Postgame 5: Flyers Drop 4-2 Decision to Utah

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Utah Hockey Club, 4-2, on Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers are 0-2-1 in their last three games after going 3-0-1 in their previous four.

Philly had the game's first power play, with good puck movement but only one shot on net, and four of the first six shots. As the period moved along, a couple of turnovers by the Flyers resulted in prolonged defensive zone shifts.

The Flyers went to their first penalty kill at 11:30 of the first period as Travis Sanheim was sent off for holding along the side boards. They went back to the PK at 15:43 as Sean Couturier was called for a center ice hooking minor. On the ensuing 4-on-5, Samuel Ersson denied Lawson Crouse at the doorstep.

First period shots on goal favored Utah, 10-7. Shot attempts were 25-19 Utah.

Utah broke the scoreless deadlock at 7:01 of the second period. Right winger Michael Carcone (2nd goal of the season) put the puck at the net and it bounced in goal. The assist went to Robert Bortuzzo.

Philly got the goal right back at 7:20 on a rebound tap in by Joel Farabee (4th) on a Nick Seeler shot. The assists went to Seeler and, for the initial pass, to Travis Konecny.

Utah reclaimed the lead on a deflected shot at 9:42. The goal was credited to Juuso Valimaki (1st of the season, first goal in his last 53 games), assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Logan Cooley.

Owen Tippett (8th) forged a 2-2 tie at 13:34. He swooped around and passed back to Seeler at the pont. Seeler returned the puck. From the top of the right circle, Tippett threaded a shot through a Morgan Frost screen into the net. The assists went to Seeler and Matvei Michkov.

Tyson Foerster put the puck over the glass from the defensive zone for a delay of game penalty at 14:21 of the second period. Driving to the net, Cooley (PPG, 7th) took a pass from Dylan Guether and scored on the backhand. The secondary assist at 15:30 went to Keller.

Second period shots on goal were 10-8 Flyers (20-17 Utah through two periods). Shot attempts were 18-15 in Utah's favor (43-34 Utah through 40 minutes).

The Flyers made a small tweak to line combinations in the third period: Foerster moved up to Couturier's line. Farabee skated on the left wing with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink.

In his first game back from injured reserve, Jamie Drysdale jumped into the play. He took a cross-seam pass from Foerster and, from atop the right circle, wristed a low shot into the net with Konecny in the blue paint. After a coach's challenge by Andre Tourigny, the goal was wiped out for goalie interference by Konency.

The Flyers went to the power play at 14:01 of the third period on a high-sticking minor near the Utah net by Ian Cole. With the second unit on the ice, Frost overskated a drop pass by Drysdale. Kevin Stenlund (3rd) moved in and scored an unassisted shorthanded goal for a 4-2 lead.

At 17:18 of the third period, the Flyers called timeout. They pulled Ersson for an extra attacker.

Ersson finished with 21 saves on 25 shots. Utah goalie Jaxson Stauber stopped 22 of 25 shots.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
74 Own Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 39 Matvei Michkov
71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates- 10 Bobby Brink
21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
36 Emil Andrae - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

33 Samuel Ersson
[35 Aleksei Kolosov]

PP1: Andrae, Brink, Couturier, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Sanheim, Tippett, Frost, Farabee, Foerster

Scratches:77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 5 Egor Zamula (healthy), 82 Ivan Fedotov (healthy)

TURNING POINT

The Foerster delay of game penalty that led to Cooley's goal proved to be the game winner for Utah. Moments earlier, Foerster turned over a puck.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. MatveiMania: The Flyers rookie winger had a secondary assist on Tippett's goal. In the final 16.3 seconds of the game, Michkov received a roughing minor and misconduct. The young forward finished the game with three shots on goal.

2. Sanheim-York: The Flyers top pair looked a bit fatigued at times. Sanheim had three blocked shots, one shot on goal and was minus-one in 23:45 of ice time across 27 shifts. York played 21:02 and was minus-one.

3. Discipline and PK: The Flyers were 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. Utah won the special teams battle for the game.

4. Flyers power play: The Flyers were 0-for-2 on the power play with a shorthanded goal allowed to Stenlund.

5. Containing Keller: The Utah captain logged 20:31 of ice time. He finished with a power play assist and three shots on goal.