December 13, 2024
Scott Laughton said the end of Thursday night was a blur.
The longtime Flyer had just slid in the empty-netter for his third goal of the night, the hats had just been cleared off the Wells Fargo Center ice, and the visiting Detroit Red Wings had been effectively put away.
Then another bounce jumped right to him.
Detroit continued to attack with their goalie pulled and only seconds left, when Mortiz Seider sent a pass across the ice that sailed right by his teammate Lucas Raymond and with a riccochet off the far boards that only Laughton had the forward momentum to go and get.
He was on a sprint straight to the empty net again, Garnet Hathaway hustled to skate down with him, and though Hathaway was given the feed and the opportunity for a late mark on the scoresheet, he sent it straight back.
This was Laughton's night. This was Laughton's game – four goals for the veteran, his second accounting for the 100th of his NHL career, and for the Flyers, a 4-1 win to make it two straight, with cathartic emotions on the ice and high, high spirits in the locker room after.
"He's probably the best teammate you can ask for," captain Sean Couturier said of Laughton postgame, with the two standing as the longest-tenured Flyers.
"He means so much to us," Couturier added. "He plays throughout the lineup, in different roles, different situations. It's not always easy, but he always has a great attitude and thinks about the team first and does whatever he can to help the team. So it's nice to see him get rewarded tonight."
💥💥 FOUR GOALS. FOUR BOOMS. 💥💥
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 13, 2024
The vibes are so incredibly high.#DETvsPHI | @IBX pic.twitter.com/lgZMZHq7li
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Laughton said after his teammates swarmed him in celebration at his locker stall. "I mean, two empty-netters, but I know they all count. I think 100 goals, you don't look at it really, but I've been in the league for a long time, and it's hard to score goals in this league. To score 100, it's pretty cool to me, pretty special. I know it's not much compared to some guys, but yeah, it feels pretty cool to get that."
And you can definitely say he earned the first two.
The Flyers had piled on 24 shots against Detroit by the late part of the second period, but had yet to crack goaltender Cam Talbot, who had an answer and a bit of post luck for everything Philly could muster to that point.
The Red Wings were trying to set up camp in the Philadelphia post when the puck came rolling up the wall to defenseman Simon Edvinsson. He threw it back to the blue line thinking someone was there behind him to cover, but no one was home – not in a red and white jersey that is.
The puck went gliding alone through center ice. Laughton, who was covering the point as a forward up high, got the jump after it and went in all alone on the breakaway, squaring up to Talbot and then unleashing a blast of a slap shot over his glove to finally break down the wall and put everyone on their feet.
"To be honest, I've been waiting for my chance in the shootout and was gonna let one fly," Laughton quipped of loading up the shot on the approach. "It's been in my head for about two, three weeks now, so I was thinking slapper the whole way down."
The next one, for the milestone 100th, came on the penalty kill early into the third.
Travis Sanheim stepped up and blocked a shot from Vladimir Tarasenko at the top of the circle, the bounce fell to Travis Konecny cutting over in the slot, and the winger moved to break out then peel down the right boards with Laughton crashing through middle and to net in between Detroit checkers.
Konecny's pass to the front of the crease was on the money and Laughton chipped it over Talbot's pad for the shorthander and a 2-0 lead with all the pressure on Detroit, which the Flyers' checking and Aleksei Kolosov's stellar goaltending on the night never allowed them to overcome.
We brought the boom. 💪#LetsGoFlyers | @Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/sCuPmYOu8C
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 13, 2024
That cleared the runway for Laughton's next two as time was winding down, with Hathaway and his teammates ensuring he wouldn't pass up the shot at four.
"I thought he was shooting it in," Laughton said of Hathaway's extra pass back to him with a smirk. "Give him a touch on that one. But, yeah...I don't even know. I think after the third one it was, it was a blur out there."
But he'll remember it, the effort, the momentum, the fact that he more than doubled his goal production on the season overnight, and the celebration after, his teammates made sure of that.
"Looking down at the bench and seeing all the guys and, yeah, it's special," Laughton said. "I mean, I've let it be known that I love it here. I love everyone here, and we have a lot of good young guys coming up here that are mixed with some older guys that fit in really well. If you're a close knit group, it goes a long way.
"Sometimes it always doesn't translate, but hopefully it does here coming up."
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