Schenn Scores Hat Trick In Win Over Calgary

Posted by Anthony DiGrazio on Mar 1, 2016 07:38

(Tom Mihalek/Associated Press)

The Flyers managed to stay quiet at the trade deadline. They needed to remain poised and get the win against the Calgary Flames. That is exactly what they achieved. With Jake Voracek sidelined for two weeks due to a lower-body injury, it couldn’t have been a better game for Brayden Schenn to continue his dominance.

1st Period: Another start and another early penalty taken by the Flyers set up a power play goal for Sean Monahan as Calgary took the 1-0 lead. After the Calgary goal, the Flyers stepped up their offensive zone pressure and generated scoring chances. Braydon Schenn took a shot that was eventually reviewed upon request by Toronto. The puck appeared to cross the goal-line, but since it was ruled a no goal on the ice, the evidence was not enough to overturn the call. Minutes after the review, Schenn buried a pass from Giroux which tied the game at 1. The Flyers battled for the rest of the period creating scoring chances with unselfish puck movement but the score would remain tied.

2nd Period: Just 5 minutes into the period, Wayne Simmonds netted his 22nd goal of the season, which was assisted by Claude Giroux.

With momentum gaining, the Flyers continued to put pressure on Jonas Hiller and the Calgary defense. Brayden Schenn also notched his 2nd goal of the game, which was assisted by MacDonald and Giroux. Three minutes after scoring his 2nd goal, Schenn tallied his first career hat-trick. Schenn’s third goal was the result of a beautiful setup by Giroux and an even better pass from Mark Streit. This would give Giroux 4 assists for the game, which impressively, isn’t even a career high. The most impressive aspect of the second was the amount of pressure the Flyers were establishing on Calgary, even being up 4-1, the Flyers closed out the period with great energy.

3rd Period: The Flyers put great pressure on Calgary in the first couple of shifts, but just under 3 minutes into the period, Simmonds took a penalty for defending Schenn, cross-checking Mark Giordano. The Flyers did a great job of killing the penalty, and as Simmonds left the penalty box, he received a pass but was stopped by Jonas Hiller on the breakaway attempt. As the midway point of the period approached, the Flyers were starting to lose more battles in the corners, which eventually resulted in a goal by Michael Ferland. Under 2 minutes later, Neuvirth let in a soft goal from Michael Frolik which brought the score to 4-3. Would it be a Flyers game if they did not give up a multi-point lead? After giving up two quick goals, the Flyers continued to get trapped in their defensive zone, but were eventually able to generate puck movement in the neutral zone and get the puck into the Calgary zone. In the last minute, Matt Read and Sean Couturier had an excellent shift containing the puck in the offensive zone. Eventually, Hiller was pulled for the extra attacker and with 36 seconds left, Raffl assisted Simmonds on an empty net goal to solidify the 5-3 win.

Notable performances: With 3 goals, Brayden Schenn was obviously a huge contributor to the win, along with Claude Giroux and his 4 assists. Wayne Simmonds had 2 goals and played a fantastic overall game. As a team, even with Voracek sidelined, the puck movement was precise and clean. March will be a tough test for this team if they are  going to be a serious playoff contender.

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