Flyers fall to Utah Hockey Club, lose momentum with third straight loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers followed their three-game winning streak with a three-game skid.
They lost to the Utah Hockey Club, 4-2, Sunday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
With less than six minutes left in the third period, John Tortorella’s team had the chance to tie even on the power play. But the Flyers allowed a shorthanded goal. Morgan Frost skated the puck too much in the defensive zone, which allowed Kevin Stenlund to score a breakaway.
Tortorella defended Frost after the match.
“He won’t repeat that for the rest of his career,” the head coach said.
The Flyers never led Sunday night and have now lost more than two games in a row for the first time since October, when they suffered a six-game losing streak.
Joel Farabee and Owen Tippett scored goals for the Flyers (12-12-4), who are 1-4-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets. They fell to the Bruins, 4-3, in overtime Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.
It was the first-ever meeting between the Flyers and Utah (12-11-4). The teams meet again in February when the Flyers visit the Delta Center.
• The Flyers saw the return of their number one goalie.
Samuel Ersson was back in net and made 21 saves on 25 shots after missed the last 11 games with a lower body injury.
“I thought Sam played well,” Tortorella said. “I looked confident.”
The 25-year-old made an early stop on a semi-strange run to Utah. This must have been good for getting rid of the rust after 26 days of no play action.
“I felt maybe a little rusty,” Ersson said. “I think I played pretty well in the first one, and then in the second one, I feel like I have to make one of those saves. It’s one of those games for me where I kind of It feels like it’s not a goal, like, ‘I have to get this one.’ But I have to make one more save for us to have a chance to win.”
Ersson couldn’t catch a break in the second half as Utah scored three times. The first was a difficult bounce off the skate of Rasmus Ristolainen. The Flyers also made a shift as Utah pushed the ice.
After Farabee answered 19 seconds later to make it 1-1, the Flyers came back down 2:22 minutes later when Juuso Valimaki redirected a goal past Ersson. Sean Couturier was in the lead battling Valimaki.
Tippett then tied the Flyers four minutes later, but once again Utah countered. This time, it’s on the power play. For the Flyers, it was their seventh shorthanded goal allowed in the last four games. One of those seven was an empty net. Before this streak, the Flyers’ PK had only allowed 10 goals this season.
“I thought our backs looked tired tonight,” Tortorella said. “I killed a lot of penalties. If there’s any wear and tear from killing penalties like we did, it’s the backline. They looked tired tonight.”
Utah goaltender Jaxson Stauber stopped 22 of 24 Flyers shots.
• Two and a half hours before the game, when asked if he thought Travis Konecny would respond well to be benched for overtime on SaturdayTortorella said “of course.”
The head coach did not talk to his team about the penalties in the third period of the last two games. The Flyers’ poor situational play caused them to give up their lead and lose both games.
Konecny had an assist Sunday night on Farabee’s goal. The Flyers didn’t commit a penalty in the third period until the final 17 seconds, but they couldn’t come back.
• Matvei Michkov is on a four-game point streak in which he has recorded three goals and five assists. The prized rookie had a secondary assist on Tippett’s goal.
He leads all NHL rookies with 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in 26 games.
• Jamie Drysdale played his first game in four weeks, replacing Egor Zamula.
“Honestly, it was really good, just during the whole preseason, finding out that I was going to be back in the lineup – really exciting,” Drysdale said. “On the other hand, it’s a shame we didn’t get the win. We play in a few days and we’ll build from there.”
The 22-year-old defender was out with an upper body injury. During this period, Drysdale completed numerous on-ice rehabilitations. He also worked on film with Tortorella and assistant coach Brad Shaw.
“Shawsy made a tape with him, I put together a little piece of tape for what we’re looking for him to turn into,” Tortorella said before the match. “There will be a little rust, he hasn’t played much. At that position you have to have the look. We’ll throw him in there and see where he goes.”
So far, so good for Drysdale. He looked sharp and had a plus-1. He saw a goal scratched from the board in the third period. A Utah coach’s challenge was called off due to Konecny’s goalie interference.
“In my opinion, the goalie interference call was pretty bad,” Farabee said. “Goalkeepers don’t have to fight anymore in this league. They feel the contact, they throw their head back and it beckons them every time. It’s a bit ridiculous if you ask me. It’s a change the whole game.”
The goal would have tied the match at 3-3.
“It should be banned,” Tortorella said. “You go back (into the territory) on your own, it’s going to be paid for. So I have nothing to do with that at all.”
• The Flyers will travel to Columbus for a Tuesday matchup against the Blue Jackets (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | Youtube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Single broadcast | RSS | Watch on YouTube
