PHILADELPHIA – The post-game celebration noise coming out of the Flyers’ locker room sounded extra loud on Thursday night and for good reason.
One of the club’s favorite teammates, Scott Laughton, had just completed his first career four-goal game and the players wanted to show appreciation for a guy who does a lot of the dirty work.
Laughton’s second goal, a shorthanded effort in the third period, was the 100th overall of his career, so that made the whole accomplishment extra special.
It isn’t often that the Flyers win a game, 4-1, and one player scores all the goals. So it made the occasion at the Wells Fargo Center rather unique after the victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
Travis Konecny, who set up Laughton for that second goal which turned out to be the game-winner, confirmed the players wanted to loudly recognize a player who just quietly goes about his business.
“I mean, there aren’t a lot of people who get one goal in the NHL,” Konecny said with a grin. “Scotty is one of those guys, it doesn’t matter where he is in the lineup or what his job is, he’s always a good spirit at the rink. He never complains about anything.
“He just puts his head down and does what he has to do. And I think when he’s called upon for offense, he’s got a lot of skills. It’s great to see, I’m really happy for him.”
Laughton takes a lot of pride in his defensive work but even the most dedicated footsoldier likes a moment in the spotlight once in a while.
His first goal showed the offensive side of his game.
With the game scoreless midway through the second period, Laughton found himself with a free puck at center ice courtesy of a giveaway by the Wings’ Simon Edvinsson.
Laughton skated in on a breakaway, wound up and blasted a slap shot past goaltender Cam Talbot at 13:22. It was just his second goal since a two-goal game at Seattle on Oct. 17.
Later, early in the third period, Laughton and Konecny broke loose in a shorthanded situation. Konecny executed a perfect lead pass, Laughton scored and that’s how he hit the century mark.
In the closing minutes, Laughton added two empty-net goals but as the alternate captain pointed out, “they all count.”
It was Laughton’s first career four-goal game and second career hat trick. The other three-goal game came on Feb. 7, 2021 in a 7-4 win at Washington.
Laughton said he was pleased by the reception he received after the game.
“It was pretty electric,” he said with a smile. “We’re a close group and we celebrate the wins. Good feeling tonight for sure. Kind of get my game going, hopefully, offensively. It was an awesome night.”
Laughton said his team’s patient approach was a key to this victory, the team’s second straight after a three-game (0-2-1) winless streak.
Of course, any time a player gets four goals it’s pretty special. For the Flyers, it hadn’t been done since 2002 when John LeClair scored four times vs. Montreal.
“I think a hundred goals, you don’t look at it really,” Laughton said. “Been in the league for a long time. It’s hard to score goals in this league. To score a hundred, it’s pretty special.”
Sean Couturier has been around the Flyers about the same amount of time as Laughton and knows what he’s capable of.
“I’m really happy for him,” Couturier said. “He’s probably one of the best teammates you can have around.”
On Laughton’s fourth goal, with just 13 seconds remaining, the Detroit net was empty. Laughton and Garnet Hathaway had a two-on-0 break. Hathaway looked like he was going to shoot, then thought better of it and passed the puck to his wingman. No doubt the bench was yelling for Hathaway to pass the puck.
“You will have to ask ‘Garny,’ that one,” Couturier said. “I’m sure he thought about it. He (Laughton) means so much to us. He plays throughout the lineup, different roles, it’s not always easy. He always has a great attitude. Thinks about the team first.”
Added coach John Tortorella on the first breakaway goal, with the slap shot hitting the back of the net: “First ‘Coots’ has a breakaway, then a two-on-one with ‘Beezer’ (Joel Farabee) misses. I think ‘Laughts’ said, ‘the hell with this. I’m just going to drive this thing.’ That’s what he did. For Scottie, you always hope good things happen for him. He works so hard. It’s a big reason why we win the game.”
A scoreless first period saw the Flyers launch a dozen shots on Talbot, who was only tested a couple times. Talbot played briefly (four games) for the Flyers early in his career.
Detroit’s Ben Chiarot scored with 3:53 to play to ruin goaltender Aleksei Kolosov’s shutout bid.
>Short shots
Owen Tippett played in his 300th NHL game. Of those, 206 with the Flyers, 94 with Florida. . .Detroit’s No. 1 goaltender, Alex Lyon, missed his 11th straight game with a lower-body injury suffered on Nov. 27. Lyon played parts of four seasons with the Flyers at the start of his NHL career. . . The Flyers get back on the road again when they head to Minnesota for a Saturday afternoon game.
