Aleksei Kolosov struggles in Flyers’ loss to Vegas Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS ― Inconsistency should be a four-letter word for the Flyers this season.

On Thursday night against the Vegas Golden Knights, they once again played well but made mistakes, leading to a 5-2 loss. The Flyers are 2-2-0 since the holiday break and have lost six of their last nine games. They have not won consecutive games since Dec. 10-12.

“A really good team over there, just felt like they capitalized on their chances,” defenseman Cam York said. “We had some good looks, created, just couldn’t put it in the back of the net. Just kind of one of those games.”

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In training camp, Flyers coach John Tortorella said, “We have a whole new goaltending situation this year. It scares the crap out of me.” That was about Sam Ersson being the No. 1 goalie and Ivan Fedotov as his backup, two guys with limited experience.

Now Ersson is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and Aleksei Kolosov is expected to be the top guy. The only problem is Kolosov, who turns 23 years old on Saturday, is struggling with the speed and traffic of the North American game. He allowed four goals on 26 shots.

Things seemed to be OK in the first period, when he stopped all four shots he faced. He also had a bit of help when he made a save on a tipped shot by William Karlsson that squeaked through the pads and was cleared out of the crease by Noah Cates.

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The Golden Knights didn’t have a shot on goal in the final 8:49 of the first period but then scored on their first two of the second.

Vegas tied it 51 seconds into the frame off a transition after a failed pass attempt from Owen Tippett to Travis Konecny. The Golden Knights broke and Jack Eichel carried the puck down the right wing before skating to the middle and putting a backhander on net with Mark Stone crashing. Stone got his stick loose after he got around Rasmus Ristolainen and tipped the puck past Kolosov.

“Against a good team like that, you can’t make mistakes. They’ll make you pay, and it’s kind of what happened there,” forward Sean Couturier said.

Less than two minutes later, it was 2-1 Vegas when Joel Farabee had the puck poked away from him by Nicolas Hague along the left wall. Hague got it right back from Keegan Kolesar and carried it around the net for the wraparound goal. The defenseman did a slight fake at the left post as if he was going to crash the net, before taking it around. Kolosov was out of position as his right skate was not snug to the post, and he wasn’t able to push off quickly to get to the other post.

By the end of the period, Vegas was up 3-1. With under two minutes left, the Golden Knights had an offensive-zone faceoff at the left circle. They moved the puck from left to right with Pavel Dorofeyev getting it in the right circle. He paused, drawing in York before firing off a shot blocker-side.

Vegas took a 4-1 lead early in the third period. Forward Alexander Holtz got the puck on a regroup in the neutral zone and scored off the glove of Kolosov from the left circle.

Asked about Kolosov’s night, Tortorella said, “I’m not going to evaluate Aleksei.” Kolosov is now 4-8-1 in 15 games and has a 3.45 goals-against average and .870 save percentage, the worst among goalies who have played in at least 12 games.

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When Tortorella and his staff are showing tape of what they want their forward lines to do, often on the screen is the trio of Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink.

“It’s evident why they’ve been so good for so long is because they’re close,” Tortorella said after they used that closeness to get the Flyers on the board Thursday night.

The line started the game, and just 21 seconds in the three players were atop the crease and connecting on a goal. Brink followed up his centering pass that bounced around and tapped it to Cates below the right circle. He tried to walk it out to the front, but the puck ended up on the stick of Foerster, who buried it.

“If you look at them, they just work hard and have a simple game, but support each other really well and create a lot of chances off of that,” Couturier said. “I think we definitely need more of their style of play, that’s for sure, throughout the lineup.”

The goal was Foerster’s 11th. Known for his shot when he was drafted, according to NHL Edge, nine of his goals are from either atop the crease or in the blue paint.

“I think Catesy and Bob have helped me out a lot and we know the D are shooting it every time. So you just got to get to the net, that’s where the dirty goals are scored,” Foerster said.

For the second consecutive game, the Flyers scored a power-play goal. For the second consecutive game, it came seconds after an offensive-zone faceoff to start the man advantage. And for the second consecutive game, it was Tippett to Konecny.

“It’s clicking right now,” Tippett said. “I think we’ve done a good job with the group we have out there and communicating. I think we’ve done a good job at kind of filling holes. I know we have our positions, but if guys see a gap open, they go to that gap and it makes it easier for the guy [who has the] puck to have those options.”

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The goal came 14 seconds after Noah Hanifin was called for holding Foerster on a breakaway attempt.

The new power-play unit of Tippett, Konecny, Farabee, Jamie Drysdale, and Morgan Frost moved the puck well. Tippett got the puck atop the right circle and fed Konecny, who was at the top of the left circle. He stepped into the left circle and fired the shot past Ilya Samsonov. The goal on Tuesday in San Jose was a circle-to-circle seam pass from Tippett to Konecny for a one-timer.

“Hopefully it keeps on growing because there is a little bit of chemistry there,” Tortorella said. “I think Jamie’s done a better job too, up top, [and] that’s been a weakness of ours during the years, finding someone that can run it up top. I think Jamie’s feeling more comfortable there.”

Fedotov was the backup. It was the first time he dressed for a game since Dec. 5. … Forward Tanner Pearson scored an empty-netter for Vegas. … Couturier played a team-low 9:59. … Forward Garnet Hathaway had eight of the Flyers’ 17 hits. Each hit by him and the Flyers will help raise funds for Hath’s Heroes, which supports local first responders. … Defenseman Egor Zamula had a plus-minus of minus-2. … Farabee and Foerster each got time on the penalty kill, which was 1-for-1.

The Flyers travel to Canada on Friday. They will practice in Toronto on Saturday before taking on the Maple Leafs on Sunday (7 p.m., NBCSP) to close out the five-game, 10-day road trip.