The Philadelphia Flyers ended their road trip with an overtime loss in Nashville after Filip Forsberg ended the game just 18 seconds into the extra frame, earning the Predators a 3-2 win.
His initial shot was stopped but it squeaked through the arm of Samuel Ersson and he pounced on his own rebound. The Flyers fired 40 shots towards Juuse Saros but he had nearly all the answers as he was the key cog in this victory.
The Flyers were resilient once again as they came back from being down 2-0 early in the 2nd period with goals from Sean Couturier and Travis Sanheim. The penalty kill remained perfect, going 3/3, but the power play was powerless as they went 0/4.
Looking for their second 5-game winning streak of the season, the Flyers finished off their road trip in Nashville looking for a mini-sweep after defeating the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche.
John Tortorella made way for Samuel Ersson to get his first start since defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 2nd in the first leg of their home-and-home. Marc Staal made way for Ryan Poehling as he returned from an illness. Egor Zamula remained in the lineup as the Flyers reverted back to 6 defensemen and Olle Lycksell was scratched again.
As for the Predators, they started their first year of the “rebuild” going 15-13-0. Filip Forsberg paced the club in goals, assists, and points with 14, 17, and 31, respectively, entering tonight. Captain Roman Josi was second on the club in points, tied with Ryan O’Reilly at 22, and Gustav Nyquist rounded out the top with 15 assists and 18 points through 28 contests.
Juuse Saros made way into the crease with a 12-10-0 record, a 2.83 GAA, and a .902 SV%, but had gone 8-1-0 with a .929 SV% and a 2.11 GAA in his last 9 starts.
FIRST PERIOD
45 seconds into the game, the Nashville Predators earned their first power play of the game after Tyson Foerster was whistled for a slashing minor. The 5th-ranked penalty kill that had successfully killed 40 of their last 42 attempts entering this game was put to the test early and kept the Predators off the board – their 22nd straight kill on the road and 14th in a row overall to that point.
Garnet Hathaway was on the receiving end of a Luke Schenn hit that earned the former Flyer a roughing minor. Hathaway was unhappy – rightfully so – as Schenn went straight to his face with an errant elbow.
Unlike their red-hot penalty kill, the Flyers continued to struggle as this was just their 4th attempt in their last 4+ games.
9:42 into the first period, the Predators scored the game’s opening goal after Gustav Nyquist deflected an Alexandre Carrier point shot over Samuel Ersson’s shoulder for his 4th goal of the season.
The Flyers’ best chance of the game to that point came with about 8:17 remaining in the period after Cam Atkinson was in all alone on Juuse Saros but he couldn’t lift the puck over the pad. Egor Zamula’s outlet pass was deflected by Joel Farabee in the neutral zone that set up the opportunity.
Then with 7:22 remaining, the Flyers jumped back on the power play after Dante Fabbro was called for a hooking minor. There was a lot more sustained offensive zone pressure but the power play put up another goose egg.
2:50 later, the Predators were guilty of yet another minor penalty, this time it was Luke Evangelista going to the box for hooking. The Flyers had registered 8 shots in their 3 power plays but couldn’t find any daylight behind Saros.
The period ended with the Predators up 1-0, the Flyers ahead on the shot clock with a 14-7 advantage, and both clubs winning 11 draws.
SECOND PERIOD
25 seconds into the middle frame, Saros robbed Foerster on his one-time opportunity after Travis Konecny forced a takeaway at his own blue-line and set up the rookie. Then a few moments later, Sean Couturier found himself on an abbreviated breakaway but backhanded his shot high and wide.
With a delayed penalty coming up against the Flyers – and after what looked like Hathaway touching the puck to nullify the play – the Predators were able to set up before jumping to a 2-0 lead.
Schenn’s point shot was blocked in the mass of bodies in front of the net but Michael McCarron corralled the loose puck and finished it past a screened Ersson.
With 9:30 remaining in the period, Hathaway was called for a high sticking penalty after slightly grazing Jérémy Lauzon’s helmet. Another penalty, another kill for the Flyers who created a few chances as well.
The Flyers remained resilient and kept knocking on the door but Saros had all the answers as they had registered 28 shots by the time they entered the final commercial break with a shade under 6 minutes left to play, including this ten-bell stop on Bobby Brink.
Nicolas Deslauriers decided to try to change things up by dropping the gloves with Lauzon after he delivered a late-ish hit on Owen Tippett. Much to the chagrin of John Tortorella, Deslauriers was given an instigator penalty.
After the Flyers killed off another penalty, they transitioned from defense to offense in a flash and finally got on the board with just 23.5 seconds remaining in the period.
Atkinson passed it up to Couturier, who found Farabee coming out of the penalty box after serving Deslauriers’ instigator. Farabee then passed it back to Couturier and even though the pass was slightly deflected, Couturier stuck with it and finally got a puck past Saros for his 7th goal of the season.
The Flyers held a 29-12 shot advantage through 40 minutes but trailed where it mattered by one goal.
THIRD PERIOD
52 seconds into the period, the Predators were awarded a too many men on the ice penalty. Unfortunately, the fourth time was not the charm as they were unable to tie the game up with their power play.
The Flyers tied things up with 13:11 left to play in regulation after Travis Sanheim collected the garbage in front of Saros after the referees did not call a holding minor on Konecny, who worked his way around Nyquist to set up the goal.
The third period ended with the Flyers and Predators heading to overtime with the Orange and Black having a 40-19 shot advantage through 60.
OVERTIME
It only took Nashville 18 seconds to gather the victory after Forsberg stuck with it after his initial shot was stopped by Ersson.
Unfortunately, it squeaked through his arm and into the blue paint with the Flyers assuming the play was going to be called dead, but Forsberg went in the dirty area and finished it off for the win.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will return home into the confines of the Wells Fargo Center to take on the Washington Capitals on Thursday night (7:00pm ET, NBCSP) in search of extending their point streak to seven games.
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