Flyers Fall To Ducks 4-3 In Shootout
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — William Karlsson and Jakob Silfverberg each scored in the shootout to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.
The Flyers (0-2-2) lost their second straight game in a shootout and are winless through the first four games for only the fourth time in franchise history. They're off to their worst start since they were 0-3-1 in 2008-09.
Tim Jackman, Devante Smith-Pelly and Matt Beleskey scored for the Ducks.
Mark Streit and Wayne Simmonds each scored power-play goals for the Flyers. Jakub Voracek sent the game into OT with the tying goal. Claude Giroux scored the lone shootout for the Flyers.
The Ducks finished 3-1 on a season-opening four-game road trip. They allowed a total of six goals in the last three games after giving up six in the opener.
Voracek gave the Flyers a spark when he tied the game on 3-all on a nifty backhander with 5:20 left in the third.
Not even home ice could save the Flyers in their second straight shootout. They lost to Montreal on Saturday night and are already reeling in coach Craig Berube's second season. The Flyers have three off days before starting a three-game road trip. They'll need the time to refocus.
Frederik Anderson was stout at the right times for Anaheim. But he couldn't hold a 2-0 lead. Beleskey snapped a tie game with 17 seconds left in the second period for the 3-2 lead.
A game after blowing a 3-0 lead in the loss to Montreal, the Flyers were the team with the late rally.
Streit fired a slap shot off the left post and into the net for the power-play goal to cut it 2-1.
The tying goal almost 5 minutes later belonged to Simmonds. Simmonds has become the go-to big-goal scorer for the Flyers, a trait he developed in the second half of last season that has carried over into the first four games of this one.
With four bodies and a goalie twisted in a scrum in the crease, Simmonds found room on the power play to jab in the puck for his fifth goal of the season.
Simmonds scored two goals in each of the last two games. He's been on a bit of a hot streak at home, dating to the 2014 postseason. He scored three goals against the New York Rangers in Game 6 of a first-round Eastern Conference playoff game.
Simmonds hasn't cooled down since and has blossomed into one of the few reasons for Flyers fans to cheer during a dismal start to the season.
They booed the orange-and-black off the ice at the end of the first and Anaheim up 2-0.
Playing their third game in four nights, the Ducks hardly came out like a team in need of a breather.
Jackman made it 1-0 when he scored off Mason's failed attempt at clearing the puck. Jackman pounced for the gimme goal and a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers again whiffed on an attempt to clear the puck and Smith-Pelly capitalized on redirection with his first goal of the season.
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