The Flyers left Vancouver with a 3-1 win Monday night, and the game followed a familiar script for the Canucks: early trouble, a late push, and not enough to get out of the hole.
Michael Bunting opened the scoring for Philadelphia at 2:03 of the first period, Travis Konecny added a power-play goal in the second, and Travis Sanheim sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute. Christian Dvorak picked up two assists, while Joseph Woll stopped 18 shots for the Flyers, who had dropped three straight and six of seven before this one.
For Vancouver, Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored and Leevi Merilainen made 14 saves, but the Canucks’ skid kept rolling. They have now lost six straight and 16 of 17.
Bunting’s goal came after he carried the puck through the neutral zone and into Vancouver’s end before trying to set up Dvorak with a backhand centering pass. Luke Schenn got a piece of it, but the puck bounced back to Bunting, who tried the feed again. When the puck ended up near the left hash marks after going off Dvorak’s skates, Bunting jumped on it and fired it in for a 1-0 Flyers lead.
Philadelphia made it 2-0 early in the second after Elias Pettersson was called for holding Matvei Michkov at 1:55, sending the Flyers to the power play. Trevor Zegras handled the zone entry cleanly, then worked the puck down low before Michkov moved it around the zone and back to Dvorak.
Dvorak returned it to Michkov behind the net, and Michkov slipped a backhand pass to Konecny at the left post. Konecny finished short side at 3:05.
The Flyers appeared to stretch the margin to three just 22 seconds into the third, but Vancouver challenged and won on offside.
The Canucks finally broke through on their third power play, with Lekkerimaki hammering a one-timer from the right circle at 12:44 to make it 2-1.
Vancouver kept pressing late, especially after Woll was penalized for delay of game at 17:11 for intentionally removing his mask during play. The Canucks pulled Merilainen for a 6-on-4 advantage, but Sanheim put the game away into the empty net with 59 seconds left.
The shot totals told the story of the night’s swing. Vancouver was outshot 15-6 through two periods, then flipped the ice in the third with a 13-1 edge.
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