While their shutout streak came to a close, the losing streak continued for the Philadelphia Flyers as they were dispatched in overtime against the Utah Hockey Club by a score of 3-2.
The Flyers opened the scoring just 2 minutes into the game courtesy of Rodrigo Ābols’ first career NHL tally. Utah then tied it up to start the second period from a point shot from Mikhail Sergachev before Tyson Foerster reclaimed the lead less than a minute later.
The Flyers looked to have taken a 2-goal lead when Travis Konecny wired his shot past Karel Vejmelka but the Flyers were ruled to have been offside. After that it was a complete lull from Philadelphia as Utah revved it up and eventually tied it in the third period off Dylan Guenther’s laser of a shot.
The youngster not only tallied the game-tying goal but the game-winner as well with less than 1 second left on the clock in overtime to encapsulate a theatric return to the lineup.
Samuel Ersson was fantastic once again in a losing effort as he stopped 39 shots, whereas Vejmelka made 18 saves for the victory. After a 12-10 edge in shots for Utah after the first period, they tilted the ice surface in the final 2+ periods with a 30-10 advantage.
Looking to score their first goal since an empty-netter on Monday night, the Flyers visited the Utah Hockey Club for their inaugural visit at the Delta Center.
Owen Tippett and Rasmus Ristolainen were sidelined with upper-body injuries and Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier remained out of the lineup due to visa-related issues. With that, the Flyers welcomed back Nicolas Deslauriers for the first time since November 9th and the lines once again went through a blender.
Samuel Ersson returned in between the pipes as he looked to improve on his 15-10-2 record, .892 SV%, and 2.84 GAA as well as his first win in 3 games.
As for Utah, they entered tonight’s game on a 5-game losing streak, 3 wins in their last 10 games, and a 21-22-9 record overall. Dylan Guenther made his return to the lineup after missing the last 12 games and Karel Vejmelka earned the start with an 11-14-4 record but better peripherals in a 2.48 GAA and .911 SV%.
Clayton Keller paced the attack with 18 goals and 56 points, Logan Cooley was in second with 43 points but sidelined with an injury, and Nick Schmaltz rounded out the top with 41 points.
FIRST PERIOD
So much for the shutout streak reaching historic heights as the Flyers opened the scoring just 2:02 into the game. The fourth line struck with a fantastic forechecking shift that was finished off by Rodrigo Ābols’ first career goal with Nicolas Deslauriers camped in front. The long-range shot was completely masked by the screen as the Flyers came out with a bang.
Similarly to their start in Denver, the Flyers had a lot of jump to start this game but unlike their game against the Avalanche, they couldn’t hold it for as long as the Utah Hockey Club were outshooting Philadelphia 11-6 (4-1 to start the game) 14 minutes in.
With the Flyers needing energy, Deslauriers, playing in his first game in 3 months, dropped the gloves with Liam O’Brien in what was an old-school rock-em-sock-em fight with the former taking down the latter.
With 5 seconds remaining in the period – and with the Utah broadcast talking about how bad the Flyers’ goaltending has been, ironically enough – Samuel Ersson made a highlight reel blocker save to thwart Nick Bjugstad’s one-timer.
The period came to a close with the Flyers holding onto their 1-0 lead but with Utah outshooting them 12-10.
SECOND PERIOD
3:32 into the period the Utah Hockey Club tied the game after a point shot from defenseman Mikhail Sergachev found its way through Ersson’s arm. He initially made a great stop before Utah corralled the rebound and Dylan Guenther set up Sergachev’s point shot.
The tie was very short lived as the Flyers reclaimed their lead 57 seconds later off the stick of Tyson Foerster. Bobby Brink did a good job at finding Sean Couturier upon entering the zone and the captain did the rest with a great shot-pass to the streaking Foerster for his 14th of the season.
At the 8:46 mark, Travis Konecny looked to have given the Flyers a 3-1 lead but it was taken back after it was ruled Couturier was offside before Matvei Michkov received the initial pass.
On the very next shift, the Flyers were handed the game’s first penalty after Ābols got the gate for a delay of game minor. The surging Utah power play was quelled on the first opportunity as their first real opportunity came with 4 seconds left on Ābols’ minor.
Utah jumped right back onto the power play with 7:34 remaining after Nick Seeler was guilty of a holding minor against O’Brien, who found himself on an abbreviated breakaway. It was another successful kill with their best chance coming upon expiration with another O’Brien breakaway.
With 21 seconds left, Utah earned their third straight power play after Couturier was found guilty of a tripping minor against Kevin Stenlund in the neutral zone. They created 3 chances in short order but were unable to find the equalizer before the horn sounded.
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead into the final intermission with Utah extending their shot lead to 25-14 with a 13-4 edge in the second period.
THIRD PERIOD
With the Flyers snoozing, the Utah Hockey Club came within inches once again of getting the puck past Ersson but the Swede came up with his second diving stop on a one-time attempt within the first 5 minutes of the third, this time against Nick Schmaltz.
Unfortunately with Utah continuing to press, they ended up tying the game with 11:20 remaining off the stick of Guenther. The former first-round pick entered the zone with speed, used Emil Andrae as a screen, and looked towards Michael Carcone before wiring the no-look shot past a befuddled Ersson.
The Flyers jumped onto their first power play of the night with 6:31 remaining in regulation with O’Brien getting the gate for tripping. Despite being in the offensive zone for nearly the entirety of the man advantage, the Flyers were kept to the outside with most of their chances blocked off.
The Flyers forced an overtime session but were lucky to even collect a point after a very sleepy effort from top to bottom. Utah had a 12-5 advantage in shots in the period as they collected 37 shots to the Flyers’ 19 through regulation.
OVERTIME
With no time left on the clock, Guenther’s theatrics continued as he wired his second goal and third point of the night over the blocker of Ersson. The youngster revved up in the neutral zone as he had to wait for Clayton Keller to get off the ice and onto the bench.
Travis Sanheim was caught flat-footed before Guenther wired the shot top-shelf to end the game.
UP NEXT
The Flyers head home on Thursday night to take on the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals at Wells Fargo Center (7:00pm; NBCSP).
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