Written by Tom Dougherty at CSN Philly
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said Sunday he wanted to see how his team responded to its first loss in 11 games — or 22 calendar days, as it had been for the orange and black.
On Monday night, Hextall got his answer.
The Flyers dropped their second straight game and saw their six-game home winning streak snapped in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators at the Wells Fargo Center.
It was the Flyers’ first home loss since Nov. 25.
“We talked about having a determined effort for 60 minutes,” Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said, “and I think we got that. A hard-fought hockey game tonight, both ways.”
Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis scored the lone shootout goal, while goalie Pekka Rinne churned in his best performance in eight games. Rinne finished with 31 saves.
Rinne faced an onslaught from the Flyers in the first 30 minutes, turning aside 23 of 24 shots. His only blemish was an Andrew MacDonald goal at 10:38 in the opening period.
The Nashville goalie had allowed at least three or more goals in his previous seven starts, but showed the form Monday that has made him a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist.
In the shootout, Rinne stopped Nick Cousins, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
“Yeah, I felt good,” Rinne said. “It is great to play a good game against a good team in a fun building. They have good fans. I felt good. I felt like I made some good saves, and eventually in the shootout, I made a couple of stops and then I got lucky in the last one.
“[Voracek] already deked me out and I was just doing the snowman. Luckily, he didn’t put it in, so I’ll take it any day.”
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