Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers nipped the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Saturday in both teams’ final game before the league takes a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Philadelphia snapped a five-game losing streak thanks to 31 saves from Samuel Ersson and goals from three different players. Scott Laughton and Garnet Hathaway also tallied for the Flyers, while Andrei Kuzmenko had an assist in his team debut.
Kevin Hayes and Erik Karlsson scored for Pittsburgh, which played its second straight game without Sidney Crosby (upper-body injury). Joel Blomqvist made 17 saves for the Penguins, who had won three of their previous four games.
Laughton opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game. On an offensive rush, Konecny slipped a nice pass to Laughton, who got a step on the defense and slipped a backhander through Blomqvist’s pads.
Karlsson tied it early in the second period with a well-placed shot from the right circle, as he snapped the puck over Ersson’s shoulder and into the corner of the net.
Hathaway put Philadelphia back in front about eight minutes later on a fortuitous bounce. There was a race to the puck as it slid from the neutral zone toward Blomqvist. The goaltender came way out of his crease to play it, but his clearing attempt hit Hathaway and went right into the open net.
Konecny made it 3-1 about 4 1/2 minutes into the third period. During a delayed penalty situation, Konecny hopped off the bench as the extra attacker and sent a slap shot from the blue line that got through traffic for his team-leading 22nd goal.
The Penguins got within 3-2 on Hayes’ 10th of the season with 14:18 remaining, although it wasn’t without controversy.
Hayes rammed home a loose puck in front against his former team, but it was originally disallowed for goaltender interference. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan challenged and the play was overturned to a good goal.
The Penguins pulled their goalie with just under two minutes left, but they were not able to find the equalizer against a scrambling Ersson.
–Field Level Media
