No Konecny as Flyers can’t hold off McDavid & company, finish road trip 1-3-0 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the third period Tuesday night, the Flyers saw a charging Connor McDavid and couldn’t slow him down.
The best player on the planet took over and the Flyers lost to the Oilers, 4-2, at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
John Tortorella’s club had a commendable effort through the first two periods of the game, holding the NHL’s most lethal offensive team to just 10 shots.
McDavid and his partner in crime Leon Draisaitl completely flipped the script in the final stanza. The Oilers took advantage of a double-minor penalty, fired 17 shots at Carter Hart and put the Flyers on their heels to send them home with a 1-3-0 road trip.
The Flyers (23-26-10) faced a tall order without Travis Konecny, who suffered an upper-body injury the night before in the team’s 4-3 win over the Flames. The Flyers’ leading goal scorer and point man will be reevaluated when the club returns to Philadelphia.
Noah Cates and Owen Tippett scored for the Flyers, who are 2-9-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets.
The Flyers have gone 2-5-1 in February and have three games left before the March 3 NHL trade deadline.
With a 2-1 shootout win over Edmonton at the Wells Fargo Center earlier this month, the Flyers went 1-1-0 against the Oilers (31-19-8) in their two-game regular-season series.
• The world class duo of McDavid and Draisaitl turned it on when winning time rolled around.
Olle Lycksell, playing in his sixth career NHL game, was hit with a double-minor high-sticking infraction just under six minutes into the third period.
The league’s No. 1 power play went to work as Draisaitl tied the game at 2-2.
Fewer than six minutes later, McDavid handed Edmonton its first lead with an even strength marker.
Looking for an equalizer, the Flyers couldn’t convert on a 6-on-4 late in the period. With the Flyers’ net emptied, McDavid scored a shorthanded empty-net goal on a lengthy shot to ice the game.
The Flyers had a gutsy penalty kill late in the second period to maintain their 2-1 edge, but the Oilers went 2 for 4 on the man advantage.
McDavid (two goals, one assist) and Draisaitl (one goal, two assists) combined for six points on the night.
• Hart was completely fine with 23 saves on 26 shots.
He yielded just one goal at even strength and it came on a tough bounce as Edmonton had the Flyers under siege. McDavid sent the puck into Hart and Travis Sanheim, who was sprawled out in coverage. It ricocheted in for what turned out to be the game-winner.
With 10:13 minutes left in the third period, Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner made a brilliant save on Tippett to keep the game tied 2-2.
Skinner turned away 24 of the Flyers’ 26 shots.
• Sanheim was back in the lineup after being benched by Tortorella in Calgary.
He blocked a pair of shots, went scoreless and was a minus-1 in 20:33 minutes.
The Flyers will want to see him be much more of a difference-maker the rest of the way.
• The Flyers grabbed their 2-1 lead in the second period when Lycksell grabbed his first career NHL point.
The 23-year-old rookie forced a turnover, which Kevin Hayes jumped on and then found Tippett with an excellent pass.
A bittersweet night for Lycksell because of the third-period penalty.
• The Flyers played a real sound first period for 19:54 minutes.
Joel Farabee, though, committed a high-sticking penalty about 180 feet from the Flyers’ net with six seconds remaining. Edmonton’s power play, which didn’t see a single opportunity 12 days ago in Philadelphia, pounced on its first chance.
Tyson Barrie fired home a shot right off the draw to knot the game at 1-1 with just 2.9 ticks left on the clock.
Farabee went scoreless with two shots through 12:27 minutes a night after being benched in the second period by Tortorella.
• Next up is another back-to-back set for the Flyers. After a two-day break from game action, they host the Canadiens on Friday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP) before visiting the Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Subscribe to and rate Flyers Talk
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | YouTube
