Flyers' home winning streak against Blackhawks ends with 4-1 loss

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers fell back under .500 on Thursday with a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, who have the league’s second-worst record.

The visiting Blackhawks, who have won five of their last six, came out with jump and pinned the Flyers to their own zone to kick off the game. Almost nine minutes in, Morgan Frost broke through the neutral zone and the 0-0 tie to put the Flyers on the board with the team’s fourth shot on goal.

With a 1-0 lead, the Flyers (19-20-7) matched their play to the Blackhawks, leading to a lot of back-and-forth. Both teams showed little offense and little defense. They gave away the puck and took away the puck in almost equal measure. Halfway through the second period, Jonathan Toews evened the score with a redirect goal to match the even play of the two teams.

The opponents continued to circle each other until a failed breakout by Rasmus Ristolainen and Owen Tippett led to Reese Johnson’s go-ahead goal late in the second period. Tippett was later demoted to the fourth line in place of Zack MacEwen.

The Blackhawks (13-26-4) were 5-2-1 when leading to start the third, and they quickly upped their chances of making that 6-2-1 with a Tyler Johnson goal, scored 32 seconds in off another turnover at the blue line, this one by Tony DeAngelo.

With a two-goal deficit, the Flyers woke up and started attacking the net. They gave up an empty-net goal, prompting DeAngelo to snap his stick. When the clock ran, the Flyers’ 17-game winning streak against the Chicago Blackhawks in regular-season home games ended.

Frosted up

From a four-point game to a three-game drought, Frost has had his ups and downs. But he’s now scored, and in stunning fashion, in two straight games.

Following his James van Riemsdyk-inspired, between-the-legs goal from Tuesday, Frost opened the scoring Thursday night. After defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen and Nick Seeler killed a play in their own zone, they got the puck to Frost. He carried it past both blue lines, stick handled around Seth Jones with two others on his heels, and then shot it off the crossbar into the net.

“I’m always kind of trying to find Reemer [van Riemsdyk] and Tip there, and I’ve been told to shoot the puck a little more, so that’s what I did there,” Frost said after the first period.

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