Flyers win 4th in a row by taking down another top-10 team originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers turned some more heads Saturday night with a 5-2 win over the Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver.
Carter Hart was dynamite again, fending off a Colorado team that came in scoring a league-high 4.17 goals per game at home. The Flyers never trailed and went on to win their fourth straight.
Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Travis Sanheim and Joel Farabee all scored for the Flyers, who are 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
John Tortorella’s club is 2-0-0 on its three-game road trip and improved to 15-10-2 overall. In 2019-20, the last time the Flyers made the playoffs, they were 15-7-5 through 27 games.
Konecny delivered his second straight two-goal effort. In the third period, his penalty shot marker extended the Flyers’ lead to 4-2. Forty-six seconds later, Farabee scored and the Flyers were in control with 9:43 minutes left.
Tippett, Sanheim and Bobby Brink also had two-point performances.
The Flyers won in Denver for the first time since March 28, 2018, when they had Ivan Provorov, Andrew MacDonald, Shayne Gostisbehere, Radko Gudas, Brandon Manning and Sanheim on defense. Michal Neuvirth and Petr Mrazek both played in net that night.
The Flyers face the Avalanche (16-9-2) again Jan. 20 when the teams wrap up their two-game regular-season series in Philadelphia.
• It’s early. You’ll probably hear that a lot. And it is early.
But there’s no doubt the Flyers have surprised people and the team’s progress has been notable.
The Flyers are in second place of the Metropolitan Division past the quarter mark of the season. Last year, they were 9-13-5 at this point and in seventh place.
The Flyers also have four wins over top-10 clubs: the Golden Knights, Kings, Canucks and Avalanche.
And they really haven’t disregarded their rebuilding motives. For the most part, young players have gotten opportunities and there has been good veteran support.
• After surrendering only two goals over his past two starts, Hart had 36 saves on 38 shots to keep Colorado at bay.
In the Flyers’ last three wins, the 25-year-old has recorded a 1.30 goals-against average and .958 save percentage.
Hart denied all 10 shots he saw in the third period Saturday night.
Josh Manson got him in the second period with a shot through traffic to cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-2.
With a head of steam, Nathan MacKinnon barreled around Rasmus Ristolainen and beat Hart to make it 1-1 at first intermission.
The Flyers’ penalty kill once again was good. It went 2 for 2 and is now 40 for 42 in the last 13 games (95.2 percent).
Avalanche backup Ivan Prosvetov stopped 29 of the Flyers’ 34 shots.
After giving the Flyers a 2-1 lead in the second period, Tippett picked up a secondary assist on Sanheim’s goal.
Brink made a nice play in the neutral zone to set up Tippett, who flushed his own rebound. Two minutes and 16 seconds later, Morgan Frost found Sanheim in the circle. Just like that, the Flyers had a 3-1 lead over midway through the game.
• Konecny gave the Flyers the all-important game-opening goal with 2:19 minutes left in the first period. Sean Couturier sent him an excellent pass.
The Flyers are 12-1-0 when they score first.
Konecny has 16 markers on the season, putting him among the NHL’s top-eight goal scorers.
• With Ryan Poehling missing his second straight game because of an illness, Tortorella played 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Marc Staal drew into the lineup for Olle Lycksell.
• The Flyers wrap up the trip Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee against the Predators (8 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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