Rapid Recap: Flyers 6, Avalanche 3

PHILADELPHIA--The Colorado Avalanche rallied after trailing 2-0 at the first intermission but fell 6-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.
Joel Farabee and Kevin Hayes each scored twice for the Flyers while teammate Sean Couturier recorded three assists. Matt Niskanen also found the back of the net and added a helper for Philly.
Nikita Zadorov, Mikko Rantanen and Andre Burakovsky scored for Colorado. Zadorov's goal extended his point streak to a career-long three contests after also producing an assist, which also ties his personal best for points in a game.

Colorado chipped away at the Flyers' lead through the game, but the club wasn't able to find the equalizer. Farabee tallied the eventual game-winner at 7:32 of the third period and Hayes scored shorthanded with less than four minutes remaining to secure Philly's lead.
The contest concluded the season series between the Avs and Flyers. The Avalanche was playing its first game following an 11-day break for the NHL All-Star Game and the club's league-mandated bye week.
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Highlights
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Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
13:45 PHI (0-1) - Matt Niskanen opened the game's scoring by firing a puck toward the net and it deflected off an Avalanche defender.
19:54 PHI (0-2) - PPG, Kevin Hayes tipped the puck past Philipp Grubauer to extend Philadelphia's lead while on the power play with 4.5 seconds remaining in the period.
2nd Period
2:01 COL (1-2) - Nikita Zadorov fired a shot from the point to record his third goal of the season and cut the Avs' deficit in half.
3:05 PHI (1-3) - Sean Couturier sent a back door pass to Joel Farabee, and he tipped it into the Colorado net.
4:16 COL (2-3) - PPG, Nazem Kadri found Mikko Rantanen open in the right circle, and Rantanen scored his 16th of the season.
3rd Period
7:32 PHI (2-4) - Joel Farabee received a pass from Sean Couturier and scored his second goal of the game to extend the Flyers lead.
COL (3-4) - Andre Burakovsky responded quickly for Colorado when he picked up a rebound in the low slot and scored on a delayed penalty.
16:33 PHI (3-5) - SHG, Kevin Hayes scored unassisted with a low shot on a 2-on-1 rush during an Avs power play.
19:15 PHI (3-6) - ENG, Scott Laughton cleared the puck the length of the ice and into Colorado's empty net as the team elected to have the extra attacker.
Final: Flyers - 6 | Avalanche - 3

3 STARS

Selected by Eric O'Dell (HockeyBuzz.com)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 3
Philadelphia: 1 for 5

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots in his first game since Jan. 18.
Philadelphia: Alex Lyon made 28-of-31 saves in his second start of the season.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Samuel Girard played in his 200th consecutive regular-season game to become the fourth Avalanche defenseman to appear in 200 or more straight games with the club, joining Martin Skoula (285), Karlis Skrastins (226) and Brett Clark (200).
Girard, who was acquired from Nashville as part of a three-team deal with Ottawa on Nov. 5, 2017, has not missed a regular-season contest since joining the Avs. He has 26 points (one goal, 25 assists) this season and has already surpassed his career high in assists and is one point shy of matching his NHL best (27 in 2018-19).

NOTEBOOK

Andre Burakovsky extended his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists) and recorded his third straight multi-point game (three goals, three assists). This is the second stretch this season in which Burakovsky has notched multiple points in three or more consecutive contests (also: Nov. 14-21, four games)... He also scored for the 16th time this year and is now one goal shy of tying his career high (17 with Washington in 2015-16… Mikko Rantanen and Nikita Zadorov also extended their personal point streaks to three games each. It is the first time in Zadorov's career that he has had at least a point in three consecutive outings; he has six points (one goal, five assists) in the last five games… With a goal and an assist, Zadorov also tied his career high for the most points in a game... Ryan Graves finished with 10 blocked shots, the most by any player in a single game this season and the most by an Avalanche player since Patrik Nemeth recorded 11 on Dec. 23, 2017 at Arizona... Colorado is now 12-5-3 against Eastern Conference opponents.

QUOTABLE

Mikko Rantanen on the game:"I think we just had a couple of breakdowns. I think we had a really good first period, we could have been up 3-0 pretty early, we got some chances. Even in the second, we created a lot, but just some mistakes as a unit. Just a little sleepy for three seconds and its back of the net, but I don't think we had a horrible game. We had a chance to win and I think we played better than them but we just couldn't find the win so we have to have the same juice to start the game on Tuesday and get a big win."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

And we're back.

ROSTER REPORT

Joonas Donskoi returned to the lineup and began the game on a line with Tyson Jost and Matt Nieto… Goaltender Philipp Grubauer started in net… Mark Barberio and Vladislav Kamenev were the healthy scratches.

INJURY UPDATE

Joonas Donskoi returned to game action after missing five games with a head injury that he sustained on Jan. 7 at the New York Rangers.

UP NEXT

Colorado continues its five-game road trip on Tuesday at the Buffalo Sabres. This journey also features stops at the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blues Jackets and Minnesota Wild.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
83 Matt Nieto - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz