The Philadelphia Flyers were looking to get back in the win column after falling to the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins in their past two games. The majority of Utah Hockey Club formed from has players when the team was the Arizona Coyotes. Many forget that despite finishing second to last in the central division, the Coyotes did go on a hot streak during the beginning of the season.
Flyers vs Utah recap
The Flyers received good news before puck drop: Defensemen Jamie Drysdale and goalie Sam Ersson were good to play. Both players spent time on IR. Errson got the start in net, and Kolosov was set to back him up. Egor Zamula was a healthy scratch, which doesn’t come as a surprise after how he struggled against the Bruins.
The game’s first frame went scoreless, and Philadelphia was showing a lot of grit early on. Sanheim had a one-timer that couldn’t connect to the back of the net, but the effort was on full display. While everything looked good for Philadelphia, the Utah HC went on two power plays. The Flyers did kill them, but the momentum shifted to Utah, which continued for the game.
Five different goals were scored between the two teams in the second frame. Michael Carcone started the scoring for Utah, with Ersson stopping the puck initially; however, it rebounded off of Ristolainen. Philadelphia responded 39 seconds later, as Joel Farabee scored his fourth goal of the season and tied the game 1-1. In a similar situation to Utah’s first goal, Juuso Valimaki was credited with the goal; however, the puck reflected off Sean Couturier‘s stick as Utah regained the lead 2-1.
Owen Tippett was able to tie up the game for the final time 2-2 minutes later. Tippett also struggled against the Bruins, so this was a big goal for him. Finally, Logan Cooley put Utah on top for their third lead of the game, 3-2, getting the puck behind Ersson on a power play.
The final frame didn’t have much action, but an awful error happened for a player getting a lot of attention. While the Flyers were on the power play with under five minutes of regulation remaining, looking to tie the game, Morgan Frost over-skated the puck, leaving Kevin Stenlund able to steal it and put the game away for Utah. However, after. The game Tortorella didn’t seem to be upset with Frost as he defended him, “It sucks. He won’t do that the rest of his career.”
The Flyers head to Columbus to meet with the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. The puck drop is at 7 pm.
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
