Flyers Postgame Report: 3-Goal 2nd Lifts Vegas Past Flyers

Through 20 minutes, the Flyers had held their own against one of the top teams in the league. In the opening minutes of the second, the Vegas Golden Knights delivered the friendly reminder of why they are near the top of the league standings, as some familiar issues carried over into the new year for the Flyers.

A three-goal second period, featuring two early goals and a late dagger, proved to be the difference in a 5-2 loss for the Flyers on Thursday night.

It took just 21 seconds for the Flyers to get on the board. Tyson Foerster capped off an impressive opening shift by putting home a rebound to make it 1-0 with his 11th goal of the season.

That was the lone goal of the first period, as the Flyers killed off a late power play for Vegas in the opening frame. Through 20 minutes, shots were 8-4 Flyers.

The Golden Knights quickly rallied and took the lead early in the second. Just 51 seconds into the period, Jack Eichel centered and got a deflection from Mark Stone to even things up at one. At 2:13, Vegas took the lead as Nicolas Hague scored his third goal of the season on a wraparound to make it 2-1.

Late in the period, Vegas capped things off with their third goal of the second. Off a face-off, Pavel Dorofeyev scored his 14th goal of the season to make it 3-1 with 1:38 remaining in the period.

Through two periods, shots were 19-16 Flyers.

Early in the third, Vegas added to the lead. Alexander Holtz fired a shot that caught a piece of Aleksei Kolosov‘s glove and went in, making it a 4-1 game on his third of the season at 2:46.

At 4:56, the Flyers cut into the lead with a power-play goal. Travis Konecny scored for the second straight game, picking up his 18th goal of the season to make it 4-2.

That was as close as the Flyers would get, as Tanner Pearson capped things off with an empty-net goal in the final minute to make it 5-2.

Kolosov made 22 saves on 26 shots in the loss. Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves on 25 shots in the win.

Eichel, Stone, and Noah Hanifin each had two points for Vegas.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Sunday night to close out the road trip against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Tyson Foerster (11) (Noah Cates, Bobby Brink) 0:21

2nd Period

• VGK Mark Stone (9) (Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin) 0:51
• VGK Nicolas Hague (3) (Keegan Kolesar) 2:13
• VGK Pavel Dorofeyev (14) (Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb) 18:22

3rd Period

• VGK Alexander Holtz (3) (Hanifin, Alex Pietrangelo) 2:46
• PHI Travis Konecny (18) PP (Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost) 4:56
• VGK Tanner Pearson (8) EN (Stone, Eichel) 19:24

Game Statistics