Garnet Hathaway
The Flyers added veteran forward Garnet Hathaway on a two-year deal with a $2.375 million AAV on Saturday.
Travis Konecny extended his points streak to 10 games with a hat trick and matched his career-high with 24 goals on the season in the Flyers 5-3 win over the Capitals.
It was an ugly game for the Flyers, who trailed 3-1 after the first and lost Carter Hart and Cam Atkinson for the night before allowing six more goals over the final two periods in a 9-2 drubbing to the Washington Capitals.
A pair of goals by Garnet Hathaway separated by 1:45 turned the 3-2 lead into a 4-3 deficit with 1:12 remaining. An empty-net goal sealed the deal in the Flyers fourth straight loss.
The Flyers defeated the Capitals on Saturday night, but it was more than just the team winning a game for the first time this preseason. It was the players that really stood out and the coming together of a bunch of new faces to show signs that this season could be different in terms of the mood around the team.
In the end, the Flyers probably got the deserved result for the chances they had in the third period and the strong start they had in the first. It’s two points they desperately needed and will take any way they can get at this point. The process on the ice may still have a lot of flaws and they were on full display again, but it’s a game the team can put back in the win column, another game where they took care of business against a team behind them in the standings.
Both Alain Vigneault and Claude Giroux said the Flyers are trending in the right direction. James van Riemsdyk agreed and said they did a lot of good things. But the results don’t lie. The Flyers are not a playoff team at the moment in the standings for a reason. And they need a quick fix or this will be yet another season of disappointment, yet another season of mediocrity.
On Saturday night, things may just have come to a head. For the third time this week, the Flyers were no match for the Capitals for most of the night, having another furious rally fall short and losing for the fourth time in the last five games, 5-4.
Another mistake-filled game by the Flyers led to another loss, as the Capitals claimed their second win over the Flyers this week, 5-3, at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers fell behind in the first, but responded with a strong second and third period to secure their third win of the season against the Washington Capitals, claiming a 5-2 victory in Washington on Wednesday night.
