The Philadelphia Flyers, coming off a sluggish start to the season, found their breakthrough moment on Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Kevin Hayes, Michael Raffl, Matt Niskanen, and Oskar Lindblom each scored in the second period, powering the Flyers to a 6-2 victory, snapping their four-game losing streak.
The Flyers, who had struggled out of the gate with a 2-3-1 record under new coach Alain Vigneault, had been slow to gain momentum this season after an early stretch of tough games across multiple time zones. But they showed no signs of struggle against Vegas, dominating the game with a powerful offensive performance.
“We got big saves, and when they made mistakes, we made them pay, which we haven’t been able to do for quite some time,” Vigneault said.
Travis Konecny opened the scoring with a power-play goal just over four minutes into the game. The Flyers then exploded in the second period with a four-goal burst, marking their first such period since March 2019. Raffl added a second goal in the third period to cap off the scoring.
Brian Elliott was solid in net for Philadelphia, making 33 saves, including 25 straight over the first two periods. Elliott’s steady performance gave the Flyers the confidence they needed to unleash their offense.
“You just want to play big back there and not give anything unreasonable up,” Elliott said. “The guys gave me a good chance to win with all that run support.”
The Flyers benefited from Marc-Andre Fleury sitting out for the Golden Knights, as Vegas opted to rest their star goaltender on the first night of a back-to-back. Oscar Dansk started in goal for Vegas and struggled to contain Philadelphia’s attack, showing why Fleury rarely gets a night off.
Vegas, now 4-2-0, found some consolation with third-period goals from Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit. Raffl’s breakaway goal, making it 6-1, dashed any hopes of a comeback.
Vegas coach Gerard Gallant lamented the team’s gamble after falling behind 3-0.
“We can’t play like that,” Gallant said. “We have to play good, solid hockey.”
The Flyers head back on the road for four of their next five games, but this win provided a much-needed boost for a team that had been struggling offensively.
“It’s an important win for our group,” Vigneault said.
Game Notes:
- Flyers forward Joel Farabee, the 14th overall pick in the 2018 draft, made his NHL debut.
- The Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation introduced a new training program called NEXT SHIFT to promote healthy relationships and create a safer community for student-athletes.
Up Next:
- Golden Knights: Fleury is expected to return to the lineup Tuesday night when Vegas faces Chicago.
- Flyers: Philadelphia heads to Chicago for a game on Thursday night.
