The Flyers entered Monday's preseason finale with a 1-2-3 record in the preseason, certainly not great, but not completely indicative of play to this point. Then Monday happened.
Facing a Swiss team in Lausanne HC that had lost on Friday, 7-1, to HC Davos, the Flyers were expected to be no match for this team. But Alain Vigneault noted before the game that an international exhibition like this would be their Stanley Cup, and they sure treated it that way.
The Flyers came out lethargic and slow, and Lausanne pounced on them for three first-period goals on their way to opening up a 4-0 lead that ultimately chased Carter Hart. A furious rally late was not enough as the Flyers fell to Lausanne, 4-3, in Monday's preseason finale.
Lausanne opened the scoring with a goal by Yannick Herren, who fired a shot high off the mask of Hart and got his own rebound. Cory Emmerton followed with a power-play goal and Joel Genazzi made it 3-0 with a shot from the point that deflected off the skate of James van Riemsdyk and elevated over Hart.
Early in the second, another power-play goal for Lausanne, this time from Joel Vermin, and that was the end of Hart's night.
The Flyers finally trimmed the gap with a goal by Claude Giroux on a rebound just after a power play expired. That was as close as the Flyers would get in the second, despite some improved play, and Lausanne entered the third with a three-goal lead.
The Flyers pushed play in the third period, getting the game to within two goals midway through the period with Connor Bunnaman putting home a rebound.
Late in the game, Sean Couturier knocked in a loose puck to cut the lead to one with just over two minutes to play. The Flyers could not manage the equalizer and dropped the contest in upset fashion to Lausanne, closing the preseason unofficially with a 1-3-3 record — the result and statistics from this game do not count toward the preseason totals.
Next up, the Flyers begin the games that count for standings points. The regular season starts with the Flyers heading to Prague, Czech Republic to face the Chicago Blackhawks.
