PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travis Konecny snapped a third-period tie with a short-handed goal, and the Philadelphia Flyers stopped a four-game slide with a spirited 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia, which had dropped six of seven overall. Sean Couturier also scored, and Carter Hart made 22 saves.
Konecny, the Flyers' All-Star representative, snapped a wrist shot past Flames goalie Jakob Markstrom on a breakaway 2:27 into the final period. It was his NHL-best fifth short-handed goal and No. 21 on the season overall.
The Flyers lead the NHL with 10 short-handed goals this season.
“What’s nice is we’re getting these chances but we’re not necessarily cheating for them,” said Couturier, who is also a big part of the Flyers' penalty kill. “They’re just sort of presenting themselves. With the speed (Konecny) and (Scott Laughton) have they can jump all over loose pucks and create offense.
“What’s even better is we’re not just scoring on those penalties, but we’re killing them. Getting an extra one is a bonus, and that’s probably the difference tonight.”
Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar scored for Calgary, which had won three in a row. Markstrom made 39 saves.
The Flames had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the second, but the Flyers came back each time.
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“The first period was OK but then I thought the second and third, we got outworked,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “They were the better team. Jakob was the only reason the game was close.”
Frost was standing by the far post for a tap-in of a Sean Walker shot at 4:15. Couturier knocked home a rebound of a Frost shot at 16:06, tying at 2 with his 10th goal of the season.
Frost was scratched by Flyers coach John Tortorella for the team’s previous game. He asked Tortorella for a sitdown on Thursday and the two hashed out some differences, creating common ground and getting Frost back in the lineup.
“I had some things that I wanted to get off my chest,” Frost said. “It was a good back and forth. I want to be in the lineup, obviously. I think I should be in the lineup. It’s kind of a wake-up call when you get pulled out like that.”
Calgary thought it had tied the game with six minutes to play, but the goal was waved off when Connor Zary was whistled for an interference penalty for dumping Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler to the ice.
The game got a bit chippy in the second period as the teams combined for 30 minutes in penalties. There was a fight between two top-line forwards, Joel Farabee for Philadelphia and Elias Lindholm for the Flames.
The Flyers celebrated the birthday of their late founder, Hockey Hall of Famer Ed Snider, throughout the game. Dozens of alumni were in attendance and new Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker dropped the ceremonial first puck with three of Snider’s children present for the festivities.
“The kind of game, the style of game it was, I feel like he had us playing that way up there,” Tortorella said, extending his hands and moving his fingers as if to indicate a puppeteer.
UP NEXT
Flames: Finish a four-game road trip in Chicago on Sunday.
Flyers: Host Pittsburgh on Monday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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