Flyers’ skid extends to four with 3-2 loss to Avalanche

DENVER — Before his team faced the Colorado Avalanche, Flyers coach John Tortorella told his players there would be bad moments in every game, but not to let those moments bite them. Hours later, the Flyers’ mistakes bit them and led to their 3-2 loss Tuesday night.

For much of the game, the Flyers managed the bad moments well enough, in that they kept the puck out of the back of their net. But they also couldn’t figure out how to snap out of merely surviving to give themselves a chance to win.

Tied 1-1 in the second period, the Flyers made their most dangerous mistake, leading to the Avalanche’s go-ahead goal. The Flyers had the man advantage, but that didn’t help because, as Travis Konecny tried to enter, no one moved back to support him. When the puck bounced past the blue line, no one was there to defend Artturi Lehkonen when he jumped, and he scored the short-handed goal.

» READ MORE: Overtime problems will crush Flyers’ hopes of being competitive if they’re not fixed

The Avalanche capitalized on yet another mistake for their third goal. Both of the Flyers defensemen went to the corner, leaving the net front open, and J.T. Compher scored.

With 3 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third period, James van Riemsdyk scored a goal after the Flyers pulled their goalie to cut the Avalanche lead to one. But the late effort wasn’t enough, and the Flyers dropped their fourth straight.

As reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Cale Makar carried the puck into the corner of the Flyers’ zone, Cam York, in his third NHL game of the season, went in with speed and confidence, knocking Makar to the ice.

Confidence. It’s the biggest difference in York since he returned from his stint in the AHL. After York’s season debut, Tortorella wasn’t ready to make any conclusions. After York’s second strong performance, Tortorella started to praise him, saying he’s playing confident and aggressive, adding “another dimension” to the back end.

York gave him even more things to praise Tuesday, although Tortorella refused to talk about individual players postgame. York got the Flyers on the board by taking a shot from above the faceoff circle and then followed it, scoring on his rebound.

“My confidence has been high, and that goal definitely helps,” York said. “Hopefully [it] continues to help my game.”

There were still some mistakes in the young defenseman’s game, like when he drifted out of position on the power play, leading to a shorthanded goal. However, he continued to play top-four minutes.

Felix Sandström finally stepped into the Flyers net after seven games serving as backup and was immediately deluged by shots. The start of the game didn’t feature much excitement, but as the Avalanche found their stride, they started pinning the Flyers in their own zone.

Sandström stood strong, even in a moment when the Avalanche maneuvered into prime scoring position. Ball Arena got loud as the Avalanche wound up for an open, short-range shot, but Sandström didn’t even flinch.

Two of the goals that got past Sandström were much like the goals that got past Carter Hart the game before. They were scored on rushes that became a one-on-one battle between goalie and skater. The first came when Compher’s pass cut past both Flyers defensemen to give Devon Toews the shot. The second was when Lehkonen jumped on the Flyers’ power play mistake and beat York’s diving attempt at defense.

Sandström stopped 22 of 25 shots. He said the positive of having to face down the Avalanche’s offense for so long is that he got to see the puck a lot in situations that practice can’t emulate.

“In a way, it was good for my reads to have a lot of zone time,” Sandström said.

One of the positives the Flyers have pointed to recently has been the improved offense. While they’re still a low-scoring team, they’ve been outshooting their opponents and dominating puck possession.

Tuesday was a step back. At the start of the game, there were brief spurts of momentum. They weren’t able to place sustained pressure on the Avalanche, but they created some good chances. That disappeared in the second period. For more than half the period, the Flyers failed to set up in their offensive zone. Other than a rush attempt by van Riemsdyk, the Flyers only kept possession of the puck in the offensive zone for seconds at a time. Sandström was the only reason they kept in the game.

“We’re at our best when we get pucks behind their D,” Hayes said. “We did it for a little bit of that game and not the whole game, so I’d say our puck management wasn’t great.”

Helped by a power play, the Flyers were able to create some more opportunities in the third and they used that to create a push. They narrowed the seven-shot differential and eventually overcame the Avalanche’s shots on goal after pulling their goalie.

» READ MORE: Poor game management continues to ‘bite’ the inexperienced Flyers

The Flyers head to their last stop of the road trip, Newark, N.J., to play the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at 7 p.m.