 6 minutes would drive you insane as a fan, the team would miss 2 gimme chances to tie this game just heartbreaking stuff. It’s valid to say if they played this way for even a quarter of the whole game they could have easily avoided this desperation but it still hurts to see golden chances squandered. At the end of regulation, the extra attacker coming on the ice would prove to be close but no cigar, the Flyers would fall to the Av’s 3-2.
Here’s the thing: If the Flyers were ever going to stand a chance against Colorado, a few of their younger talents would have to get going out of their slumps. They would also have to out Goalie the Av’s while injured. One positive you can take away from this game is that Owen Tippet and Tyson Foerster both found a way to score, coincidentally both of their respective 4th goals of the season. While it was frustrating to see them waste the first 50 minutes of hockey and try to bring it together last minute AGAIN, it was good to see them put together a valiant effort. Kolosov played a very solid game, I don’t feel he was a superstar or anything as 3 goals still went in but he made some big saves. If Ersson is going to be out awhile it’s promising to see Fedotov and Kolosov playing better, Feddy playing very well. Carolina up next is another big test against a real playoff team. We’ll see if the short rest between games will see any Flyers return to the line up. Cam York is pacing to return soon, a feat I know Travis Sanheim will appreciate personally. 31 minutes of ice time is admirable but not sustainable, York coming back will help that greatly. We’ll see how things play out.
For those counting, the boys and I are now 2-1 on the season attending games with our ticket package. Next up for us, Vegas Monday night.
Written by: Anthony Spotts @Spottsongoal
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