The Philadelphia Flyers are out for blood this season as they just exacted revenge for the 4th consecutive game after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in today’s afternoon affair, 4-3.
Carter Hart made 28 saves for his 6th win of the season, Owen Tippett extended his goal-streak to 4 games, Tyson Foerster scored his first of the season, and Sean Couturier scored the overtime winner for his 4th of the season to extend the winning streak to 4.
The Flyers got off to a 2-0 lead off 2 power play goals but the Golden Knights scored 3 times in the second period to tie things up – mixed in was a Sean Walker goal. Couturier jumped on a turnover in overtime and his pass attempt actually went over the stick of Konecny and through the five-hole.
After losing earlier meetings to the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, Carolina Hurricanes, and the Golden Knights, the Flyers equaled the score with another strong performance, vaulting their record to 9-7-1.
The Flyers returned home for the first time since the 4th of November as they took on the Golden Knights in an afternoon matinee riding a 3-game winning streak. After dispatching the Ducks, Kings, and Hurricanes in revenge games from previous defeats earlier in the season, the Flyers were looking to make it 4/4 after losing to the Golden Knights 3-2 on the 24th of October. With this being the front-end of a back-to-back set, Carter Hart received the start today against the more vaunted attack of the Golden Knights, sporting a 2.34 GAA and .921 SV%.
The lines remained the same after a few juggles mid-game against the Hurricanes on Wednesday night. Sean Couturier was centering Tyson Foerster and Cam Atkinson, Morgan Frost was in between Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling remained on the third line with Joel Farabee and Scott Laughton, and Noah Cates was centering Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway. Bobby Brink remained a healthy scratch and previously-scratched Egor Zamula remained in the lineup even with Marc Staal ready to return.
As for the Golden Knights, they remained at the top of the NHL standings entering today’s afternoon game with a 13-3-1 record – but the Boston Bruins had 2 games in hand but trailed by 1 point. They were 6-3-1 in their last 10, including a wild comeback victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday by a score of 6-5.
William Karlsson led the club with 8 goals and 19 points in 17 games, Jack Eichel had 7 goals and 18 points, Mark Stone followed him with 5 goals and 17 points, and Shea Theodore paced the back-end with 4 goals and 16 points. Logan Thompson got the call against the Flyers again, bringing a 5-2-0 record with a 2.27 G.A.A. and a .925 SV%.
FIRST PERIOD
Carter Hart was doing Carter Hart things to start the game as he had to stop an Ivan Barbashev breakaway just 100 seconds into the first period and then had to stop Brett Howden off the rush after a defensive breakdown.
When the Flyers offense is clicking and looking really dangerous, a lot of it has to do with their active defenseman and Sean Walker provided another example of that. He corralled a loose puck just outside of the Golden Knights blue-line and instead of dumping it in or trying to make a haphazard pass, he moved into the offensive zone which caught Vegas off-guard. He then fed Travis Konecny who was robbed twice over by Logan Thompson and that essentially opened the floodgates for shots, scoring chances, and everything in between.
With a little more pressure, the Flyers were able to draw a penalty against William Karlsson for slashing at the 14:23 mark of the first period. Would you believe me if I said the Flyers won the faceoff, then set up properly, and finally scored a power play goal?
Owen Tippett finished off a great sequence as he fired a hard shot past Thompson from the slot for his 7th goal of the season, his 5th in his last 4 games, and extended his 4-game goal-streak. It was the Flyers’ first power play goal in 28 opportunities.
Travis Sanheim’s initial point shot was stopped and went into the corner, Tyson Foerster retrieved the rebound and fed it to Cam Atkinson who had to hurriedly make a play but found Sanheim for another bomb from the point. This time his shot was blocked by the skate of Brayden McNabb but Tippett was able to snag the puck in his bumper position to finish off the first goal of the game with 4:30 to go.
The Flyers’ first period success continued as they entered the first intermission with a 1-0 lead and a 16-8 shot advantage – after trailing 5-2 early on.
SECOND PERIOD
34 seconds into the middle frame, William Carrier was called for a roughing minor against Nick Seeler. All it took was 25 seconds for the Flyers to add their 2nd power play goal of the game, this time courtesy of Tyson Foerster, who finally bagged his first goal of the season.
Tippett, Sanheim, and Atkinson did a great job at the top of the umbrella before Sanheim’s point shot was stopped by Thompson but the rebound went right to Foerster in the slot for the finish.
With the Flyers applying all the pressure, all it took was one mistake for the Golden Knights to counter and respond. Owen Tippett flubbed on a pass just outside the Golden Knights’ blue-line with Jonathan Marchessault going the other way. He found William Karlsson who entered the zone off the rush and fired a shot that redirected off of Nick Seeler and past Hart, 4 minutes into the second period.
After Sanheim was stopped off the rush by the glove of Thompson – who then covered for the whistle – Chandler Stephenson came out of nowhere and cross-checked Garnet Hathaway in the shoulder. Hathaway’s head hit the crossbar and was on the ice for a little bit before skating off to the locker room. The referees conferred to see if it was a major penalty and indeed awarded Stephenson with the 5 minute major and a game misconduct with 10:19 remaining.
Unfortunately, the power play luck dried out as the Flyers found it really difficult to set up and create scoring chances with just 3 shots on goal. In fact the biggest save during the 5-minute power play came from Hart who robbed Jack Eichel in tight.
And just like that, the Golden Knights tied the game coming right out of the commercial break. Eichel forced a turnover from Sanheim in front of the net, the Knights cycled and set back up before Jonathan Marchessault finished off a spin-o-rama opportunity in one swift motion through the five-hole of Hart with 5 minutes remaining.
The Flyers responded just 25 seconds later after Walker’s point shot found it’s way past a confounded Thompson who couldn’t see through the moving screen of Howden and Konecny. As simple as you’d like with Seeler feeding Walker with a point-to-point pass before rifling the shot over the glove for his 3rd of the season.
With 2:55 left to play in the period, Walker was called for a holding minor against Eichel. 48 seconds into the power play, Konecny was called on a questionable holding minor against Eichel, sending the Knights on a 5-on-3 for 72 seconds. Then 42 seconds after that, Scott Laughton was called for a cross-checking minor, further complicating the situation.
Marchessault eventually scored his 2nd of the game with 47 seconds left on a 2-man advantage and 54.2 seconds left in the period. Sanheim and Mark Stone created the perfect screen with the former trying to block the shot and the latter just standing in front of the goaltender.
Things almost went from bad to worse as 27 seconds later Mark Stone almost gave the Knights a 1-goal lead but Hart came up huge with a stand-up save on his breakaway opportunity.
The Golden Knights outscored the Flyers 3-2 in the period, the Flyers had 16-13 shot advantage in the middle frame and a 32-21 edge through 40 minutes. Both goaltenders had come up big on several different occasions, otherwise the score could have been more lopsided for either team.
THIRD PERIOD
After killing off the remaining 65 seconds of Laughton’s penalty, Frost made his way to the penalty box for a tripping minor just 2:17 into the final frame of regulation. The Flyers killed the penalty but the Golden Knights were swarming and their momentum took over the first half of the period.
With 9:30 left, Hathaway and Alex Pietrangelo were both called for coincidental roughing minors for some 4-on-4 play.
Similarly to their last contest against each other, the third period became very hard to traverse for the Orange and Black. Vegas held a 9-3 shot advantage through the first 15+ minutes but the Flyers were still forechecking well and keeping the Knights to the outside.
With 2:43 to play, Paul Cotter was guilty of a tripping minor in his offensive zone, giving the Flyers power play a golden opportunity to exact some late-game revenge. Karlsson and Eichel continued to provide dangerous opportunities while shorthanded, with the latter setting up the former with a scoring opportunity off the rush that Hart just got a piece of.
Regulation came to a close with the Flyers holding a 38-31 shot advantage though 60 minutes. Heading into just their 2nd overtime session of the season, the Flyers looked to add to their 3-game winning streak.
OVERTIME
An absolute wild sequence to start the overtime period with the Knights jumping on a Flyers turnover from Couturier in front of Hart but Eichel’s shot hit the post.
The Flyers then went the other way with Sanheim leading the rush but with tired legs on both sides, things got sloppy behind the net, which worked in their favour.
Couturier jumped on a turnover from Eichel and fired what looked like a pass to Konecny who was streaking in front of Thompson. His pass attempt bounced over his stick and through the five hole for the game winning goal.
Union Forge Vodka proudly serves as the Official Vodka of Flyers Nation. This partnership celebrates the unyielding spirit of Flyers fans and offers a quality spirit that perfectly compliments the team’s essence. Whether celebrating victories or showing resilience, Union Forge Vodka embodies the winning spirit of both the Flyers and their dedicated fans. Stay connected with exciting giveaways by following @unionforge and @flyersnation across all social media platforms.
