Philadelphia Flyers losing Montreal Canadiens with 4-3

Aleksei Kolosov’s debut wasn’t great in terms of shiny new toy-ness, but he didn’t have much help in front of him until a late press made it a one-goal game.

Nonetheless, the Flyers end up losing 4-3 on Sunday evening at Wells Fargo Center.

The basics

First period: 10:42 – Nick Suzuki (Kirby Dach, Jayden Struble), 17:24 – Travis Sanheim (Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway)

Second period: 4:47 – Brendan Gallagher (Logan Mailloux, Josh Anderson), 12:48 – Cole Caufield (Nick Suzuki, Mike Matheson), 16:01 – Jake Evans (Brendan Gallagher)

Third period: 17:48 – Travis Sanheim (Joel Farabee, Nic Deslauriers), 18:17 – Travis Konecny (Owen Tippett, Travis Sanheim)

SOG: 26 (PHI) – 24 (MON)

Some takeaways

Kolosov’s debut dicey

Goaltender Aleksei Kolosov went from not being present at the start training camp to starting for the Flyers against Montreal in his NHL debut (and the NHL debut for a Belarusian goaltender). After taking the opening rookie warmup skate all by himself (with a little stumble at the blueline), Kolosov saw his friend the goal post stop Lane Hutson before he stoned Hutson with a good save. The goalie moments later got enough of the puck on a shot by Kirby Dach to keep it out but looked like he had the butterflies.

The first period saw Kolosov end up with a .909 save percentage and a few rebounds that could have resulted in easy Montreal goals. And, like in the first, he got help again from the goal post in the second on a breakaway. Then made a strong stop on Hutson at the point with his glove. But during an important penalty kill, Kolosov was again leaky as a shot found its way in when it really shouldn’t have. On the whole he didn’t get much help outside of the goal posts but he certainly didn’t look like a goalkeeper on top of his game. Three goals in the second made that percentage dip to an ugly but almost expected .778 two periods in and concluded at .833.

Little less line juggling

The Flyers’ top line thankfully remained the same as Saturday’s game, but the game opened with Noah Cates centering Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett. Tortorella didn’t juggle much in the first period which might be a sign the players are maybe temporarily comfortable with each other? Maybe not. Regardless it was nice seeing the team roll four lines like clockwork through the opening period.

In the third, and with the Flyers down by three, Tortorella started the blender again with Michkov on a line with Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost. Michkov’s presence immediately gives Philadelphia the look of a team that could score. Given how bad both Frost and Tippett have been thus far, Michkov might need some magic (or a defibrillator) to get the two Flyers going in the right direction.

Rasmus rolling, Drysdale another matter

Whether it’s getting more responsibility with the York injury or just finding his game, Rasmus Ristolainen is playing good hockey for the most part. He was rarely on the wrong side of the puck and used his size to separate a few Montreal forwards from possession. And he looked a lot better than the combination of Nick Seeler and Jamie Drysdale, who through roughly the first 30 minutes of the game were getting hammered in Corsi For Percentage, with Seeler at 23.81 percent and Drysdale at 32 percent.

Drysdale took a minor for high sticking in the second, which was a key moment in the game. With the Flyers down by a goal thanks to a Brendan Gallagher deflection, the Flyers couldn’t catch a break (save?) as Cole Caufield made it 3-1. Shortly thereafter a broken stick by Brendan Gallagher still got the puck over to Jake Evans, who beat Kolosov clean to blow things a bit wider open.

Faceoffs faring better

This season the Flyers’ faceoff percentage has taken a bit of a dip, but the Flyers were at a healthy 68.8 percent after the first period. Even Matvei Michkov was in on the success with a defensive zone win while roughly halfway through the game Couturier was perfect. However clipping along at nearly 70 percent after two periods (67.6) doesn’t result in more goals judging by how the game was going after 40 minutes.

Andrae’s first impression good

Emil Andrae also made his Flyers season debut and looked solid early, making a great check two minutes in and getting his hip into the Habs player. Paired with Erik Johnson and Egor Zamula sat, Andrae also quarterbacked the second power play unit after a near fight between Couturier and Arber Xhekaj was stopped by Nick Seeler coming in resulted in a Habs minor penalty being the only call. And Andrae seemed free to roam, looking like a rover at times leading the play up the ice and looking a lot better than both Johnson and Zamula of late.

Andrae looks to be an upgrade on Zamula for at least this contest and might challenge him for a roster spot if he’s able to look involved and avoid making bad plays.

Sanheim solid

Travis Sanheim is going to have to log a lot of ice time now that Cam York is out of the mix for the next few weeks. But after nearly 28 minutes on Saturday, Sanheim was showing no sign of wear and tear. The defenseman tied things up late in the first with a nice wrist shot.

Sanheim again led all Flyers after 40 minutes with 16:25 while Travis Konecny (14:31) and Sean Couturier (13:46) were the top two forwards. The Flyers are going to need the same amount of minute-munching from him if they’re going to have any chance at winning a few games or at least being around .500 during York’s absence. In the closing minutes and with the Flyers looking dead, Sanheim made another dash up ice and scored his second of the night.

Have you seen Owen Tippett?

Owen Tippett has speed to burn, he has a new contract, and he has one goal through 27 periods of hockey and a snippet of overtime. He had one shot on goal with the game out of reach late in the third. He’s either gripping his stick so tight he can’t do anything correctly or his confidence like a lot of the forward unit is completely shot. And while marginally having more chances for on this night, Tippett was not someone who looked like he could put anything by Samuel Montembeault.

In the first period on what was a nothing play, Tippett had the puck going down the wing. A confident Tippett probably would have taken the puck and drove to the net or through anyone who was in his way. Instead, he spun away from the net and negated any chance of the Flyers having a credible chance on goal. He managed to get the primary assist to put the Flyers within one so maybe at least that’s something to build on. But at some point the goals are going to have to follow more than they have.