Flyers takeaways: Jamie Drysdale notches first goal, but Philly struggles while ‘chasing the game’

Once again, the Flyers attempted a comeback — and once again, they came up a bit short.

But the problem is that the Flyers again put themselves in a position where they had to dig themselves out of a hole. This time, they trailed by three less than three minutes into the second period. They tried to come back but ended up allowing two empty-netters and fell, 6-3, to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

» READ MORE: Flyers stand their ground but fall short in loss to Tampa Bay

The Flyers had their chances, they had 32 shots on goal and 71 shot attempts. In comparison, the Lightning had 53 attempts, but just 19 on goal.

“Once those top guys start feeling it, they’re pretty deadly,” winger Cam Atkinson said. “But I thought we had opportunities that we could have buried, myself included. [I] could have had way more than one goal, and we did a job trying to fight back but ultimately didn’t get the job done.”

Here are three takeaways from the Flyers loss:

After news broke that Carter Hart is taking an indefinite leave from the Flyers, the net now officially belongs to Sam Ersson.

Entering Tuesday night’s matchup, Ersson ranked second in the NHL in goals-against average (1.98), second in save percentage (.924), and tied for third in shutouts (three) since Nov. 1 (minimum 20 games).

“Sam’s been playing great for us,” Atkinson said. “Have all the confidence in Sam. He’s been playing great as of late, and we’re going to need him to continue.”

Ersson did his best in this game to hold the high-octane Lightning offense at bay, but he didn’t get much help as the Flyers’ defensive structure faltered at times.

On the first goal by the Lightning, at even strength, the Lightning entered off the rush and the Flyers defense collapsed. Brayden Point got behind the defense and easily redirected a cross-ice pass.

» READ MORE: Q&A: Former Flyers captain Mike Richards talks alumni game, trade, and ‘The Shift’

The second goal, even though it technically was at even strength, came two seconds after a penalty to Rasmus Ristolainen expired. And it’s hard to stop a one-timer by Nikita Kucherov. But the issue with this goal was that the Lightning set up off the rush — Kucherov had his first shot attempt blocked by Nick Seeler — and they were able to drop two in front to help create a screen.

“Maybe just some things on rush coverage,” center Morgan Frost said. “I think, especially against those top guys, they’re going to delay, and they’ve played together so long that they kind of know where each other is going to be. Just something we’re going to look at in video and just got to try and avoid those breakdowns.”

It took a few games, but Drysdale finally notched his first goal as a member of the Flyers. And it was a goal that showcased just what makes Drysdale such a special player.

Skating on the power play, Drysdale kept creating space with his high-end skating ability. He then got the puck at the point from Frost, used his quick feet to get into a lane, and fired off a wrister that beat Bolts goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“He’s a pretty, pretty incredible skater. I think that’s easy to see from up top and, obviously, at ice level it’s fun to watch,” Frost said. “I thought that was a great shot. I was just trying to find him and good on him to get it off quickly and find the right spot.”

Since being acquired from the Ducks on Jan. 8, Drysdale is playing almost 20 minutes a night — fourth on the Flyers — and has been getting considerable time when the team is on the power play or when the team needs a goal. On Tuesday, he had five shot attempts in 20 minutes, 42seconds of ice time.

“He’s been great for us right from the start,” Atkinson said. “You can see on the power play, even five-on-five when he’s walking the line and getting pucks through. It was good to see him get rewarded tonight and we’re going to need him to continue for us.”

For the first time since Nov. 10, the Flyers allowed two power-play goals.

The first came off the stick of Kucherov after he corralled a pass by Point with his skate at the right post. The second, the eventual game-winner, was scored by Michael Eyssimont in the slot off a quick pass by Kucherov from the bottom of the right circle.

“Obviously, they’ve got a lot of skilled players and they are very good at what they do,” Ersson said. “But I think we made them look good today, too. Also for us, it’s knowing that going into this game, we have to maybe do a better job trying to stay out of the box and not take unnecessary penalties.”

Sean Walker took a neutral-zone penalty for holding Point after a turnover, which led to the Kucherov power-play goal. Atkinson hooked Conor Sheary in the offensive zone 2:07 after the Flyers cut it to 3-2, and Eyssimont scored on the ensuing man advantage.

“I take a dumb penalty there,” Atkinson said. “We talked about it before the game, can’t let their power play get on the ice. That’s where they thrive and generate most of their chances, especially their top guys and they took it to us on that.”

Added John Tortorella: “They rely on their power play quite a bit. We take two stupid penalties. Walks penalty is just ridiculous, Cam’s penalty, and they make you pay. So we were chasing the game.”