Flyers Squander Three-Goal Lead to Golden Knights, Still Manage to Come Away with a Point

It could have been worse, but it could have been better too.

The Flyers fell in shootouts to the Vegas Golden Knights tonight in a game they had led 3-0 at one point. For the first period and a half Philadelphia just looked like the better team, but Vegas seemed to have flipped a switch in the second half and the Flyers were unfortunately unable to keep up.

As mentioned before the game couldn’t have started off better. Morgan Frost was the first to light the lamp after tipping in a shot from Rasmus Ristolainen. Sean Couturier would later add to this lead about five minutes later on a breakaway pass from Travis Konecny, giving the Philadelphia captain a two-game goal streak.

The second period looked like it was going to be more Flyers domination, as Emil Andrae was able to clean up a rebound for the first goal of his young career, putting the Flyers up 3-0 with less than a minute gone in the period. On a completely separate note even though he only just tallied his first goal Andrae has been a spectacular defensive addition for the Flyers and is making a compelling case for why he should stick around when other teammates return from injuries and someone needs to be sent down.

It was here that the wheels came off however, when Vegas capitalized on a bad turnover in the Flyers’ zone, allowing Jack Eichel to put the Golden Knights on the board. A two on two fast break would result in another Vegas goal, bringing them to within one.

Matvei Michkov continued to show why he’s one of the best young stars in the game after netting his eighth goal of the year for Philadelphia. He just kept hammering the Golden Knights goalie until he finally got it past him to put the Flyers up 4-2. The period would end as a one-goal game, however, as Vegas only needed five seconds of a late power play to make the score 4-3.

After five total goals in the second period, the third was relatively quiet, with just one goal being scored by either team. Unfortunately for the Flyers, it was the Golden Knights who scored, as great puck movement led to a very confused-looking Ivan Fedotov being beaten by a Tanner Pearson wrister. With the score tied 4-4, the Flyers would go to their sixth overtime in nine games.

The Flyers seemed to have golden opportunities to add another goal, both in regulation and in overtime but were just unable to finish on any of them. This can be seen as a sort of microcosm for where Philadelphia is as a team right now. They have talent and they’re doing a lot of things right, but they’re just not quite there yet in terms of being a truly competitive team in the NHL right now.

Once the game entered shootouts, Eichel, the man who got the scoring started for the Golden Knights, would also be the one to end it, as he was the only skater to score off the five who took the ice. This was no doubt an upsetting loss for the Flyers, but they still got a point against a much better opponent and continue to show signs of growth and development, and right now that’s about all we can ask for.

The Flyers will head to Nashville to take on the Predators on Wednesday, November 27th at 8:00 pm EST. The game can be watched on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

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Bo Lynett

Bo has been a fan of Philly sports his whole life and has spent the entirety of his four years at Colgate University working to start a career in sports media. Double majoring in Economics and Film & Media Studies gave him the opportunity to study both the financial/ analytical and broadcasting/ production sides of the sports world. Outside of the classroom, he’s worked as a director and producer for Colgate’s athletic events streamed on ESPN+ and a writer for the Colgate Athletic Website. Through all of this, however, it was his love of Philly sports that drove him to this career.