Flyers lose to Avalanche in first game since firing Vigneault

The Philadelphia Flyers lost their ninth straight game, and first since firing coach Alain Vigneault, 7-5 to the Colorado Avalanche at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Monday.

Vigneault, who was replaced by assistant Mike Yeo, was relieved of his duties earlier in the day after the Flyers 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Assistant Michel Therrien was also fired.
"The big thing for me is, obviously, I really wanted to win the game," Yeo said. "But I also didn't think that we were just going to come here, snap our fingers, and everything was going to be right and great for us."
Justus Annunen made 27 saves in his first NHL start and recorded an assist on Cale Makar's goal in the second period for the Avalanche (13-7-2), who have won nine of their past 12 games. Erik Johnson, Mikko Rantanen, Samuel Girard and Devon Toews each had two points.
"There was some good chatter on the bench," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "I liked our energy coming out of the room. Had the feeling we would be good tonight. We were in some areas of the game, for sure. It's a big win for us. Got a lot of different contributions on the offensive side."

Claude Giroux scored twice for his first multigoal game since Nov. 18, and Martin Jones made 43 saves for the Flyers (8-11-4), who have been outscored 44-18 in an 0-7-2 stretch.
Philadelphia allowed four straight first-period goals after Giroux gave them a 1-0 lead at 6:02. The goal, scored on a one-timer, ended a seven-game drought for the Philadelphia captain.
Johnson tied it 1-1 with a shorthanded goal on a 2-on-1 at 9:56 of the first.
"They came out hard and got the first one," Johnson said. "We slowly chipped away. Ultimately, I didn't love our first because we gave up quite a few Grade-A chances to a rookie goalie in his first game. I thought we made it a little harder on him than we had to."
Gabriel Landeskog scored for a third straight game on a wrist shot, giving the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 13:13, before Alex Newhook made it 3-1 with a slap shot off Flyers defenseman Justin Braun's stick during a power play at 15:16.
Makar weaved through four Flyers on an end-to-end rush for a power-play goal to extend the lead to 4-1 at 15:42.
"We know we're going to score. It shows in the way we play," Makar said. "It's just making sure that we take care of the defensive side first. It's not exactly fun games when it's a complete shootout like that."

Oskar Lindblom cut it to 4-2 with a one-timer to the short side at 16:28 of the first. He had one assist in 21 games entering Monday.
Giroux scored his second goal on a one-timer on the power play to get the Flyers within 4-3 at 18:20.
However, Valeri Nichushkin extended the lead to 5-3 at 1:42 of the second period when he spun around and beat Jones.
Cam Atkinson redirected a pass from Kevin Hayes to cut it to 5-4 at 2:16 of the third period.
"It was definitely a weird day," Hayes said. "Show up to the rink and two of the coaches are gone. This is a league of results. I don't think our team has performed the way we want to. Changes were made. It's obviously tough to see those two guys go there."
Nazem Kadri made it 6-4 with a power-play goal that clipped Jones' shoulder at 5:42, and Tyson Jost chipped in a pass from Jayson Megna to push the lead to 7-4 at 11:35.
Scott Laughton scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 18:35 for the 7-5 final.
"There were some positive signs," Flyers forward Sean Couturier said. "Obviously, there's still a lot of work to do. But we can build on certain things and work on others. I think it's just a reset right now."
NOTES: The Flyers have allowed at least seven goals in consecutive games for the first time since 1993, when they lost 7-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 13 before losing 11-5 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 16. … With his second goal, Giroux tied Bobby Clarke for the most power-play points in Flyers history (333). ... Makar (upper body) and Kadri (lower body) returned after missing a 6-5 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. … Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram was sent back to Colorado to have his head-related injury further evaluated. Bednar said it is not a concussion. … The Avalanche played their 2,000th regular-season game since relocating from Quebec in 1995 (1,020-735-144 with 101 ties). … Monday's game was the first between the Flyers and Avalanche since Feb. 1, 2020.