Flyers 4, Blackhawks 1 – Recap

Wednesday night, Kimmo Timonen made his return to the City of Brotherly Love as the Blackhawks took on the Flyers. The first period saw a lot of back-and-forth action, with the Flyers getting the better of it. The Flyers scored the game’s first goal 7:20 into the game when Wayne Simmonds got a shot past Corey Crawford for his 28^th goal of the year. The Hawks would have their share of chances, most notably an open net for Andrew Shaw, who shot a rolling puck wide, but they would be unable to get anything past Steve Mason, and after twenty minutes, it was 1-0 Flyers.

We would see more back-and-forth action to start the second period before Ryan White deflected a shot from Carlo Colaiacovo past Crawford to expand the Flyers’ lead to 2-0 7:09 into the period. Following the goal, the Hawks put together a nice possession, but were unable to cut into the Philadelphia lead before the back-and-forth action we had seen for most of the game returned. The Flyers would expand their lead to 3-0 when Claude Giroux beat Crawford just under fourteen minutes into the period. This would be the last goal scored in the second, and after two periods, the Flyers led 3-0.

The Hawks got off to a better start in the third and 2:10 into the period, they would get the game’s first power play after Colaiacovo was sent off for high-sticking. The Hawks would convert fourteen seconds into the man advantage when Shaw tipped a shot from Duncan Keith past Steve Mason and into the net. Following the goal, the Hawks would retain the momentum and put together some nice possessions in their offensive end. A little over six minutes into the game, the Hawks would get another power play, this one the result of a Michael Del Zotto slash on Jonathan Toews. The Hawks would get a few really nice looks on the power play, but nothing got past Mason, and the score remained 3-1 in favor of Philadelphia. Just over a minute after the Hawks’ power play ended, they had to go on the penalty kill for the first time in the game as the team was assessed a penalty for having too many men on the ice. The Hawks were able to kill off the penalty. The Hawks would head to the penalty kill again 14:44 into the period when Toews was sent off for Pierre-Edouard Bellemarre. The Flyers would convert on the penalty when Michael Raffl beat Crawford short side. This would be the final goal scored in the game, and the Flyers would win 4-1.

My picks for 3 stars:

★★★ Steve Mason, G, PHI (34 SV, 1 GA)

★★ Michael Del Zotto, D, PHI (2 A)

★ Matt Read, RW, PHI (2 A)

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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