Flyers thump Golden Knights

PHILADELPHIA – A four-goal second period gave the Flyers a 5-0 lead over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Monday as Philadelphia cruised to a 6-2 win.

Goalie Brian Elliott #37 of the Philadelphia Flyers reaches for the puck with his stick as he lays across the ice.

“We’re confident in how we want to play, and we strongly believe that if we play the way like we played the last three games we’re going to be successful,” Flyers forward Claude Giroux said. “Just because it’s not going in you can’t start changing everything, how you’re playing. We felt strongly that if we play our game, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win every night.”

Brian Elliott made 33 saves in the win.

“I thought we played better the two games before and we didn’t get rewarded, but we kept going and we found a way to win tonight and that’s huge to come back like that,” Michael Raffl said.

Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith scored in the third period to cut the lead to 5-3.

“I thought some guys on the team competed real hard and I thought some guys were real loose in the [defensive] zone and we gave them too many good scoring chances,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said.

James van Riemsdyk #25 of the Philadelphia Flyers and Goalie Oscar Dansk #35 of the Las Vegas Golden Knights

Raffl struck twice in the win.

“It’s frustrating because there is no excuse for a performance like that,” Smith said. “It’s not like we played last night. We’ve got to be sharper.”

Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, Kevin Hayes, and Matt Niskanen added single markers in the win.

“I felt in the first period we had a lot of good looks and we were playing the right way,” Konecny said. “It just kind of happened for us in the second there, one after another that just kept going in. It’s just getting rewarded for playing the right way and sticking to the systems and doing what we’re told.”

[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Flyers highlights]

Oscar Dansk, made 31 saves in the loss.

“It was frustrating because I thought we had a lot of chances and Elliot made some real key saves at the time,” Gallant said. “And then all of a sudden they get that second goal and the third one pretty quick after that and things didn’t go well.”