Takeaways from the Flyers’ 5-2 loss to Connor McDavid and the Oilers

EDMONTON, Alberta — After an opening win against the top team in the NHL, the Flyers closed out the four-game road trip Tuesday with their third straight loss, 5-2, to the Edmonton Oilers.

The good news is the Flyers now head back to the friendly confines of the Wells Fargo Center. And the even better news is they won’t be seeing the likes of Connor McDavid — who had five points — and Co. until next season. The bad news is they head back losers of five of six.

» READ MORE: No new year, new me for the Flyers, who fall to the Oilers for third straight loss on Western road trip

While coach John Tortorella didn’t want to dissect the game afterward, the bench boss and his players agreed that after a sluggish start to the game, the team stepped up its intensity in the middle frame. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers had a Corsi For Percentage of just 29.65% at five-on-five in the first period; it jumped in the second to 48.15%, when the team also had six high-danger chances to the Oilers’ three along with more scoring chances.

“They’re playing really well of late, they’ve started to figure things out, so we knew that coming in and we knew you’ve got to try and limit their best players,” Joel Farabee said. “But, you know, sometimes it’s really tough to do that. So credit to them that they played a really solid game. But I just feel like in the third period, [we] had our chances. Obviously, they scored early in the period there so it kind of deflated us, but I think if we just limit the mistakes a little bit and clean up some of the stuff in the neutral zone and the D zone, I feel like we give ourselves a better chance.”

Here are three takeaways from the Flyers’ latest loss.

This game could have gotten ugly very early if it wasn’t for the stellar play of Carter Hart in net.

Getting the start just 16 miles west of where he grew up in Sherwood Park, the goalie showed up for the hometown crowd that included a bunch of people there just to see him play. Yes, he allowed five goals but he was easily the Flyers’ best player of the night.

Hart made 31 saves across 60 minutes. Before McDavid gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead, he made a sliding save on Ryan McLeod off a cross-crease pass, and following the goal, he made a glove save on a point shot by Evan Bouchard during a delayed penalty.

In the second period, when the Flyers seemed to pick up their game, he misplayed the puck in front but recovered to make a big pad save on Mattias Janmark. With the score 4-2, he stopped a Brett Kulak redirect with 17 minutes, 10 seconds left in regulation before stopping Zach Hyman on three straight power-play chances, including a spinning move stopped by the blocker.

“Hartsy was great. He made some really big saves, kept us in it the whole night,” Farabee said. “He’s been the backbone of our team. Both goalies, really, have been so huge for us and they’ve kept us in games and allowed us to win games. I know the scoreboard probably doesn’t show that, but he played a [heck] of a game.”

During morning skate it became readily apparent that Tortorella had shuffled the lines for Tuesday’s game, but the reason why wasn’t obvious at the time. Postgame, Tortorella acknowledged that the shuffle across the top three lines was due to Nic Deslauriers being a healthy scratch for the first time this season and the team going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

And although he wouldn’t commit to keeping the new trios together, he may have just found a new top line.

Shifting Farabee up to play wing with Sean Couturier and Travis Konency, each player had a key role in the two Flyers strikes and had several other chances, including a breakaway by Farabee with 5:49 left in regulation.

Konency got this going for the Orange and Black with his team-leading 18th goal of the year. But the goal never would have happened without a key play by Couturier in the defensive zone.

With the Oilers transitioning and on the rush, the 2020 Selke Trophy winner backchecked, and when the puck was sent to the trailer, he cut over and played the body on Bouchard to separate him from the puck. Couturier then patiently waited before sending an alley-oop pass to Farabee across the red line. Farabee then had the wherewithal to one-touch it over to Konecny and the Flyers’ top scorer did the rest.

The trio then connected to get Marc Staal his first goal as a member of the Flyers. Couturier first won the defensive-zone faceoff that was eventually retrieved by Staal. The defenseman then sent it up to Couturier who, with his back turned, chipped the puck out on his backhand. The speedy Farabee cut across the ice to beat Darnell Nurse to the puck and dropped it back for Konecny. He then slid the puck over to Staal, who buried it glove side.

The Flyers’ penalty kill is slowly starting to crack as it allowed another goal. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was alone in front and buried a tapped cross-crease pass from McDavid with 55 seconds left in the second period. He was alone after Travis Sanheim and Cam York each went toward McDavid, leaving No. 93 for the easy goal.

“I thought the key was, we finally find our game in the second period and we just need to kill that one off at the end,” Tortorella said. “I think we were looking to try to get a shorty, we left the zone a couple of times and it ends up in the back of our net. We need to get out of that second period, at least to give us a fighting chance in the third with some momentum. We lose the momentum right at the end.”

Konecny was open and honest about his role in the goal against, as he tried to take the puck away from Bouchard up near the point but did not succeed.

“I was looking for offense there and probably, you know, have to smarten up there, know who we’re up against,” he said. “Yeah five-on-five we can play with those guys, and I think we can shorthanded, too. It was just a matter of a breakdown and that’s exactly what they’re looking for.”

As for the power play, neither unit was able to find the back of the net as the team went 0-for-4. But there was more sustained pressure and control than seen in the past.

» READ MORE: John Tortorella shakes up the Flyers’ lines amid losing streak

Across four power plays, the Flyers had 10 shot attempts. But it was the power play in the second period, with the Flyers down 1-0, that had the most control and the best chances. Out there for 80 seconds, the first power-play unit — York, Couturier, Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, and Konecny — had six shot attempts, including three shots.

“You can tell there’s some chemistry coming,” Konecny said. “We’ve been for the most part a pretty solid unit. Both units are staying together, so you’re starting to get a sense of where guys are going to be.”

Added Hart: “You’ve got to battle and we know that they’ve got a ton of skill on that team. But at the end of the day, I think five-on-five we’re right there with them. We can compete. We can take them five-on-five, but I think they just won the special-teams battle.”