The Philadelphia Flyers came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 overtime result at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights.
They played a good game, they were well-structured, and didn’t look outmanned or outclassed against a far superior opponent, but a turnover in overtime cost them as Jonathan Marchessault finished off the breakaway and handed the Flyers their 6th overtime or shootout loss of the season.
Scott Laughton scored the lone goal for the Flyers, William Carrier started off the scoring for the Golden Knights, Carter Hart made 32 saves on 34 shots, and Adin Hill was almost perfect making 27 saves with his only fumble being the giveaway that led to Laughton’s 4th of the season. The Golden Knights didn’t possess the puck during overtime and only needed the one shot to get the victory.
When Cam York was recalled, many assumed the odd man out might’ve been either Justin Braun or Nick Seeler, however John Tortorella stuck to his guns and decided to bench Tony DeAngelo – someone who hasn’t necessarily been playing the best brand of hockey lately. The lines remained the same from last game with the lone change being York for DeAngelo on the third pairing.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers almost started the game off with a bang, only 70 seconds in, as Joel Farabee found himself on an odd-man rush but his shot attempt was just stopped by the pad of Adin Hill. Farabee’s shot was the first of the game that was followed up by shot on goal by Mark Stone 1:33 in, and then Ivan Provorov 2:37 in, and then no shots on goal were recorded for almost 8 full game minutes until Patrick Brown and Nicolas Deslauriers recorded shots.
As fate would have it, the Vegas Golden Knights were able to get the ball rolling on their 4th shot of the game after Hart bobbled a puck for a juicy rebound in a very dangerous spot. William Carrier and Shea Theodore took harmless shots on Hart – who had gone 10 minutes without any action – that lead to careless rebounds. Carrier was able to sneak behind Rasmus Ristolainen and tuck home the puck that Hart couldn’t handle for his 9th of the season.
The Flyers tried answering back courtesy of the trio of James van Riemsdyk, Morgan Frost, and Zack MacEwen, who created dangerous scoring chances on back to back to back shifts. van Riemsdyk set up Frost in front of the net with a behind the back pass that was deflected by the young centre but gloved down by Hill. That was followed up by van Riemsdyk and MacEwen who started hacking away at a loose puck in the blue paint that was ultimately covered and frozen by Hill. Then on their third scoring chance of the period and in succession, van Riemsdyk – once again being the set up man – set up MacEwen from behind the net with a pass right into the slot but his shot was just deflected away by a Golden Knight stick.
The period ended with the Golden Knights up 1-0 with the Flyers holding a 9-8 shot advantage. It was a very tightly contested first period, not much happening in terms of chances and opportunities as a whole, and that was proven by the fact that this was a game between the best and second-best shot blocking clubs in the NHL.
SECOND PERIOD
1:48 into the second period, Scott Laughton tied the game for the Flyers after a brutal Adin Hill turnover. Hill hesitated behind the net and tried shoving it past Laughton, who knocked it down and banked it in off the goaltender who tried rushing back into the net for his 4th of the season to snap a 16-game goalless drought.
Carter Hart had faced a lot of periods of inactivity due to the Flyers really shutting down the neutral zone and clamping things down whenever the Golden Knights entered the offensive zone. A lot was kept to the outside, shots were being blocked, and it got Bruce Cassidy to juggle his lines mid-game. Heading into the first commercial break and after another period of 5 minutes without any action, Hart was tasked with coming up with a huge glove save on Reilly Smith dancing his way into the slot.
The MacEwen-Frost-van Riemsdyk line were at it again after Frost first beat out an icing call, then set up MacEwen with a deflection play on a spin-around pass that trickled its way into the blue paint after Hill got a piece of it, but it couldn’t find its way to get over the red line. The Golden Knights countered on the next shift after Jack Eichel set up Paul Cotter with a walk-in shot – the second of the period for the Knights in 9 minutes – in the slot that was gobbled up by Hart.
Then Eichel, Daniil Miromanov, and Nicolas Hague each had a crack at the net but Hart was sprawling and moving post-to-post to find the puck, make the save and cover it for the faceoff. All these chances finally culminated into the first penalty of the game after Scott Laughton was called for a tripping minor in the neutral zone with 10:24 remaining. The Flyers only allowed one shot that failed to hit the net as they restricted the NHL’s 16th-best power play.
It was Philadelphia who then entered a lull of inactivity as they went over 6 minutes without a shot until – surprise, surprise – the MacEwen-Frost-van Riemsdyk trio came inches away from taking a late second period lead. The puck made its way into the blue paint after Frost was able to navigate through traffic and while many players in Orange and White tried finding the rebound, only the one shot was registered. Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes then had a 2-on-1 opportunity a few minutes later but Konecny’s shot went just high.
The second period ended with both teams tied at 1 and the Golden Knights having a slight shot advantage after a 15-12 (23-21) edge in the second period.
THIRD PERIOD
Chances were few and far in between to start the third period as Joel Farabee had the best chance to start, 7 minutes into the final frame, as he walked in all alone on Adin Hill but lost control of the puck at the end as it just rolled off his stick and wide.
The Golden Knights found a second gear with less than minutes to go as the Flyers were hemmed in their own zone, looked flustered and out-manned but Carter Hart stood tall and it all culminated into a game-saving stick save on William Carrier who had an open net to shoot at after being set up by Keegan Kolesar.
With 2:56 remaining in regulation, Noah Cates was called for a tripping minor in the offensive zone – only the second penalty of the game, both handed to Philadelphia. The Flyers did a good job killing the penalty but the Golden Knights had 2 shots on goal, including a very dangerous opportunity for William Karlsson on a one-timer in the slot that was stopped by the toe of the skate.
After 60 minutes, the game was tied at 1, the Golden Knights had a 33-27 shot advantage, but the Flyers had them in the hits department at 40-23. William Carrier opened the scoring in the first period only for Scott Laughton to answer back early in the second frame. Last year, Carter Hart made 88 saves on 92 shots against the Golden Knights, only to add 32 more before heading into overtime.
OVERTIME
The 0-5 after regulation Flyers came out flying as Travis Sanheim had 2 huge opportunities to end it in the first 30 seconds but was stopped on both attempts – the first one being in the slot after being set up by Travis Konecny who was flying down the wing.
With 2:49 remaining in the 3-on-3 portion of overtime, the whistle was blown dead with the Flyers in the offensive zone after Shea Theodore bumped into Sanheim in a knee-on-knee collision and was on the ice in obvious pain. Sanheim went the other way and set up Konecny for a one-time opportunity that was deflected wide.
On Vegas’ first shot in overtime and really their only overtime possession with 1:39 remaining, Jonathan Marchessault finished off a breakaway opportunity past Carter Hart for the 2-1 victory.
Kevin Hayes made a spin move in the neutral zone and as he entered the offensive zone he tried making a pass to Sanheim that was picked off by Marchessault. He made a nice forehand backhand move on Hart for his 12th of the season and now has goals in four straight.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will visit Mullett Arena for the first time on Sunday night to take on Shayne Gostisbehere and the Arizona Coyotes on the second game of their road trip.
