Hockey statisticians say that goal scoring is mostly luck. The average NHL player scores on a little bit over nine percent of his shots. Shots are what win games, they say. Take more shots than the other team, and eventually, the percentages will work out in your favor.
Sometimes, it only takes one shot. Some people call it puck luck. Others call it the will of the hockey gods. In soccer, they call it “going against the run of play.” The first two periods ran exactly that way Wednesday night, but the Philadelphia Flyers were able to prevail in the third for a 5-3 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
In the first period, the Penguins hemmed the Flyers in their defensive zone and attempted 22 shots on Philadelphia goaltender Ray Emery. Only one found the back of the net, a Nick Spaling wrister from the left-wing circle. The Flyers landed only seven shots on goal in the period, but Marc Streit and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare put their shots behind Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead after the first period.
The second period was almost exactly the opposite. The Penguins were outshot 17-6 in the middle frame. A crucial icing call on the Flyers set up an offensive zone faceoff chance for Evgeni Malkin. He won it clean and Pascal Dupuis deflected Paul Martin’s point shot to tie the game with 11:00 remaining in the second.
“Our second period wasn’t good,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby “We still found a way get ourselves back in the game.”
In the third period, the Flyers were rewarded for their efforts. They first struck 6:50 when Plum native R.J. Umberger scored on a cross-ice pass from Claude Giroux. Two minutes later, Matt Read added a dagger. A Simon Despres turnover at the far blue line gave Read and Sean Couturier a two-on-one. Couturier’s pass found its mark, and Read made a nifty backhand move to beat Marc-Andre Fleury.
“We tried to make some dangerous plays and turned over the puck and they counter-punched against us,” said Head Coach Mike Johnston of the Pens’ play, “It was one of those game where their energy caught fire and ours took a step back.”
Marcel Goc scored to make the game close with just less than three minutes remaining, but a Couturier empty-netter sealed the win for the visitors.
The Penguins will be right back at it on Thursday night as they travel to Detroit to take on the Red Wings.
