Hart, Flyers Hold Off Late Push by Avalanche

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The Flyers have faced some tall orders in the last month of games, going up against top competition while very short-handed. With the defending Stanley Cup champions in town, it figured to be another difficult test.

But the Avalanche are mired with injuries themselves, and Monday’s game only added to that list. The Flyers took advantage of their opportunities and Carter Hart did the rest, as the Flyers held on for a 5-3 win over the Avalanche at Wells Fargo Center.

The Avalanche had an early opportunity to put their top-ranked power play to work. They made quick work of it. Just 17 seconds into the man-advantage, Cale Makar had a shot deflected by Alex Newhook to open the scoring at 3:50.

The Flyers got the game tied up at 7:29. Scott Laughton was able to work the puck back to Travis Sanheim. With space, Sanheim walked in and fired a shot through a screen that beat Alexandar Georgiev for his third of the season to make it 1-1.

Late in the period, the Flyers grabbed the lead off a rush. Joel Farabee fired to the far pad of Georgiev, leaving a big rebound for Tanner Laczynski, who scored his second goal of the season to make it 2-1 with 1:55 remaining in the period.

In the closing seconds of the first, Hart made a sprawling save on Jacob MacDonald to retain the lead. Shots through 20 minutes were 15-11 Colorado.

Nathan MacKinnon left the game midway through the first period and did not return.

The Flyers got an early power play in the second and also were able to cash in. Tony DeAngelo put a shot on goal through a screen and beat Georgiev to make it a 3-1 Flyers lead.

Both teams had additional power-play chances in the period, but were unable to score. Through two periods, shots were 23-20 Flyers.

The Flyers killed off a Colorado power play early in the third, then got one of their own and cashed in to put the game out of reach. Laughton took a shot wide off the endboards that bounced out the other side to Owen Tippett, who scored to make it 4-1.

The Avalanche did close the gap back to two with 2:13 remaining, as Mikko Rantanen got through the defense and beat Hart. Just 36 seconds later, the Avalanche added another with Newhook scoring his second of the game to make it 4-3 with 1:37 remaining.

But the Flyers iced the game with an empty-net goal by Travis Konecny with one minute to play, his 10th of the season.

Hart made 29 saves on 32 shots in the win. Georgiev made 29 saves on 33 shots in the loss. Laughton, Sanheim, and Hayes each had multi-point games.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Wednesday night as they close out the five-game homestand against the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m.

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Scoring Summary

1st Period

• COL Alex Newhook (5) PP (Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon) 3:50
• PHI Travis Sanheim (3) (Scott Laughton, Zack MacEwen) 7:29
• PHI Tanner Laczynski (2) (Joel Farabee, Patrick Brown) 18:05

2nd Period

• PHI Tony DeAngelo (4) PP (Morgan Frost, Kevin Hayes) 3:59

3rd Period

• PHI Owen Tippett (7) PP (Laughton, Ivan Provorov) 9:54
• COL Mikko Rantanen (15) (Erik Johnson) 17:47
• COL Newhook (6) (J.T. Compher, Devon Toews) 18:23
• PHI Travis Konecny (10) EN (Hayes, Sanheim) 19:00