Konecny Returns and the Flyers Finally Erupt: 6-3 Over Utah
Travis Konecny's return from injury sparked a season-high six goals as Philadelphia snapped a three-game slide against the Mammoth.
The NHL's lowest-scoring team picked a good night to find its offense. The Philadelphia Flyers, who entered Sunday averaging a league-worst 1.93 goals per game, scored six times to beat the Utah Mammoth 6-3 at Xfinity Mobile Arena — and it was no coincidence that Travis Konecny was back in the lineup.
The return that changed the room
Konecny, playing his first game after missing 10 with a lower-body injury, had a goal, an assist and four hits, and his line with Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras combined for four points, according to NHL.com. "I think that's the kind of energy that we've been missing lately," Sean Couturier said afterward.
Matvei Michkov opened the scoring late in the first period — his 10th goal in 16 games, making him just the fifth Flyer since 2006-07 to start a season that hot. Dmitri Simashev answered for Utah within two minutes, but Philadelphia took over from there: Konecny and Noah Cates struck in the second, then Dvorak and rookie defenseman Oliver Bonk pushed it to 5-1 early in the third.
Utah's late push falls short
The Mammoth, who had outshot the Flyers 9-7 in a lively first period, got third-period power-play goals from Mikhail Sergachev and Logan Cooley to make it 5-3, but Cole Knuble's empty-netter sealed it. "We did not keep our composure, and we didn't defend with the same pace, the same drive that we had early in the game," Utah coach Andre Tourigny said.
Dan Vladar made 19 saves for Philadelphia; Karel Vejmelka stopped 15 of 21 for Utah.
What it means
The win lifts the Flyers to 4-8-4 and ends an 0-2-1 skid, with their first regulation win in weeks coming in exactly the physical, connected style coach Rick Tocchet has been asking for. Utah falls to 9-6-0 — still one of the West's better starts, but with a second straight game in which a strong opening frame unraveled. Sergachev, who extended his point streak to seven games, put it bluntly: "That's all on us."