Monday night’s performance was certainly not the way the Philadelphia Flyers wanted to end their homestand. After coughing up a 3-0 lead, they dropped the game in a shootout against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Morgan Frost, Sean Couturier, and Emil Andrae got the Flyers up by 3 before Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev cut the deficit to 1.
Matvei Michkov made it 4-2 shortly after but the Knights received a late second period tally from Pavel Dorofeyev and a third period goal from Tanner Pearson to force overtime.
The Flyers outshot Vegas 8-0 in overtime in large part because of a power play but couldn’t beat Ilya Samsonov, who made 31 saves for his 5th win of the season.
Eichel scored the lone shootout tally to register their 14th win of the year and extended their winning streak to 3.
Looking to end their homestand on a high-note, the Flyers welcomed the Golden Knights off the high of a thrilling overtime victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
The Flyers came back with the same lineup that defeated the Blackhawks as Matvei Michkov remained with Morgan Frost while Joel Farabee stuck on the top line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. Ivan Fedotov was the lone lineup change after sitting on the bench over the weekend as he looked to improve on his 3-4-0 record, 3.69 GAA, and .875 SV%.
As for the Golden Knights, they entered tonight’s game at the top of the Pacific Division with a 13-6-2 record and a 6-3-1 tally over their last 10 contests. They remained without their captain Mark Stone as well as William Karlsson and Alex Pietrangelo but were continually paced by Jack Eichel’s 25 assists and 32 points, Ivan Barbashev’s 9 goals and 22 points, and Tomáš Hertl’s 8 goals and 17 points.
Ilya Samsonov received his 8th start of the year as he looked to add onto his 4-2-1 record, 2.99 GAA, and .906 SV%.
FIRST PERIOD
At the 4:57 mark, the Flyers jumped on the game’s first power play after Shea Theodore was given the gate for a tripping minor. The top unit had a few chances but it was the Vegas Golden Knights who looked more dangerous with Tanner Pearson stoned by Fedotov on his odd-man rush opportunity.
8:51 into the game, Frost opened the scoring after he deflected a Rasmus Ristolainen shot in front of Samsonov for his 2nd of the season. Owen Tippett did a tremendous job at cycling the offensive zone before he dropped it off to a streaking Ristolainen who found daylight in the slot and wired a wrist-shot that was deftly deflected past the netminder.
3:16 later, Couturier ripped a shot off the wing for his 2nd goal in as many games and 5th of the season. Konecny was able to jettison the captain after he was able to knock down a dump-in attempt and Couturier made no mistake with a very well placed snap-shot low-glove.
The period ended with the Flyers firmly ahead with a 2-0 lead and a 7-6 edge in shots.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers continued where they left off as they opened the scoring just 28 seconds into the period. Emil Andrae recorded his first career NHL goal after wiring a slap-shot from the point past Samsonov after he initially made the save on Garnet Hathaway’s net-front opportunity.
After looking a little more dangerous to begin the period, the Golden Knights got on the board at the 7:41 mark after Eichel ripped a quick snap-shot blocker-side past Fedotov for his 8th of the season. Vegas quickly pounced on a turnover in the defensive zone but had also recorded the last 6 shots on goal and held a 10-2 edge in the first 7 minutes.
Less than 5 minutes later, the Golden Knights’ top line pounced again as Eichel was able to follow his own rebound to assist Ivan Barbashev. Travis Sanheim did a good job to block the initial shot but Eichel was able to find the Russian for his 10th of the season.
With the Flyers needing to respond ASAP, Matvei Michkov was able to strike as he ripped a hard snap-shot past Samsonov from the slot. The puck was stuck in and around sticks and skates in front of the goal before loosening up and landing right to Michkov for his 8th goal of the season at the 13:18 mark.
With 1:55 remaining in the period, Couturier received a 2-minute minor for hooking, sending the Knights onto their first power play of the night. It only took them 5 seconds to cut the deficit back to 1 after Pavel Dorofeyev ripped a one-timer past the glove of Fedotov for his 11th of the season.
The period came to a close with the Flyers holding a one-goal lead after being up 3-0. The shots shifted heavily towards Vegas as they outshot the Flyers 19-7 in the period and 24-14 through 40.
THIRD PERIOD
At the 4:16 mark of the period, Hathaway was forced off the ice after he blocked a Robert Hägg slap-shot on the inside of his hand.
With 8:05 remaining, Pearson tied the game at 4-apiece after ripping a quick one-timer from the slot through Fedotov’s five-hole. He started the play initially as he forced a turnover behind the Flyers’ net off Helge Grans before setting himself up in the slot as he waited for Noah Hanifin’s pass.
With 6:56 remaining, the Flyers headed back to the power play after Hertl was called for a tripping minor. With 40 seconds remaining on the minor, Michkov fed Frost for an open net one-timer but he missed the net, keeping the score tied.
Regulation solved nothing – as per usual – but the Flyers played a great period but just couldn’t solve Samsonov. They outshot the Knights 14-6 to bring the shot total closer at the end of regulation – 30-28 Vegas.
OVERTIME
End-to-end hockey for the Flyers could not net them a goal but with 2:22 remaining in overtime, Sanheim was able to draw a holding minor against Nicolas Roy to send them onto their third power play of the night.
Sanheim shifted to a completely different gear in the latter half of this game and overtime was where he really shone, but unfortunately both of his mini-breakaways before the power play were stopped. Then he was robbed by the glove of Samsonov on his one-timer at the beginning of the power play, and then rung the post shortly after.
The Flyers fired 8 shots in the 5 minute-frame – to the Knights’ 0 – but Samsonov had all the answers as he was able to do his part to force a shootout.
SHOOTOUT
Travis Konecny – Miss
Pavel Dorofeyev – Miss
Matvei Michkov – Miss (post)
Jack Eichel – GOAL
Owen Tippett – Miss
Eichel’s lone tally stood as the shootout winner as the Golden Knights completed the comeback, 5-4.
UP NEXT
The Flyers hit the road on Wednesday when they face off against the Nashville Predators (8:00pm; NBCSP+).
