The Philadelphia Flyers somehow came out on the losing end of a 5-4 overtime finish after jumping ahead to a 3-0 lead against their intrastate rivals in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Evgeni Malkin scored the game-tying goal early in the third period before icing the game in overtime just 1:03 into the extra frame after a strange miscue from the Flyers forwards that led to an odd-man rush.
Noah Cates, Owen Tippett, and Matvei Michkov gave the Flyers a three-goal lead before Philip Tomasino and Erik Karlsson scored twice in 30 seconds to cut the deficit to one. Michkov and Karlsson traded goals once again to send the game into a frenzy heading into the third period.
Michkov recorded 2 goals and an assist, Tippett had a two-point game, whereas Malkin finished with 4 points and Karlsson had 3. Samuel Ersson allowed 5 goals on 25 shots and Joel Blomqvist earned the win after stopping 21 of 22 shots after relieving Alex Nedeljkovic in the second period.
Looking for their first 4-game winning streak of the season, the Flyers visited the Penguins to finish off their home-and-home series after Philadelphia came out with a 6-1 win on Tuesday night.
Unsurprisingly, the Flyers reverted back to their winning lineup with an unchanged group of forwards and defensemen. The line flanked by Cates was brilliant on Tuesday night as they combined for 4 goals, 10 points, and +11, which also came off the heels of the Sean Couturier line taking care of business with a dominating performance of their own in their previous game against Edmonton.
Ersson returned between the pipes as he looked to improve on his 18-10-3 record, a 2.76 GAA, and a .896 SV%, which included a recent stretch of games where he posted a scintillating .919 SV% and a GAA just above 2.00 to go along with an 11-4-1 record.
As for the Penguins, it’s been tough sledding outside of Sidney Crosby’s overall performance. They had dropped their last four games – two of which came against Philadelphia – and seven of their last 10 and just have looked out of sorts.
Crosby continued to pace the club with 60 points in 58 games entering the contest, followed by Rickard Rakell’s 49 points and Bryan Rust’s 42. Nedeljkovic earned the start once again as he looked to improve on his 12-11-5 record, .893 SV%, and 3.16 GAA.
FIRST PERIOD
Just two minutes into the game, the Flyers jumped to the early lead after Noah Cates wired a wrist-shot through a screen past a befuddled Nedeljkovic for his 13th goal of the season. Bobby Brink dropped the pass to the streaking Cates who then used two Penguins defenders as a screen before getting the deflection to go his way.
With 5:16 remaining in the period, the Penguins finally recorded their first shot on goal as the Flyers previously held an 8-0 advantage.
At the 15:28 mark, Cam York was nailed for a high-sticking minor against Rust for the first penalty of the game. Although ranked 8th in the league on the power play, the Penguins entered 2 for their last 27 and came within inches of tying the game but Ersson made a fantastic pad save to rob Kevin Hayes in tight.
With the Penguins buzzing, Ersson made yet another spectacular save, this time against Crosby who was all alone with just a minute remaining.
After a great start from the Flyers, the Penguins came alive in the latter quarter of the period and if it weren’t for Ersson, the game would assuredly have been tied at the very least. The shots were 8-5 in favor of Philadelphia.
SECOND PERIOD
1:44 into the second period, the Flyers doubled their lead after Tippett’s seemingly harmless point shot deflected off another defender and past Nedeljkovic for his 18th of the season. Nick Seeler’s initial point shot went wide but the carom off the board landed right to Tippett below the faceoff dot before he blasted away.
At the 6:13 mark, Andrei Kuzmenko looked to have given the Flyers a 3-0 lead but it was immediately waved off by the official behind the net for a high stick. After a quick review, the officials call stood and the score remained 2-0.
However it didn’t take the Flyers long to strike again in a legal fashion as Matvei Michkov scored his 18th goal of the season at the 7:24 mark. Rasmus Ristolainen looked for a shot-pass to Michkov in front and he missed the initial target, but Michkov picked up the loose change and tucked it in for his 4th goal in 6 games.
That spelled the end of Nedeljkovic’s night as Mike Sullivan pulled him in favour of Blomqvist, much to the starter’s dismay as he slammed his stick against the crossbar and started barking at his head coach once he reached the bench.
The goaltending switch worked in the Penguins’ favour and flipped momentum as Tomasino deked out Ersson in tight for a backhanded beauty at the 9:05 mark to get Pittsburgh on the board. The Penguins forced a turnover against Brink who was trying to exit the zone before Malkin found Tomasino streaking in all alone.
And just like that the Penguins scored again just 30 seconds later after Karlsson’s point shot off an offensive zone draw got past Ersson, who was slightly screened before the shot.
Just mere moments later, Bokondji Imama interfered with Garnet Hathaway with a blindside check just outside of the neutral zone after the latter made contract with Noel Acciari. He was assessed a major penalty at first but it was changed to a minor penalty after review.
The Flyers power play went right to work and Michkov scored his second goal of the period after a great setup from Kuzmenko in the bumper position. Ristolainen found Travis Konecny in the corner, who then spotted Kuzmenko in the bumper before he dropped a no-look pass to Michkov for the finish.
The back-and-forth affair continued as Karlsson wired a snap-shot from the faceoff dot through Ersson’s arm for his second goal of the period with just 1:43 remaining. The Penguins had come within inches of scoring in previous moments, including a Crosby rifle that hit the joint between the post and crossbar.
An eventful second period came to a close with both teams scoring 3 times as the Flyers took a 4-3 lead into the intermission alongside a 22-20 edge in shots.
THIRD PERIOD
The Penguins, who had not previously recorded a 3-goal comeback this season, tied the game as Malkin wired a hard shot over the glove of Ersson at the 2:30 mark of the third period. Anthony Beauvillier did a great job with a backhand setup on Malkin’s 11th of the season.
With 13:19 remaining in regulation, the Flyers jumped on to their second power play of the night after Tomasino was called for a tripping minor against Michkov. They had several good looks with Konecny, Michkov, and Ristolainen working the umbrella but were unable to reclaim the lead.
While the Flyers continued to lead in the shot department, the Penguins were the ones with the more dangerous-looking chances and with the game winding down, Karlsson came within inches of his hat trick goal but was denied by the post.
Regulation came to a close with the Penguins’ early third period tally holding as the game-tying goal. Shots were 15-4 in favor of Philadelphia in the third and 37-24 through 60 minutes but the Penguins had plenty of dangerous opportunities as well.
OVERTIME
On a massive miscue from the Flyers with both of their forwards far ahead of the play, the Penguins found themselves on an odd-man rush before Malkin finished it off for his second of the night just 1:03 into overtime.
Malkin stopped up short against Jamie Drysdale who tried to block his pass attempt, and with all that room and time available he made no mistake short-side.
UP NEXT
The Flyers head north of the border to take on the league-leading Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night (7:00pm ET; NBCSP).
You must be logged in to post a comment Login