Scott Laughton scored a career-high four goals, tying a franchise record, as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Thursday.
Aleksei Kolosov made 25 saves and came close to earning his first career shutout, as the Flyers won their second straight game after a three-game losing streak. Ben Chiarot was the only player to score against Kolosov, but the Red Wings still lost their sixth game in the last seven.
Laughton led the offense, scoring his fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh goals of the season. He now has 13 goals in 20 games against Detroit and 89 goals in 611 games against other teams.
He became the first Flyer to score four goals in a game since John LeClair on October 15, 2002.
Laughton’s second goal, the 100th of his career, gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead early in the third period. While shorthanded, Travis Konecny set up Laughton for an easy tap-in past Cam Talbot, who made 32 saves.
Laughton sealed his career night with two empty-net goals. His first came with 1:07 left to complete his second career hat trick, and his fourth goal was scored with just 13 seconds remaining.
Laughton’s first goal was a breakaway slap shot with 6:38 left in the second period, which beat Talbot just under the crossbar.
Philadelphia had several other good chances in the second period. Talbot stopped Joel Farabee on a breakaway and also made important saves on Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier. Noah Cates hit the post shortly after in a dominant stretch by the Flyers.
Michkov also attempted a “lacrosse goal” from behind the net but missed it by a small margin.
The Red Wings nearly tied the game late in the second period, but Kolosov made key saves on Alex DeBrincat and Marco Kasper to keep the Flyers ahead 1-0.
Kolosov also made a big glove save on Erik Gustafsson with the Flyers holding onto a 2-1 lead late in the game.
