Philly Sports Jabronis
* Sean Couturier recorded his first career power play goal in the first period of tonight’s game.
* Rookie forward Scott Laughton earned the primary assist on Couturier’s goal for his first NHL point.
* The Flyers scored first in a road game for the first time this season – They are now 5-1-1 when scoring first.
* The Flyers had 15 different players record at least one shot on goal – Wayne Simmonds had five shots on net to lead all players on both teams.
* The Flyers have gone eight games without a win on the road for the first time since Feb. 20 to Mar. 16, 1999, which was a stretch where they went nine road games without a win (0-7-2)… Overall, they have now gone five games without a win, which last happened when they went 0-3-2 from March 31-April 8, 2011.
* Tonight marked the first game this season in which Jakub Voracek did not record a point on a night where the Flyers were not shut out… Voracek remains one point behind Sidney Crosby in the NHL’s scoring race with nine goals and 23 assists for 32 points.
* Andrew MacDonald returned to the line-up after being scratched in Saturday’s game at New York – he recorded an assist on the only Flyers goal and appeared in 19:25 of ice time.
* Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also returned to action after being scratched in Saturday’s game at New York – he recorded two shots on goal and 11:34 of TOI.
* The Flyers are next in action tomorrow night (Wed. Dec. 3) when they visit the Anaheim Ducks in a 10:30 PM start.
GAME RECAP
SAN JOSE — Matt Nieto scored with 11.5 seconds left in the third period to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday at SAP Center.
Sharks forward Patrick Marleau fired a shot on a breakaway from close range that Flyers goaltender Steve Masonrejected, but Nieto raced in for the rebound and blasted the game-winner. The goal was Nieto’s third.
Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi made 28 saves. Mason made 25.
The Sharks, coming off a 6-4 victory Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks, have won back-to-back games for the third time.
Philadelphia has lost five in a row (0-4-1) and eight straight on the road. The Flyers are 1-8-1 in their past 10 games.
Philadelphia’s Sean Couturier scored in the first period, and San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic answered with a goal in the second.
Sharks center Logan Couture was injured on a collision with Flyers forward Michael Raffl 26 seconds into the third period and missed the rest of the game. Raffl’s right shoulder made contact wutg Couture’s chin. Couture hit the ice, got up slowly and skated off under his own power.
Sharks fourth-line forward Andrew Desjardins had a breakaway early in the third, but he lost control of puck and couldn’t get a shot off.
Raffl tested Niemi on a breakaway midway through the period but came away empty.
Then with less than four minutes left, Mason turned away Tommy Wingels’ blast from the right circle. The Flyers had an odd-man rush with less than two minutes remaining, but Niemi stopped Braydon Coburn.
The Flyers outshot the Sharks 16-6 in the first period and took a 1-0 lead on Couturier’s power-play goal at 6:00.
Couturier ripped a shot from the left circle that got under Niemi’s right arm for his fifth goal. Scott Laughton got his first career assist, and Andrew MacDonald also got an assist in his return to the lineup after being benched Saturday against the New York Rangers.
The Flyers scored first in a road game for the first time this season; it was their 12th game away from Wells Fargo Center.
San Jose, which is known for its fast starts at home, had four shots in the first 6:43 of the game, then went the next 9:27 without a shot as Philadelphia dominated play in a physical first period. The Flyers had 12 hits to 11 for the Sharks and won 59 percent of the faceoffs.
San Jose pulled even with 2:16 left in the second period on Vlasic’s third goal, which came on a 3-on-2 rush.
Couture zipped a pass to Wingels in the right circle, and Wingels sent a cross-ice pass, hitting Vlasic in stride, a step behind Flyers center Claude Giroux, and he sent a wrist shot past Mason.
Vlasic went to the locker room for about four minutes midway through the first period after blocking a pair of shots on the penalty kill, but he showed no signs of damage while racing past Giroux and scoring.
The Sharks outshot the Flyers 13-6 in the second period and outhit them 14-9.
Flyers forward Vincent Lecavalier was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. He has 405 career goals, but has gone 12 straight games without a goal. Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
