Flyers come out on losing end of 'weird game' against Tampa Bay

JODY SHELLEY could not remember seeing anything like it.

Brian Boucher called it the weirdest game of his career.

By every accounting method, the numbers - 15 goals between both teams, nine combined goals in the first period, 15 out of 18 Flyers picking up at least one point - were staggering.

But those numbers weren't as shocking as the Flyers blowing a two-goal lead three times, as they were outgunned by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning, 8-7, in one of the most wild games in recent memory.

Steven Stamkos, who leads the NHL in scoring, roasted the Flyers with a hat trick. It's hard to imagine what the score would have been if Tampa Bay also had Vinny Lecavalier and Simon Gagne in the lineup.

Somehow, fans were clamoring for more - a shootout. But they left the Wells Fargo Center disappointed when Kimmo Timonen's point blast as time expired was swatted away by Mike Smith. It seemed like one of the few shots that didn't find its way to the back of the net.

Last night tied a 26-year-old franchise record for most goals in a losing effort, which last occurred in a 9-7 loss to Hartford on Feb. 25, 1984.

"It was a weird game," Shelley said. "We thought we were in control. We let them back in the game, they scored two quick ones and then it just kept going all night like that. It was really strange.

"It's so disappointing. We let it slip. We started to get too frustrated with different things and that's exactly what they wanted."

After going on a 9-0-1 run over the last few weeks, it was the Flyers' second straight loss. They fell, 3-0, in Montreal on Tuesday. They still hold a four-point edge on the Atlantic Division.

It was the Flyers' fourth loss of the season against an opponent that played the night before when they were at home resting.

Coach Peter Laviolette said he was not willing to just chalk up the loss to a strange game. He wanted more accountability from his players after leaping out to a two-goal lead in the first 5:03. The Flyers didn't relinquish the lead until Tampa Bay made it 8-7 with the only goal of the third period.

"Typically, you don't see 8-7 games in the National Hockey League," Laviolette said. "I don't think you can just dust it under the carpet, either. There were too many goals given up that were prime scoring chances. We weren't very good in front of our goaltender."

Never mind that the Flyers wasted seven goals after being shutout 2 nights earlier.

"[That's] probably not so much disappointing as we were defensively," Chris Pronger said. "We've been scoring a lot of goals in the last seven, eight games. Obviously, we got shut out the other night in Montreal, but that certainly doesn't allow you to do some of the things we did out there."

Neither starting goaltender made it through to the second period: Dan Ellis was yanked after allowing four goals on 10 shots and Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled during the first intermission after giving up four goals on 11 shots.

Laviolette said he did not pull Bobrovsky on any inclination of fatigue, he said he was "trying to change the direction of the game" after giving up four goals in the first period.

"This was not really a tragedy," Bobrovsky said through a translator. "It happens to every goaltender. This kind of game just sucks you in like a vacuum."

All four of the game's goaltenders combined for a putrid 77 percent save percentage, stopping 50 of 65 shots.

Boucher allowed a goal on the first shot he faced in the second period.

"You'd like to get a few 'feel good' shots," Boucher said. "But it was tough to get in a rhythm at that point. It was probably the weirdest game I've ever played in in my pro career. It was a crazy game.

"You would have had to think that at some point, it would slow down, that it can't continue to have pucks go in like that. You thought in the second period things would slow down and we would settle into the game."

It didn't happen. After nine combined goals in the first period, the two teams added five more in the second period. After taking a 7-5 lead with goals from Nik Zherdev and Andrej Meszaros, Tampa Bay scored twice to knot it up before earning the only tally in the third period.

The Flyers found out first-hand last night why they call the two-goal lead the worst lead in hockey.

"That's when you've got to button down and lock it in," Pronger said. "Force them in situations they don't want to be in, cheating, trying to get goals. From that, you're going to gain a lot of offensive opportunities. But we let it slip away."

"It was a weird night," Boucher said. "I don't know if we should harp on it or we should just chalk it up as one of those things that it's a crazy night."

Nik Zherdev was the only Flyer to score twice . . . Steven Stamkos' hat trick was the first by a visiting player since 2006 . . . The Flyers have not scored a power-play goal in three games . . . James van Riemsdyk was a plus-3 through two periods despite playing just 4:26 . . . Martin St. Louis was a minus-1 despite picking up five assists . . . Braydon Coburn picked up the 100th point of his career with an assist on Scott Hartnell's goal . . . The Flyers and an opponent last combined for 15 goals on Feb. 21, 1994, with an 8-7 win in Montreal . . . The Flyers' four goals in the first 15:34 were their fastest scored since Nov. 16, 2006, in Anaheim . . . The Flyers tied a franchise record for most combined goals in a first period, a number matched four times, but not since 1984.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers. Follow him on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.