Flyers put themselves in position to only suffer more pain with OT loss in Vegas originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Another close game and another gut-wrenching finish for the offense-needy Flyers.
John Tortorella’s club suffered a 2-1 overtime loss Friday night to the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Flyers controlled the action for most of OT but they needed someone to make a play. Kevin Hayes tried to make the play but his pass was intercepted by Jonathan Marchessault, who went on a breakaway for the game-winner.
The Flyers (9-13-6), kicking off a four-game road trip, haven’t won away from home since Nov. 5 and dropped to 0-6 after regulation this season.
Scott Laughton scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who are 2-10-4 over their last 16 games, a stretch in which they’ve scored a meager 2.06 goals per game.
The Flyers don’t see the Golden Knights (20-8-1) again until March 14 in Philadelphia.
• The Flyers put themselves in position again to win a game heading into the final 20 minutes.
But as structured and defensive as they are, their severe lack of scoring talent is going to make life awfully tough in these spots.
“We just struggle generating offense. It’s a problem here,” Tortorella said after the Flyers’ 4-1 loss Wednesday night to the Capitals. “Some is confidence, some is we just struggle offensively.”
The Flyers fell to 1-4-5 when entering the third period in a tied game.
Joel Farabee had a breakaway in the final stanza but couldn’t finish his move.
The Flyers didn’t go on a single power play all game. They were not happy with the officials during overtime.
Once again, they didn’t lack effort. They just don’t score enough.
• Cam York, one of the organization’s top prospects, made his season debut in place of the healthy scratched Tony DeAngelo.
The 21-year-old defenseman was solid. He played a composed game and saw key minutes in overtime. Good exposure for him in the grand scheme of things.
Late in the second period, York had a strong sequence, which you can watch below.
• Carter Hart, who beat the Golden Knights twice last season with 88 saves on 92 shots, was strong yet again.
The 24-year-old finished with 32 saves on 34 shots.
He made a spectacular stick save with under four and a half minutes left in regulation.
The Flyers survived a Noah Cates tripping penalty with under three minutes remaining.
Hart had a huge second period. The Flyers killed off the game’s first penalty during the middle stanza and Hart denied 15 shots.
Vegas struck first on an unlucky play for the Flyers during the opening frame. Hart and Rasmus Ristolainen tried to clear a rebound just outside of the Flyers’ crease and the puck ricocheted off of William Carrier for a 1-0 Golden Knights lead.
The Flyers answered early in the second period with an aggressive forecheck. They put Vegas netminder Adin Hill in trouble as he played the puck behind his net and indecisively coughed it up to Laughton. The Flyers’ alternate captain then shot the puck off of the retreating Hill for the equalizer.
Hill, the Golden Knights’ backup, stopped 27 of 28 shots. He helped the Flyers with that second-period gift.
• The James van Riemsdyk-Morgan Frost-Zack MacEwen line was good.
It was active and finished with eight shots.
• The road trip continues Sunday when the Flyers visit the Coyotes at Mullett Arena (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).
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