Scott Laughton’s overtime goal sends Flyers to victory

The Philadelphia Flyers played a hockey game for the first time in over four months.

It was a welcomed sight to see the Flyers back on the ice for the first time since March. Before the game got underway, both the Flyers and Penguins took a moment to stand together on the blue line in solidarity.

After that, it was down to business. Carter Hart began this game for Philadelphia as he was opposed in net my Matt Murray. As expected, both teams had chances early on in the game.

Though the Flyers had the early 3-1 shot advantage, it was the Penguins who got on the board first with just their second shot of the game. It was a 3-on-2 cross-feed opportunity that got Pittsburgh on the board.

Conor Sheary was the recipient of a feed from Jake Guentzel. Despite that, the Flyers continued to control the shot battle. They tied the game up about six minutes later while the Penguins has a delayed penalty coming up.

It was new father Sean Couturier that evened things up. Claude Giroux skated from behind the net and up the wall. He found Couturier waiting in the middle as he immediately blasted the shot. It hit off a Penguins defensemen and then Murray before it went in.

The penalty kill was tested over halfway through the first. But Kevin Hayes continued to prove that the group had improved. He killed off about 20 seconds himself by keeping control of the puck in the neutral zone.

Hayes was also the one to give the Flyers the lead with less than a minute to go in the first. He took advantage of a sloppy turnover by Evgeni Malkin. Hayes went to the backend and easily spun it around the diving Murray.

While there weren’t any goals scored in the second period, the Flyers continued to show that the break didn’t slow them down. They even managed to catch the Penguins with 10 players on ice. Yes, you read that correctly.

That obviously gave the Flyers their first and only power play of the game thus far. And while they didn’t grab a goal, both units created a lot of pressure.

Hart settled down during the period as well. He finished up the game saving 11 out of 12 shots thrown his way. Murray left during the second, stopping 10 of 12 shots.

The third period had the look of two very tired teams playing their first game since March. The Flyers held their ground for most of the period. Elliott stopped the first nine shots that he faced.

After an icing call with just over four minutes to go, the Penguins made the Flyers pay. After Malkin’s original shot was saved, Jason Zucker wristed home the rebound. And that brought us to overtime in this exhibition game.

Funny enough, the game went to overtime the last time these two teams faced off. But Philadelphia didn’t let it end the same way. Just under three minutes into the extra period, Scott Laughton ended the game.

The play began in the Flyers own end with Shayne Gostisbehere behind the net. He passed it off to Laughton who circled around and found Travis Konecny at the blue line. Konecny then came back into the zone as Laughton sprung free.

Konecny sent a laser of a pass up the ice and onto the stick of Laughton. He made no mistake roofing the puck over Tristan Jarry.

And while this game didn’t mean anything for the postseason, getting a win against the Penguins is always a welcome sight. The Flyers will have a few days to soak this one in before their round-robin series begins on Sunday.