Travis Konecny scored his second career hat trick and handed the Washington Capitals a rare regular loss in recent weeks, with the Philadelphia Flyers winning 5-3 Wednesday night.
The Caps came to Philly with a 13-2-2 record in their last 17 games and had won their last 7 games at opposing runs. They inflamed their rivals as they trailed 4-1 by scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to take the lead, but Konecky dashed their hopes by completing his hat-trick with 13 seconds left in the game into an empty net.
Scott Laughton opened the game for the Flyers by hitting the power play target on a throw from the blue line at 7:26 of the first period.
Washington thought they would save the locker room with the tie when Garnet Hathaway scored with just under a minute left, but Konecny put the Flyers back in front just 19 seconds later with his 22nd goal of the campaign. He thus obtained a point in the tenth consecutive game, the first player in the organization to have such a series since Claude Giroux in 2017-2018.
After a scoreless second period, Owen Tippett made it 3-1 after 5:31 of play into the final period with an accurate wrist shot.
Then Konecny charged back in a 2-on-1 with Scott Laughton handing him the puck for his third goal of the season short of a man.
The Caps didn’t give up with back-to-back goals from Marcus Johansson and TJ Oshie, but Konecny eventually halted that comeback attempt to bring his goal tally to 24.
