"Unbelievable," "sick" and "disgusting" were just a few of the adjectives used to describe Michal Neuvirth's game-saving stop in the final seconds of the third period for the Philadelphia Flyers against the Minnesota Wild at Wells Fargo Center. Neuvirth made a spectacular lunging save on Charlie Coyle's sharp-angled shot with 2.6 seconds remaining to preserve the Flyers' 3-2 victory.
Coyle had an open look from the left side in the waning seconds and tried to shoot it into the top corner of the net. But Neuvirth dove across, and while laying on his right hip, he stretched to stop the puck with his stick. As it dropped near the goal line, he snagged it with his glove. Video review showed the puck never crossed the line.
The play made Pierre-Edouard Bellemare's goal early in the third period the game-winner. Sam Gagner and Streit scored for Philadelphia, and Neuvirth made 24 saves, including a lunging right-pad stop against Mikael Granlund with 5:03 remaining in the third and Minnesota on the power play. But it was his final save that mattered most.
The win was the Flyers' third in their past 10 at home (3-3-4), and it came in the first of a six-game homestand that forward Jakub Voracek said Thursday morning will determine whether they make the Stanley Cup Playoffs; they're three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the postseason from the Eastern Conference.
Thomas Vanek had a goal and an assist for Minnesota, which lost its second straight game after winning its first four under interim coach John Torchetti. Granlund scored, and Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves. The loss ended the Wild's three-game road winning streak, their longest since they won six straight Feb. 20-March 14, 2015.
Bellemare scored at 3:21 of the third to put the Flyers ahead to stay. Chris VandeVelde pulled the puck out of a scrum behind the Minnesota net and tried to stuff it inside the post. Dubnyk stopped him, but Bellemare, who was pushed to the ice by Minnesota's Ryan Carter, knocked in the rebound at 3:21 of the third for his fourth goal of the season and first in 32 games dating to Dec. 8.
Bellemare's goal was similar to the one by Gagner, who opened the scoring by getting to the net to bang in the rebound of a Brayden Schenn shot with 1:15 left in the first period. The Wild twice rallied from down a goal to tie it. After Gagner's goal, Vanek redirected Jared Spurgeon's pass by Neuvirth for a power-play goal at 2:02 of the second.
Streit's power-play goal, scored off Spurgeon's leg at 5:46 of the second, put the Flyers ahead 2-1. But Granlund backhanded the rebound of a Vanek shot past Neuvirth at 13:16 of the second to tie it 2-2. After Bellemare scored early in the third, the Wild remained confident, right down to Coyle's open look in the final seconds.
Wild Quotes
Charlie Coyle: "That's a heck of a save. That would've been a huge point. Another half-inch and that's a huge point for us."John Torchetti: "We missed this game by a half an inch. We have to give another inch more. That's the bottom line. We lost this game and we have to move on to Washington."
Other Results
New Jersey @ Columbus 1-6
Carolina @ Toronto 1-3
Phoenix @ Florida 2-3
NY Islanders @ Calgary 2-1 OT
Ottawa @ Vancouver 3-5
Edmonton @ Los Angeles 1-2
No comments:
Post a Comment