Flyers Avoid Shutout, Fall 4-1 to Jets Thursday Night

The Philadelphia Flyers were dominated on their home ice Thursday night as the Winnipeg Jets rolled them to a 4-1 loss.

In what could have been the final game of Scott Laughton and Ristolainen’s Flyers tenure, Philadelphia put forth a saddening offensive effort.

The Flyers’ record falls to 27-28-8 with the loss, putting them farther away from the playoff picture.

The Winnipeg Jets boast the league’s best power play percentage. On Thursday night, they displayed their elite play with the man advantage. Their first two scores came with the Flyers down a man.

Mark Scheifele (35) got the scoring started for Winnipeg at the 8:32 mark in the first. Nikolaj Ehlers (20) followed suit with a power-play goal of his own later in the first. Winnipeg scored on their only two power play chances.

The simple fact of the matter: when you are playing against a team with a power play unit as dangerous as the Jets, you cannot play loose around the net. The Flyers’ penalty kill has not been bad this season, but the Jets got the better of the Flyers Thursday night.

The Jets’ scoring did not stop after the first period.

The Jets extended their lead by two in the period. Kyle Connor (32) scored a bit more than five minutes into the second period. Jets’ captain Adam Lowry (12) followed with a score of his own less than four minutes later.

Like they have all season, the Jets’ big names showed up Thursday night. Their top line, Connor, Scheifele, and Gabe Vilardi, all had multi-point games, combining for eight total points in the game.

As the third period went on, it was looking like the Flyers were going to get shut out. They were not generating offense. Despite a conservative effort from the Jets, the Flyers still were struggling to get the puck out of the defensive zone.

Time was dwindling, but an unassisted Matvei Michkov (20) goal with 2:42 left on the game clock saved the Flyers from being shut out.

With his goal, Michkov became the first rookie this season to reach 20 goals. He now has 46 points, which puts him one point ahead of Macklin Celebrini (45) and two behind Lane Hutson (48) for the lead in rookie scoring.

The Flyers will practice Friday before the 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline, and will play again Saturday when they host the Seattle Kraken.