Flyers give the NHL’s best team a fight in 3-2 loss to the Avalanche

Sean Couturier said it best after taking on the Colorado Avalanche.

“I know we’re a young team, but I think we’ve got to start believing in ourselves,” Couturier said.“ It’s a good proof today that we can play with anyone, and we’ve just got to bring that effort, that intensity, more consistently.”

The Flyers did hang with the NHL’s best team for much of the Sunday matinee at Xfinity Mobile Arena, although Couturier added that it “felt that [at] times maybe we gave them a little too much respect and we watched them a little bit.”

They had their chances but ultimately fell, 3-2. It is their second loss in the last three games, but the Flyers are 7-4-0 since losing two straight in mid-November. The Avalanche improved to 21-2-6.

“Some people use games as measuring sticks, and I think we don’t need to do that anymore,” Travis Konecny said. “We’ve shown we can compete with the best teams, so why not start believing that we should be right there with them?”

Trailing 3-1, the Flyers started to build some momentum when Konecny cut it to a one-goal lead with his seventh goal of the season early in the second period.

Konecny put a hard shot on Mackenzie Blackwood and tried to knock the puck away deep but ended up falling near the net. As that happened, the Avalanche transitioned the other way.

Sam Ersson made a kick save on a shot from the right half wall by New Jersey native Ross Colton, and Emil Andrae picked up the puck.

The defenseman sent a stretch pass up to Konecny, who was late getting back because of being trapped deep up the ice. The pass was nicked by Brock Nelson in the neutral zone, but Konecny took it off the wall, skated in, and scored five-hole.

“Yeah, it’s great,” said Christian Dvorak, who was given a secondary assist on Konecy’s goal, about playing with the winger lately. “High skill, high compete player [who] wins a lot of battles. Makes a lot of great plays out there and a nice goal tonight.

“Yeah, we had plenty of chances in the third, especially to tie it up, just a little bit away from executing there.”

Coach Rick Tocchet also had praise for Andrae after the game. Andrae was up in the play, making smart moves, and helping to lead the Flyers at both ends of the ice.

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“That’s what I’m looking for right there. He was very good tonight,” Tocchet said. “When he had the puck, and there was room to skate, he skated; he didn’t wait. Even on the blue line, there were times when he had it, he had a step on a guy, he took, what we call, the good ice. He wasn’t flat-footed; he wasn’t looking to defer. He was being aggressive. So it’s a good step for Emil.”

The Flyers started to carry the game more, and in the third period, they outshot the Avalanche 13-3. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers also had 26 chances to 14 against, 12 scoring chances to four for Colorado, and eight high-danger chances to one against. Their expected goals also climbed from 0.3 in the first period to 1.38 in the third.

“It was a strong finish again,” Konecny said. “I don’t know if it was like a flat first period for us. I know, for me specifically, I didn’t have anything good going on first. But yeah, we responded well.”

Trevor Zegras probably had the best chance when he was held up on a breakaway by Nathan MacKinnon and was awarded a penalty shot. Known for his prowess in the shootout, he was unable to bury this one.

It was his second penalty shot this season, as he also was unable to beat Jordan Binnington in overtime in the Flyers’ 6-5 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues in November. Zegras did score in the shootout.

Skating in his 900th NHL game — all with the Flyers — and on his 33rd birthday, Sean Couturier set the tone early.

On his first shift of the game, a tidy 35-second shift to boot, he made it 1-0 Flyers. With Couturier centering Matvei Michkov and Owen Tippett, the three forwards got to work to keep the puck on the Flyers’ sticks.

Tippett carried the puck deep along the left boards before curling and feeding it to Noah Juulsen at the right point. The defenseman, who has three of the Flyers’ 10 hardest shots this season, according to NHL Edge, put the puck on net with Couturier tipping it in out front, even with Avalanche defenseman Sam Malinski on him.

“It’s fitting for him to get that first one. It’s just great to see him play 900. He’s been through a lot in his career, and he’s always just put his head down and gone to work and led by example,” Konecny said.

“And he’s a guy that you can say he doesn’t care about that goal, he’ll care about if we won or lost the game, and that speaks to why he’s our captain. He’s been doing it for a long time. He just wants to win. So it’s a good guy to have on your side, and we love him.”

Starting his second straight game for just the second time this season — because Tocchet said he felt he deserved it after beating the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday — Ersson had a tall task against the Avalanche. They entered the day leading the NHL with an average of four goals a game.

On the first goal, Egor Zamula couldn’t handle the puck behind the net and then didn’t get to it along the boards quickly enough. It allowed Colorado forward Jack Drury to easily play the puck deep to Martin Nečas, who sent a cross-ice pass up to Brent Burns at the right point for the goal.

“We play our best when we’re on our toes, and skating forward and be aggressive, and kind of get in their face and get their speed down,” Andrae said.

“Maybe we had a couple of long shifts, and they keep going, and they’re coming at us, and maybe we’re backing off a little bit too much and giving too much space, so you get on your heels. But overall, I think we played a pretty good game, but we didn’t capitalize on our chances.”

The second goal was a bit wonky as it was on a power play for Colorado — no surprise here, once again a questionable call by the referees — and happened after the puck hit the glass behind the net. The shot by Cale Makar, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, hit the glass, and MacKinnon had a swipe at it before Brock Nelson scored.

And the third goal came off a cross-ice pass by Victor Olofsson to Valeri Nichushkin atop the right faceoff circle. He whipped it passed Ersson to make it 3-1.

Zamula and his partner, Juulsen, were on the ice for that goal too.

“Yeah, I mean, listen, they’re scratching and clawing,” Tocchet said. “That’s what you’ve got to get from them. They’re trying.”

Ersson settled down and had some key saves. With the score tied, he stopped a hard, high shot by Burns and then a Josh Manson rebound. Early in the second period, he made a save on a shot by Devon Toews with Gabriel Landeskog in front before robbing the Colorado captain on the doorstep.

Later in the middle frame, Ersson did what he does best — stopping guys one-on-one. Facing his countryman, Olofsson, Ersson stoned him on a breakaway as he got behind Zamula.

“He was unbelievable, like he always is. He kept us in it. And it wouldn’t have been a one-goal game without him,” Dvorak said of Ersson, who made 25 saves.

Defenseman Cam York did not play and remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Blueliner Ty Murchison, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Saturday, participated in warmups but did not play. ... Defenseman Nick Seeler played in his 400th NHL game. ... Konecny has six points (two goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Andrae has seven points in 17 games this season is plus-7.

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The Flyers host Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP).