Willman scores first goal, Hart makes 41 saves as Flyers break losing streak

The Philadelphia Flyers took on the Vegas Golden Knights looking to break a 10-game losing streak. And despite a late third period push, Mike Yeo earned his first victory as interim head coach with his team pulling out the 4-3 win.

THE GOOD

WILL MAN: Max Willman’s journey to the NHL has been well documented to this point. To make a long story short, he went from having nowhere to play to being a frequent call up option for the Flyers. And in his ninth career game, Willman scored his first career NHL goal. And he had the celebration all ready to go. It gave Philadelphia the 2-1 lead in the second period. Zack MacEwen grabbed his first assist in the orange and black as well.

HART STOPPER: Far too often, Carter Hart has had to be almost perfect to keep the Flyers in games. And by no surprise, he was on his game from the start of this one. A big save in particular in the first period directly led to a play in which Kevin Hayes scored the first goal of the game. It’s tough to put a lot of blame on him for the first goal as the defense in front of him broke down, leaving a man wide open. The second was a tough rebound off the pads and Max Pacioretty happened to be right on the door step for the easy goal. The third was Pacioretty at his best as well.

But regardless, if you want to name the most important player in this game, it was Carter Hart. He absolutely frustrated the Knights, especially in the final frame as they threw everything they could at him. He made a season-high 41 saves and is now 6-0-0 when he faces 40+ shots.

G-BABY: It’s well known that Claude Giroux is the heart beat of this Philadelphia Flyers team. He has spent his entire career with the organization and there has been a lot of talk about his upcoming free agent status. If the Flyers cannot turn things around, eyes may be on his potential departure. But for now, he’s doing everything he can for this team. And with an assist on Sean Couturier’s power play, yes power play, goal, he now has the most power play points in franchise history. You can’t say that this man hasn’t given his all to this team.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: For the first time in a long time, there was a lot of good in what the Flyers did on the ice. The power play clicked twice, James van Riemsdyk and Sean Couturier broke lengthy scoring droughts, and Philadelphia scored four goals in a game for the second time in less than a week. The penalty kill also killed off five Knights power plays. And not to mention they won a hockey game this evening.

THE BAD

LATE GOALS: The Flyers, with a 1-0 and 2-1 lead for lengthy parts of the first and second periods, failed to get to the intermission with much needed leads. William Karlsson tied the game with under a minute to go in the first. Pacioretty continued his hot streak with a goal with 1:30 remaining in the second.

Vegas would also climb to within one with another goal with 1:45 to go in the third period as Pacioretty grabbed his second of the game. They weren’t burned completely by this, but it’s been something that has plague them for quite some time.

The Flyers will look to make it two games in a row as they head to Arizona to take on the Coyotes on Saturday night.