In a battle between two very injured teams, the Philadelphia Flyers took down the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 5-3.
The Flyers had this game in the bag – seemingly – with three minutes remaining in the third period before Mikko Rantanen went end-to-end to cut the deficit to 4-2 and then on the next shift, Alex Newhook’s second of the game made it 4-3. Travis Konecny’s empty-netter and 10th of the season sealed the deal as the Flyers won for only the second time in 14 games.
Travis Sanheim, Tanner Laczynski, Tony DeAngelo, Owen Tippett, and Konecny scored for the Orange and Black, the power play went 2 for 3, and the penalty kill went 4 for 5 against the top unit in the NHL while Carter Hart made 29 saves for his 8th win of the season.
The Flyers were given great news earlier in the day that Cam Atkinson was cleared for contact and even though he was not in the lineup tonight, he should be returning soon alongside James van Riemsdyk. As for tonight, the Flyers didn’t change too much to their lineup as Kevin Hayes was placed on the wing with Noah Cates at centre and Travis Konecny opposite him. Following that were the trios of Joel Farabee Morgan Frost, and Owen Tippett, Scott Laughton, Lukas Sedlak, and Zack MacEwen, and then Nicolas Deslauriers, Tanner Laczynski, and Patrick Brown. On defence, Rasmus Ristolainen remained on the top pair with Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim remained with Justin Braun, as Tony DeAngelo returned as the anchor of the third pair with Nick Seeler.
FIRST PERIOD
3:33 into the game, Kevin Hayes was called for a holding minor in the neutral zone against Nathan MacKinnon, giving the top power play in the NHL an early opportunity. It only took the Avalanche 17 seconds to get on the board as the top of the umbrella got to work quickly. Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen, and MacKinnon made easy work of the faceoff win and Makar’s point shot was then deflected by Alex Newhook to get the Avalanche on the board and the early lead.
Almost 4 minutes later, Travis Sanheim was able to walk in from the point and rip a snap shot over the glove of Alexandar Georgiev to tie the game at 1. The Flyers were given time and space to cycle in the zone as Zack MacEwen sent a back-hand pass to Scott Laughton behind the net and he was able to locate Sanheim who was all alone at the point because Mikko Rantanen – who didn’t have a stick – decided to leave his man and fetch a stick off the bench. Unfortunately for Rantanen, Sanheim was his man and he was able to score his 3rd goal of the season, extended his point streak to 4 games, and his 8th point in his last 9 games.
A minute later, Tanner Laczynski was called for a tripping minor, bringing back the dangerous Avalanche power play that is connecting at a 32% rate this season. The penalty was killed off but the Avalanche came out of with all the momentum as the injury-ravaged lineup was coming in wave after wave on Carter Hart. Scoring chances were available for both teams as the Flyers troubled Georgiev with a couple chances, but the Avalanche came inches away a few times from taking a 2-1 lead but Hart made the much needed saves.
The tenacious and opportunistic Flyers took advantage of a breakdown by the Avalanche defense. In the offensive zone, Martin Kaut’s point shot was blocked by Patrick Brown who then corralled the loose puck and sent it off the boards to Joel Farabee, who had Tanner Laczysnki opposite him. Farabee’s initial shot was stopped but Laczynski was able to convert on the rebound for his second of the season to give the Flyers a lead with 1:55 left in the period.
With only 3 seconds left in the period, Jacob MacDonald was perfectly set up by Nathan MacKinnon to tie the game right before the horn – but Carter Hart was able to dive and make an incredible save to preserve the lead.
The Avalanche held a 15-11 shot advantage thanks to their quick start but the Flyers cut into the deficit – not only in the shot clock but on the scoreboard as well – with some incredible goaltending and opportunistic scoring chances.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers took their strong finish to the first period and tacked it on to start the second as they cracked another goal past the Avalanche and Georgiev. Alex Galchenyuk was called for a holding minor 3:01 into the middle frame and the Flyers converted only 58 seconds later off the stick of Tony DeAngelo for his 4th of the season and his first since November the 10th against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
All their power play goals are seemingly off of simple plays and when they simplify their game, good things happen as DeAngelo showed once again. Morgan Frost played pitch and catch with the quarterback of the first unit and his shot from the point got passed Georgiev, who had a maze of players in front of him blocking his view.
Nearly 3 minutes later Joel Farabee was called for a tripping minor but the Flyers did a much better job this time around as the Avalanche weren’t able to really muster up any chances. 12 minutes into the period, the Flyers held a 8-1 shot advantage over the Avalanche and really didn’t allow them any time or space past the neutral zone. On an odd man rush with Travis Konecny on his side, Kevin Hayes was impeded by Galchenyuk who was called for his second minor of the period – this time a hooking penalty – at the 11:47 mark of the second period.
It might’ve been their best power play all season as the Flyers did absolutely everything but score a goal with offensive zone time, shots on goal, scoring chances, and passes that mystified the Avalanche defence.
With 4:29 remaining in the period, Martin Kaut was sprung on a breakaway after a bank pass off the boards from Newhook but Carter Hart made a sprawling blocker save to keep the Avalanche from cutting the deficit in half.
Georgiev had his chance to make a big momentum changing save as Owen Tippett had an opportunity off the wing that was gloved down by the Bulgarian netminder.
With 1:12 left in the second period, DeAngelo was called for a cross-checking minor, giving the Avalanche their 4th power play of the game at a very inopportune moment for the Flyers. The Flyers did a good job at killing the first 72 seconds of the man advantage and had the best opportunity as Travis Konecny outmuscled Cale Makar for a scoring opportunity that was shouldered aside by Georgiev.
The Flyers headed into the second intermission up 3-1, outshot the Avalanche to that point 23-20 and in the second period 12-5, and unsurprisingly had a 33-19 edge in the hit department.
THIRD PERIOD
After killing the remaining 48 seconds of the penalty, the Flyers were called for another penalty 2:10 into the third period courtesy of a tripping minor against Joel Farabee. After the penalty expired, the Flyers jettisoned out of the zone and Farabee had another odd man rush, this time with Konecny, and attempted the same play – Laczynski’s goal – as his shot for a rebound was stopped but Konecny’s rebound chance just fluttered wide as he had a defender barring down on him. 3 minutes later, Cale Makar found himself on a breakaway but Hart stood tall and made the initial save and then stopped Charles Hudon twice on the rebound.
8:47 into the final period, Makar was called for a high sticking penalty as he clipped Lukas Sedlak behind the Avalanche net. The Flyers actually won an offensive zone faceoff as MacEwen took the draw, tied up the stick of the Avalanche centre, and Scott Laughton then helped and sent the puck to the point to Ivan Provorov, who then sent it back to Laughton for the one-timer that was hit so hard and wide that it bounced right to Owen Tippett’s stick on the other side of the ice.
Georgiev bit on Laughton’s shot, which gave Tippett an open net to shoot at once the puck found its way onto his stick. The goal represented Tippett’s 7th of the season and the second power play goal in the game for the Flyers.
It was not the way the Flyers wanted to close this one out as Mikko Rantanen went end to end, diced his way through MacEwen and Ristolainen, before beating Provorov as well on his way to towards the net before finishing a top-shelf shot over Hart to cut the deficit in half with 2:03 remaining.
The Avalanche pulled Georgiev for the extra attacker on the very next shift and scored their 2nd goal in 40 seconds thanks to Alex Newhook. J.T. Compher centered a pass to Newhook in the slot and beat Hart glove-side with 1:37 remaining in regulation.
Colorado came in waves on the next shift again but this time Hart made the key saves as the Flyers found a way out of the zone as Sanheim got the puck out of the zone to Hayes, who then lasered a pass to Konecny who was left all alone with an empty net for his 10th of the season with a minute remaining.
The Flyers quelled the final attack from Colorado to take a 5-3 victory against the defending Stanley Cup champions but the last few minutes overshadowed a very strong 57 minute performance leading up to it.
UP NEXT
Philadelphia closes out their homestand on Wednesday against Washington at 7:00pm before embarking on a four-game road trip.
