Flyers’ third-period rally falls short against the Vegas Golden Knights

With just 15 games remaining in the regular season and the playoffs all but out of reach, the Flyers tapped into their trademark resiliency that characterized the early part of their year.

After going down, 4-1, early in the third period, the Flyers rallied against the Golden Knights on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center as Nick Seeler and Morgan Frost scored consecutive goals. However, the Flyers fell short in their comeback, ultimately losing, 5-3, to the top team in the Pacific Division.

Eight and a half minutes into the third period, Seeler showcased a stellar individual effort, deking around Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore and scoring. Less than two minutes later, winger Brendan Lemieux set Frost up off the rush for a tap-in goal. However, after coach John Tortorella opted to pull goalie Felix Sandström with nearly two minutes remaining in the game, Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev scored an empty-net goal.

“We’re done,” Tortorella said. “We’re not making the playoffs. But our guys continue to play hard. If they continue to do that, and I don’t doubt they’re not, there haven’t been many nights in this season, in this godforsaken season, that I’ve had to worry about effort. I don’t think I will for the remainder.”

The Flyers have now lost their last four (0-4-0) and have gone 4-12-4 in their last 20, averaging 2.1 goals per game. Their three-goal performance against the Golden Knights marked their first game with three or more goals since Feb. 20 (a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames).

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The Flyers went down, 1-0, in the first period when Vegas won a couple board battles in the Flyers’ zone to set up winger Pavel Dorofeyev. He skated from behind the net and roofed the puck over Sandström’s right shoulder. Although the Flyers fell behind, they didn’t play on their heels. They ultimately generated seven scoring chances to the Golden Knights’ 10 in the first period, according to Natural Stat Trick.

One of their best came at the end of the period when Frost centered a pass from behind the net to Tony DeAngelo in the slot. Golden Knights goalie Jonathan Quick got a piece of his shot with his glove to keep the Flyers off the board. The Flyers finally got one of their scoring chances to go in the second period when Travis Sanheim’s shot deflected past Quick to cut the Golden Knights’ lead to 2-1. Through three periods, the Flyers created 28 chances to the Golden Knights’ 27.

Going into Tuesday night’s game, the Flyers boasted the league’s worst power play, capitalizing on just 15.05% of their chances. They sought to reverse course early in the first period when Noah Cates drew a tripping call against Hague. The first unit was busy early on in the man-advantage, as winger Owen Tippett ripped a shot from the left faceoff circle that deflected off of defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and on net. Ristolainen tried to stuff home the rebound, but Quick came up with the save.

On the Flyers’ second power play of the night in the second period, 21-year-old winger Tyson Foerster hit the post with his shot, just missing his first NHL goal. Through 60 minutes, the Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill.

“It doesn’t look very good from the outside, especially when you’re not scoring, it’s pretty much a failure,” Frost said of the power play. “So to be honest with you, I think the last couple games, we’ve started to get a little bit of our structure back. I thought the the first unit did a really good job tonight and created some good looks.”

With starter Carter Hart out because of an illness, Sandström got the nod in goal, marking his second start in six days. He followed up a strong performance against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 9 (28 saves on 29 shots) with another one against the Golden Knights, even though the scoreboard didn’t reflect it. On most, if not all, of the goals he allowed, he received little defensive help from the skaters in front of him.

The most notable example of the poor defense in front of Sandström came halfway through the second period. Sandström made a flurry of saves, but Golden Knights center Teddy Blueger scored on a rebound to go up 3-1 as Flyers players around him looked on. Sandström finished the night with 28 saves on 32 shots.

“I think all of us have belief in Sandy,” Frost said. “I think he’s maybe been put in some some tough spots. We haven’t played that great in front of him.”

The Flyers play the first night of a back-to-back on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m., NBCSP).

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