Travis Konecny registered a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup as the Philadelphia Flyers topped the visiting Utah Mammoth 6-3 on Sunday.
After missing the last 10 games with a lower-body injury, Konecny helped Philadelphia set a season high for goals while beating Utah for the first time in five all-time meetings.
Christian Dvorak and Noah Cates each added a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fourth time in 16 games this season.
Logan Cooley notched a goal and an assist for the Mammoth, who have alternated wins and losses over their last eight games. Dmitri Simashev and Mikhail Sergachev also scored for Utah against Flyers netminder Dan Vladar (19 saves).
Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov opened the scoring 12:49 into the contest when Porter Martone’s pass caromed off a couple of players, including Cates, and bounced to Michkov on the other side of the net. He took the puck in stride and beat Karel Vejmelka for his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
Less than two minutes later, Simashev tied it with his third of the campaign. Vincent Trocheck flipped the puck high into the air into the offensive zone. Simashev skated to the loose puck in front of Flyers defenseman Cam York and rammed it home in one motion.
Philadelphia’s go-ahead goal came on a pass by Konecny that got tangled up between Vejmelka and defenseman Artem Duda and snuck across the goal line. Even the Flyers’ next goal was a fortunate carom, as Cates’ wrister went off the stick of Simashev and into the net.
The Flyers tacked on less than two minutes into the third, as Dvorak took a feed from Konecny and buried one past Vejmelka.
Oliver Bonk’s blistering slapshot shortly thereafter made it 5-1.
Things got interesting late, as Sergachev scored a power-play goal with four minutes left and Cooley added one of his own just 1:07 later. However, Cole Knuble buried an empty-netter with 1:34 remaining to seal the win.