Second night of a back-to-back on the road – at elevation no less. Losing their goaltender midway through the game. Blocking 33 shots.
No wonder Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol was so complimentary.
”Just a gutsy effort
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Ivan Provorov had a goal and an assist, Petr Mrazek stopped all 17 shots he faced in relief of starter Michal Neuvirth and the Flyers held off the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Wednesday night.
Claude Giroux also scored as the Flyers climbed into third place in the Metropolitan Division. They’re tied in points (92) with second-place Pittsburgh, with the Penguins currently holding the tiebreaker.
”Every point matters right now,” Mrazek said.
Philadelphia looked crisp early – scoring both goals in the first period – despite losing in overtime at Dallas a night earlier. Neuvirth turned back 10 shots in his first game since suffering a lower-body injury on Feb. 18, but he exited the game midway through the second period for an undisclosed reason. Hakstol had no update after the game.
Mrazek took over and was exceptional, especially in the last five minutes when the Avalanche turned up the pressure. He withstood a flurry of shots in the last few seconds, including one from Gabriel Landeskog where the red light briefly came on after the puck flew by the net.
”Those five minutes felt like 15. So long,” Mrazek said. ”Lots of blocked shots in front of me, a couple of lucky bounces today. Didn’t see
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Matt Nieto scored for an Avalanche team that’s on the outside of the playoff picture with five games remaining. They’ve lost three of four, including two of those at home where they’ve been stellar all season. The Avs are 16-4-1 at the Pepsi Center over their last 21 games.
What’s more, Colorado’s offense has suddenly gone silent with five goals now in the last four games.
”When our line goes cold we lose games,” star forward Nathan MacKinnon said. ”If we have some chances it’s up to us to bury them.”
Andrew Hammond had 31 saves during an emergency start for Semyon Varlamov, who was sidelined by an illness. Varlamov had appeared in 21 straight games for the Avalanche.
Hammond was called up from San Antonio of the American Hockey League earlier in the day as an insurance policy. It was his first appearance for Colorado after splitting time between the minors and a backup role. He also dealt with what the team called a head injury. Hammond was acquired as part of a three-team trade that sent Matt Duchene to Ottawa in November.
”I think it took me a period to get my legs under me,” said Hammond, who played in his first NHL game in more than a year. ”The unfortunate part is I guess the game-winning goal ended up being scored in that period. But as the game went on I settled in and started to feel better.”
Nieto cut it to 2-1 by poking the puck past Neuvirth at 5:36 of the second period.
Colorado pulled Hammond with around 90 seconds left but couldn’t score the equalizer despite turning up the pressure.
Giroux put the Flyers up 1-0 in the first with his 27th goal, and Provorov added another nearly eight minutes later with a blast from the blue line.
With Provorov’s score
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”This is how the game is played right now,” Provorov said. ”You can’t create offense with just three forwards. You have to move and have mobile `D.’ I think that’s what we have on our team.”
NOTES: Flyers D Shayne Gostisbehere set up Giroux’s goal. Gostisbehere has five assists over his last three games. … D Andrew MacDonald had seven blocked shots. … Avs RW Sven Andrighetto missed a third straight game with a lower-body injury. … Backup G Jonathan Bernier remains sidelined as he deals with a cut on his hand that became infected. He faced some shots during a morning skate Wednesday, but didn’t have his stick.
UP NEXT
Flyers: Host Boston on Sunday.
Avalanche: Face Chicago on Friday before a three-game trip.
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More NHL hockey: Tom Brady and the New England Patriots ended the regular season where they started it.
Being chased by the rest of the NFL.
The Patriots finished the regular season as the No. 1 team in the final AP Pro32 poll on Tuesday, receiving 11 of 12 first-place votes for 381 points in balloting by media members who regularly cover the NFL.
The Patriots (13-3), tied for the best record in the NFL, will have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
”Can we skip straight to the AFC championship game? I can’t wait,” said Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.
”It could prove a better matchup than the Super Bowl.”
The Minnesota Vikings (13-3), who were tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, remained at No. 2 with 367 points. The Vikings
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”What a remarkable job by coach Mike Zimmer, who wins the NFC North going away with backup Case Keenum and now takes aim at becoming the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium,” Newsday’s Bob Glauber said.
The Steelers (13-3) slipped a spot to No. 3 in the poll with 365 points and will open the playoffs at home on Jan. 14 in the divisional round.
”Need (Antonio) Brown for the playoffs,” Fox Sports’ John Czarnecki said of the Steelers star wide receiver who left the loss to the Patriots on Dec. 17 with a calf injury.
The Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles switched places. The Rams moved to No. 4 and the Eagles (13-3) slipped to No. 5.
”The question hanging over the city of Philadelphia right now: Will Nick Foles be enough?” asked Jenny Vrentas of The Monday Morning Quarterback. ”The last two performances of the regular season were uninspiring, but the Eagles have two weeks to regroup and come up with a game plan to win at home without Carson Wentz.”
The New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers, who will meet Sunday afternoon in the Superdome in the final game of wild-card weekend, remained at No. 6 and 7 respectively.
”The Saints will be hard to beat in the Superdome with that running game
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The Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons each moved up a spot to No. 8 and 9 respectively.
The Jacksonville Jaguars slipped two spots to No. 10 after losing to the Tennessee Titans, who jumped four spots to No. 11.
The Buffalo Bills, who ended the league’s longest streak of consecutive seasons without a postseason appearance when Andy Dalton and the Bengals stunned the Baltimore Ravens 31-27, gained two spots to finish tied with the Los Angeles Chargers at No. 12.
”After ending a 17-year playoff drought, the resourceful Bills travel to Jacksonville feeling giddy and carefree,” said Ira Kaufman of SB Nation Radio.
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