Flyers hang tough with the Golden Knights but lose on Mark Stone’s overtime game-winner

Facing one of the NHL’s perennial Stanley Cup contenders, the Flyers hung tough but ultimately fell 3-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime.

The Flyers are now 2-4 in games decided in the extra session. Philly has also lost three of its past five games.

Travis Konecny fanned on the puck in the Flyers’ zone during the extra period, and Vegas’ Jack Eichel got it before ultimately finding Mark Stone crashing backdoor for the overtime game-winner.

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Vegas took a 1-0 lead 6 minutes, 7 seconds into the game on a goal by Zach Whitecloud. The play started when Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin poked the puck away from Christian Dvorak as he skated down on a two-on-two with Konecny, and it went right to Eichel. Vegas’ center, who has already been named to the U.S. Olympic squad, got the puck and sent a stretch pass up to Braeden Bowman at the Flyers’ blue line.

A former teammate of Jett Luchanko’s at Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League, Bowman pulled Emil Andrae out of position and dished the puck to Ivan Barbashev. The Russian winger found Whitecloud splitting Konecny and Jamie Drysdale, and the defenseman flipped the backhand past Dan Vladař.

But, as it usually happens, the line that gave up the goal tied it.

Travis Sanheim knocked away an Eichel pass attempt in the neutral zone, and the Flyers got to work. They got the puck deep and kept it in the offensive zone for the next 38 seconds. It ended with Sanheim skating to the top of the left face-off circle and threading the needle to Trevor Zegras at the right post for the goal.

Zegras now leads the Flyers with 11 goals. He is one off his total from last season, when he scored 12 in 57 regular-season games with the Anaheim Ducks.

Vegas retook the lead in the second period on a power-play goal by Stone. The Golden Knights’ captain scored on his second rebound attempt after Pavel Dorofeyev put a shot from the high slot on goal off the rush.

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But the never-quit Flyers tied it up again. Carl Grundström put pressure on defenseman Brayden McNabb, creating a turnover along the boards in the Vegas zone.

Dvorak scooped up the puck and skated around the right circle and up in the zone before feeding Noah Juulsen for the one-timer from the left face-off dot. The goal is Juulsen’s first with the franchise and registered at 92 miles per hour.

Former Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, who was the World Series MVP in 2008, was at the game in a Tocchet jersey; however, Tocchet was misspelled as Tochett. … Actor David Boreanaz, who grew up in the Philly area and is a noted Flyers fan, and Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly were also in attendance. … The Flyers did not have a tribute video for former goalie Carter Hart, who returned to Philly for the first time. Contrary to what was reported on the ESPN broadcast, a source told The Inquirer there was no extra security behind the Vegas bench. It was the normal NHL-required security.

» READ MORE: Carter Hart not made available to the media; will not start Thursday vs. Flyers

The Flyers play a home-and-home with the Carolina Hurricanes beginning on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7 p.m., NBCSP). Sunday’s game is at the Lenovo Center (5 p.m., NBCSP).