TAMPA, Fla. –- They did everything right.
Except win.
Yet if rookie Flyers coach Dave Haskstol takes one thing away from Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Lightning (see Instant Replay), it’s this: If the Flyers give this sort of effort throughout the season, they're going to win a lot more games than they lose.
“We played a good 60-minute hockey game and that is what we’ll go back to,” Hakstol said after his NHL coaching debut at Amalie Arena.
“We’ll learn a little bit from the three-on-three overtime. We tried a little too hard to make things happen in the overtime. That cost us. But in terms of a team game, pretty good.”
The Flyers were hard on the puck and checked hard all night. They had the puck jammed in Tampa’s zone almost the entire third period. They had only four shots that stanza, but they only allowed six, as well.
Goalie Steve Mason had 29 saves and had a huge stop on Ondrej Palat with 15 seconds left in regulation that got them into overtime to earn the Flyers their first point in this building in four years.
Sure, they’ve lost eight straight here, but the way the Flyers played against a better team with two fleet-footed lines was impressive.
“It was a great effort overall; we probably could have come away with two points,” Mason said. “The guys come out with an effort like that, they can look in the mirror and be happy.”
The Flyers also had a franchise first –- two penalty shots. One by team captain Claude Giroux in the first period, the other by Scott Laughton in overtime. Both were unsuccessful.
“Too bad we didn’t get the win because we played pretty good,” said Giroux, whose double-move saw his shot go wide of goalie Ben Bishop, who got his stick.
“It happened pretty quick," Giroux said. "I don’t know. He came out of nowhere with his stick and lifted my [stick].”
Giroux echoed teammates in assessing when they look at the video on Friday, they’re going to be “happy with the game” they played.
“We were pretty consistent the whole game and played the way we wanted to play,” Giroux said. “Our identity is going to be important to us. We have to play the same against Florida [on Saturday].”
Bishop stopped Laughton's backhand in OT.
"Yep, I wanted the five-hole and it just popped up a little bit," Laughton said. "I couldn't get it."
The three-on-three overtime was the first in the NHL this season. Tampa had five scoring chances before Jason Garrison won it on a breakaway.
“Yeah, it was chance after chance, but that is what the league wants to get with wide open hockey,” Mason said of OT.
Mason was screened on one goal early in the game and admitted he’d like to have back Ryan Callahan’s power-play goal late in the second period that tied the game at 2-2.
He was slow to cover the left post on Callahan’s backhander.
“I didn’t get over there in time to seal off the post properly,” Mason said. “It was a shot from the point. I was blocked in front and it kinda squeezed in there [to Callahan].”
Look at it this way. If Mason doesn’t stop Palat, the Flyers lose in regulation and come away empty-handed.
This was a point well-earned that should carry over.
“We need four lines to go and be able to play the game the way we want with energy and pace,” Hakstol said.
“I thought all four of our lines gave us that. We had good consistency with our group of six [defensemen] on the back end, as well.”