Stamkos Too Much For Mrazek, Flyers

"The Philadelphia Flyers spent their Saturday afternoon going toe to toe with the Tampa Bay Lightning on their home ice. In the end, they dropped a 7-6 shootout decision in a very entertaining game.
The Flyers played a dominate opening 20 minutes against the Eastern Conference's top team. Nolan Patrick became the 11^th Flyer on the season to hit double digits in goals with a power play tally just over seven minutes into the game. Jakub Voracek passed around the net to Claude Giroux in the left circle where he quickly moved the puck to the front of the net. Patrick got his stick down on the ice to redirect the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy while getting knocked down from behind by Victor Hedman.
Less than a minute later, Giroux was sent off to the penalty box for a very questionable slashing call. The Lightning did not need very long to convert as Steven Stamkos fired an absolute rocket of a one-timer from the right dot that flew over the shoulder of Petr Mrazek. The shot was perfectly struck and placed and there isn't a goaltender in the league who could do much to stop it.
Voracek gave the Flyers their second lead of the day at the 14:30 mark of first period. Patrick started the play by breaking up Braydon Coburn's pass in the offensive zone. The puck went right to Voracek in front of the net and after being denied on his first shot, he put the rebound in behind Vasilevskiy for his 14^th goal of the year.
Robert Hagg extended the lead to 3-1 about three and a half minutes later as he got the puck in the high slot, skated to his right and beat Vasilevskiy back to the left with a rising snap shot. Scott Laughton and Ivan Provorov picked up the helpers on Hagg's third career goal.
Tampa Bay had a response in the second period with Hedman cutting the lead in half about six minutes into the middle frame. Hedman skated the puck down to the goal line in the left corner and was rewarded for just getting the puck toward the net as his shot hit Valtteri Filppula and hopped over the glove of Mrazek.
Dan Girardi's first career goal versus the Flyers tied the game at 12:47. A Provorov turnover led to extended zone time that concluded with Girardi's one-timer from the right point getting through heavy traffic and into the Flyers net. Mrazek was screened on the play and didn't see the puck until it was too late.
The Flyers regained the lead from an unlikely source about three and a half minutes later. Jori Lehtera grabbed a loose puck at the top of the right circle and quickly turned around and flung a wrist shot between the legs of both Hedman and Valisevskiy. Jordan Weal and Filppula had the assists on Lehtera's second goal on the year.
Provorov made up for his earlier turnover by extending the lead to 5-3 just over a minute into the third period. The young defender took the puck from a Filppula faceoff win and fired a wrist shot through heavy traffic for his 12^th goal.
J.T. Miller cut the lead back down to one, at the 4:23 mark, with his first goal in Lightning uniform. Mrazek made a save on a shot from Yanni Gourde, but Miller drove hard to the net to put home the rebound.
Stamkos's second goal on the day tied the game about three minutes later. Alex Killorn's stretch pass led to a 2-on-1 rush where Nikita Kucherov passed across the slot right into his captain's wheelhouse for the one-timer finish.
Moments after Vasilevskiy robbed Patrick, Stamkos picked up his third assist and fifth point to give Tampa their first lead of the game at 10:03 by setting up Hedman in the high slot for yet another one-timer past Mrazek.
Giroux came up huge by tying the game and forcing overtime with just under three minutes remaining in regulation. Provorov got to a loose puck in the slot and backhanded it off of Sean Couturier to an open Giroux at the side of the net and beat Valisevskiy to the short side.
The Flyers had a 4-on-3 in overtime and had some golden scoring chances, but Valisevskiy came up huge, including robbing Shayne Gostisbehere twice within a minute. A big toe save on Brayden Point was one of three big stops Mrazek had to make in the final minute of overtime to get the game to a shootout.
Valisevskiy had stopped 13 of the 14 shots he's seen in the shootout this season and he improved that save percentage by denying both Patrick and Coutuirer who tried to beat him through the five-hole. After Point beat Mrazek to the glove side in the second round, it was, fittingly, Stamkos who ended the game by doing the same thing in the third round.
The Flyers are now 23-1-5 when leading after two periods this season. They will be right back at it tomorrow afternoon at the Florida Panthers. "