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Takeaways: Scott Laughton and power play woes take down the Flyers in 2-1 overtime loss to Leafs

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Following the emotional win over the Ducks, the Flyers couldn’t hold on in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs. While the Flyers looked in control defensively for the majority of the night, the Leafs capitalized on the power play woes of the Orange and Black and improved to 6-0-2 in their last 8 games.

The basics

First period: No scoring
Second period: 0:55 – Travis Konecny (Christian Dvorak, Rasmus Ristolainen) 
Third period: 14:04 – Scott Laughton (SHG) 
Overtime: 2:48 – Easton Cowan (John Tavares) 
SOG: 24 (TOR) – 22 (PHI) 

Choppy pace of play 

After the most intense game of the season on Tuesday night, tonight’s game struck a different tone. Way less physicality, intensity, and overall energy in the Xfinity Mobile Center, which was to be expected against this Leafs team. The first period was a mess for the majority of it, as the Flyers had one of those periods where they could barely complete a pass. They started to gain their footing by the end of the period, but it was still a boring, choppy period with almost nothing happening. 

The game kinda continued that way for the most of it, outside of one the crazier overtimes in recent memory (more on that later). Low shot counts (24-22), and fairly low expected goals totals for the two teams (4.7 xG total). For the longest time in this game, it looked like the Flyers were going to pull out a ugly, grind-it-out win against a decent team that came in on a hot streak. It looked like one of those games where you just have to find a way to win, and ask questions about the game’s deficiencies and mistakes later. Instead, the Flyers’ lack of sharpness came back to bite them, and they ended up dropping a point they probably should have had. 

Konecny opens the scoring …

Someone had to score in this hockey game though, right? Well, the lone Flyers goal in this game came off the stick of Travis Konecny, who netted his 14th goal of the season. Early in the second period, Konecny received the puck in the slot off a nice pass from Christian Dvorak, and beat Dennis Hildeby clean. After an extended period of time where Konecny was unable to beat goalies cleanly, it’s good to see Konecny start to do it with regularity again. The goal was Konecny’s 9th in his last 19 games, and his 21st point in that stretch. 

… but he also leaves with an injury 

No one exactly knows what happened to Konecny, but he just didn’t come out for the third period. Nothing looked off during the second period, and Konecny even did the second intermission interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Ashlyn Sullivan. We’ll see how this develops over the next day, but hopefully this was nothing more than precautionary for Konecny. The Flyers really can’t afford to lose him right now, and it would be a real shame to lose Konecny just as he’s returning to form and really clicking with Zegras and Dvorak. 

Scott Laughton scored, of course

Scott Laughton received a warm welcome back to Philadelphia, in his first game back in town since last season’s trade deadline. That included a nice video tribute for Laughton, and plenty of cheers in warmups and the opening lineup announcement. 

You knew Laughton would be very up for this game, and to his credit, he was one of the most involved players on the ice tonight. Absolutely dominating the faceoff circle, winning 19 of 20 draws (particularly on the numerous penalty kills), he put in a peak-Laughton performance against his former team. And of course, after the Flyers power play wasted a 5-on-3 opportunity late in the third period, Laughton tied the game at one with a shorthanded goal. On the rush, he used Rasmus Ristolainen as a screen on Vladar, which was an example of some horrendous positioning by Ristolainen. It had to feel great for Laughton, but that’s a rough way to give up a game-tying goal late in regulation. 

The power play is going to bury them 

This feels like it goes without saying, but it’s games like these where you see just how much the power play is killing the Flyers. An extended 5-on-3? Very little scoring opportunities. More power play time both before and after that? Nothing. They were up against one of the best penalty killing units in the league tonight, but the point is – the power play is actively losing momentum in games for the Flyers over and over again. It’s losing them points too, and in a game where they should have had two points in regulation, the power play was the big difference. If they had an even competent power play, or at the very least not an aggressively bad one, you’re likely looking at a 2-0 lead late in tonight’s game. In a tight Eastern Conference, every point matters, and you lost a very attainable and important point tonight because of the power play’s ineptitude. 

Denver Barkey keeps doing the little things 

A quick note on Barkey, who just does everything that the old hockey men love. Barley didn’t find the scoresheet tonight, but he’s so apparent on most shifts due to his excellence in small areas and along the boards. There’s multiple plays a night where Barkey makes a calm, collected play under pressure, or he fights through a board battle with a player much larger than him, or he quickly jumpstarts the transition game. He’s everywhere, and for a 20-year-old to be doing that with regularity just a few games into his NHL career, it’s remarkably impressive. There’s no way he’s heading back to Lehigh Valley anytime soon at this rate. 

Cowan nets overtime winner in wild 3-on-3

As NHL coaches and players have made the 3-on-3 way less fun than it used to be, it’s rare you see an overtime like tonight’s. There were tons of chances from the opening draw, really, starting with a Trevor Zegras breakaway that was turned aside by Hildeby. Later on, Matvei Michkov was stopped on a wraparound opportunity, and Sean Couturier flubbed the rebound chance. Easton Cowan then had a breakaway the other way, and then Michkov and Couturier had a 2-on-1 chance. On that 2-on-1, the Flyers missed what looked like an open net. 

Finally, to end a wild sequence of chances, Easton Cowan cashed in on a 2-on-1 chance with John Tavares, and Vladar had no chance. 

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