Las Vegas: The Philadelphia Flyers were dealt blackjack in Vegas to end their six game losing streak, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1.
The decks were certainly not shacked in their favor as the Golden Knights entered tonight’s matchup on a seven game winning streak. But, the Flyers had lady luck on their side in the form of a returning Bobby Brink.
In the six games that Brink had missed due to an upper body injury, the Flyers lost all six.
With Brink back in the lineup, the Flyers got the perfect hand in Vegas, a perfect 21. Brink in the form of an 10 and Travis Konecny in the form of an 11.
Konecny scored both Flyers goals to lead them to victory.
His 16th and 17th goals of the season were both on the break away after creating turnovers at the blue-line. Both goals were unassisted.
Samuel Ersson was fantastic in net in his first career start against the Golden Knights.
The lone goal he allowed was an incredible tip, between his legs, by Tomas Hertl on the power-play. He finished 23 saves in his first win since December 23rd in Chicago.
Lane Pederson made his Flyers debut, replacing the injured Rodrigo Abols in the lineup.
Pederson, along with his line-mates Carl Grundstrom and Garnet Hathaway, were up against a tough task. Vegas line matched their big three, Barbashev Eichel Stone, against them. But, the new fourth line held them scoreless.
The Flyers penalty kill allowed a goal for the fifth straight game. In their last seven games, the Flyers have allowed a league worst nine power-play goals. The penalty kill is 19 for 28 (67.9%).
On the other half of the special teams, the power-play continued it’s struggles. For the third straight game, the man advantage failed to score. The power-play is 2 for 19 (10.5%) during that same stretch.
The Flyers return to action on Tuesday in Salt Lake City when they take on the Mammoth at 9:00pm.
