Postgame RAV4: Flyers Lose Heartbreaker in Utah

The Philadelphia Flyers lost in overtime to the Utah Mammoth, 5-4, in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night. Philadelphia held leads of 3-0 and 4-2 but were unable to nail down the game.

Clayton Keller scored in the final 35 seconds of the third period to force sudden death. He struck again in OT to end the game. The tallies were Keller's 14th and 15th of the season. Dylan Guenther had a goal and assist in Utah's late comeback.

Cam York (4th goal of the season) gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead on the first shift of the game. Christian Dvorak (11th) doubled the lead four minutes later.

In the opening minute of the second period, Bobby Brink (PPG, 12th) extended the Philadelphia edge to three goals. Utah then struck for quick back-to-back goals by JJ Peterka (17th) and Lawson Crouse before Dvorak (PPG, 12th) bagged his second goal of the game.

A power play goal by Utah leading goal-scorer Guenther (PPG, 24th) once again brought Utah back within a goal. The late third period and OT goals by Keller clinched a 6-0-1 homestand for Utah.

Samuel Ersson finished the game with 22 saves on 27 shots. Karel Vejmelka made 25 saves on 29 shots.

The Flyers went 2-for-6 on the power play. They were 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers came out storming from the start. Thirty seconds into the period, they took a 1-0 lead. Travis Konecny made a play off the half wall, and then passed to Travis Sanheim. York pinched down and scored on a back-door rebound. Dvorak did not earn a point but provided a screen on the Sanheim shot. All five Flyers had touches during the sequence.

At 1:39, Nick Seeler tried to bank the puck high off the glass to clear the defensive zone. Instead, he sent it over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Ersson made his first save of the game. With 1:21 left on the penalty, Barrett Hayton hooked York and negated the rest of the man advantage.

Dvorak stickhandled in toward Vejmelka, faked a shot and scored on the backhand at 4:36. Konecny got the primary assist with Noah Juulsen getting the secondary helper. Moments earlier, the Mammoth had a scoring chance at the other end of ice that Juulsen prevented.

Liam O'Brien cross-checked Sanheim in a battle near the net at 5:18. Dvorak had a good scoring chance early on the 5-on-4. Konecny set up another chance. Trevor Zegras couldn't quite get to the puck. As the power play continued, Vejmelka had to scramble for a save. The second unit generated one short-side look for Matvei Michkov.

Denver Barkey and Jamie Drysdale (off a backhand pass from Owen Tippett) had the next two scoring chances for the Flyers. The latter went off Vejmelka's mask and the crossbar. Flyers defensemen continued to jump into the play effectively. Shortly thereafter, Sanheim was in the middle of a play that nearly resulted in Bobby Brink connecting with Michkov.

Nick Schmaltz picked up a high-sticking minor at the end of the period.

Shots: Flyers 14 - Utah 7
Faceoffs: Flyers 13 - Utah 9

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers started the frame with a two-minute 5-on-4 advantage. Crouse had a shorthanded chance for Utah. The Flyers cashed in on the power play. Zegras jockeyed the puck with Drysdale. Brink went to the net and got rewarded on a friendly bounce at 0:58. The assists went to Zegras and Drysdale.

Twelve seconds after play resumed, O'Brien hit Tippett up high in the neutral zone. He was initially called for a five-minute major. After a review by the officials, the penalty was rescinded entirely. Tippett was not injured.

Utah continued to pressure. At 5:35, Peterka scored in a scramble around the net. The goal was unassisted because Ersson was charged with a hard-luck giveaway. Daniil But lost a would-be primary assist.

The Mammoth wasted little time scoring again. Michkov was checked off the puck. Crouse scored moments later at 6:11. The assists went to Schmaltz and Keller.

The Flyers called timeout. Utah very nearly scored again on the first shift after play resumed.

Utah was caught with too many men on the ice at 9:35. The Flyers went to an important power play: a chance to restore the two-goal lead they took into the period. They made good.

Keven Stenlund overskated a potential shorthanded 2-on-1. Utah then turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Dvorak was stopped on a scoring chance and then followed up his own rebound at 10:28. The assists went to Zegras and Drysdale.

At the 11:00 mark, Peterka went off for a hooking minor. The Flyers were unable to score but had a couple of looks at the net. Utah went to their second power play of the game at 14:54. Seeler returned to the box, this time for hooking. Philly navigated the kill successfully.

Couturier got high-sticked by Ian Cole under the visor near the Utah net. He went down the tunnel. Philly went back to the power play with seven seconds left in the period.

Shots: Flyers 10 (24 overall) - Utah 10 (17 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 14 (27 overall) - Utah 5 (14 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers took 1:53 of carryover power play time into the period. Philadelphia didn't develop any pressure and even took an icing.

With play back to even strength, Guenther had a near-miss scoring chance. At the other end, Vejmelka made a 10-bell save on Zegras off a 2-on-1 feed from Konecny.

Play went end-to-end on the next shift, too. After another near goal for the Mammoth, Tippett hit the post.

Juulsen dropped the gloves with Jack McBain at 11:49. McBain got the better of the tussle. Juulsen got a roughing minur in addition to the major.

At 12:47, Guenther fired a shot that pinballed off Sanheim, Ersson and then into the net. Schmaltz and Mikhail Sergachev got the assists. The lead was now back down to one goal.

The Flyers were now in hang-in mode. The majority of the play was in the Philadelphia defensive zone. Finally, the Flyers had their next offensive foray. Brink had a scoring chance in close. Couturier broke up a play in the neutral zone.

Utah pulled Vejmelka for an extra attacker. Hathaway was checked off the puck by Schmaltz with an empty net staring at him. Utah went offside with 46 seconds on the clock.

At 19:25, Keller corralled a bouncing puck and tied the game at 4-4. The unasisted goal forced overtime.

Shots: Flyers 5 (29 overall) - Utah 9 (26 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 6 (33 overall) - Utah 10 (24 overall)

OVERTIME SYNOPSIS

Tippett had a scoring chance. At 2:01, Keller converted a 2-on-1 feed from Guenther to end the game.

Shots: Flyers 0 (29 overall) - Utah 1 (27 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 1 (34 overall) - Utah 0 (24 overall)

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey -- Sean Couturier -- Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin – Lane Pederson – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York -- Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae -- Jamie Drydale
Nick Seeler -- Noah Juulsen

Samuel Ersson
[Aleksei Kolosov]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Fatigue Factor

The Flyers have had a very busy schedule the last few weeks, plus cross time-zone travel. The Mammoth, wrapping up a seven-game homestand, had the last three nights off and will not have any games on back-to-back nights in the month of January.

On Wednesday, the Flyers came out fast and furious right from the outset, forcing Utah to have to chase the game after two early goals. The Flyers bagged a power play goal early in the second period, but Utah started to take over the game. The Flyers, however, were opportunistic on their next power play and regained their equilibrium.

In the third period, Utah parlayed a power play goal and a 6-on-5 tally with an empty net behind them into a tie game.

2. Build from last game

Coming off a 2-1 win in Vegas on Monday, the Flyers looked to build off the positives from that game: goaltending, coverage structure, penalty killing execution and faceoff performance.

In Utah, the Flyers established a territorial advantage in the first period: something they lacked in the last game. The second period was more of a seesaw frame but the Flyers won the special teams battle and continued to win most of the faceoffs.

Philly showed more of a shooting mentality in this game. In addition to Dvorak's multi-goal game. Michkov fired seven shots on net. The third period started well enough before the game slipped away.

3. Konecny

Entering Wednesday's game, Travis Konecny led all Flyers players with 24 points since Dec. 1: a 24-game span. He was also coming off a two-goal night in Vegas. Against the Mammoth, he wasted no time setting up the game's first two goals (both at 5-on-5).

4. Playing with discipline

The Flyers were very clean with the puck in the first period. They took just one penalty. In the middle frame, Philly had some issues with failed clears. They took two additional penalties in the game -- the latter one was costly.