Philadelphia Flyers vs St. Louis Blues - Game 14 Recap

Flyers Hand Blues First Home Loss of Season
Goals: None
Record 10-3-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game

• First period was a lot of back and forth. The Flyers were playing the second of a back-to-back game on the road while the Blues are in the middle of a 4 game home stand but the Blues just looked a step slow to me early on.
• I felt good about the game after the first period.  The Blues had 14 Shots on Goal and held Philly to just 8.  I thought the Flyers would wear down and we'd get to their backup goalie later on. Turns out I was wrong. 
• Second period didn't start well.  Flyer's Brandon Manning threw a puck towards the net which hit Pietrangelo in the elbow and went into the net.  Pietrangelo was wrangling for position in front of Jake Allen, trying to clear the field of vision but ended up deflecting the puck in.  Jake never saw the puck. The goal was disallowed and ruled "goalie interference" on the ice but was later overturned, giving the Flyers the lead 1-0 just 38 seconds into the 2nd.
• The Power Play continues to be the "Lack of Power Play".  The Blues have been able to overcome the special teams weaknesses with good overall play in all the other areas of the game, but in a tight game where the goaltending is good, the inability to put the puck in the net on the power play will cost you games, as it did tonight.
• On the other side of Special Teams, the penalty kill was solid.  The Flyers were held to no shots on either of their two chances when they had the man advantage.
• St. Louis had a hard time getting pucks to the net but did have some good chances to score.  Scottie Upshall had a couple of near misses, Schenn had a breakaway and couldn't put it away, and Tarasenko missed a pretty good opportunity on the first power play, putting the puck off the side of the net.
• The game got physical near the end of the 2nd period and I thought it might turn even worse in the third, but cooler heads prevailed.  In such a tight game, Philly didn't want to give the Blues a chance by taking a penalty and St. Louis couldn't afford to go short handed.
• The goaltending was good on both sides.  It seemed that when Flyer goalie, Neuvirth allowed a rebound nobody was ever in the right place to put the puck back in the net.
• Blues next face Toronto at home on Saturday night to wrap up the four game home stand.

#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB