The Philadelphia Flyers are at it again. For the ninth consecutive game, the Flyers recorded at least a point in the standings and defeated the New Jersey Devils, 3-2, in overtime.
The Flyers trailed by a goal on two occasions, but Ryan Poehling scored twice in regulation to tie the game up each time.
“We believe in one another and that’s the biggest thing,” said Poehling after the game. “In the NHL it’s about consistency in this league and I think night in and night out that’s what we do. We come in and compete and we do it because we love one another.”
Tonight was Poehling’s fourth career multi-goal game and his first since November 15th, 2022 when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins – against the Flyers.
Poehling and Samuel Ersson, who made 21 regulation saves, were fantastic in the first 60 minutes to help set the stage for Owen Tippett to seal the deal in overtime with his 11th goal of the season.
“It’s fun. The confidence is growing in our locker room,” said Ersson. We’re having a lot of fun, but as I said it’s important for us as a group to stay in the moment and take it game by game.”
FIRST PERIOD
The Devils seemed to have their legs under them right from the jump and had the Flyers on their toes early with some shots, but Philadelphia remained poised and pushed back.
As the period pushed on and both teams settled in, New Jersey once again found an extra gear and Nathan Bastian found Michael McLeod down low to nab the icebreaker with 5:44 to play in the period.
Despite the 1-0 lead, New Jersey hadn’t generated many scoring chances and only racked up 4 shots on goal. Regardless, they held that lead heading into the first intermission despite the Flyers having the 7-4 shots advantage.
SECOND PERIOD
It took just 70 seconds for Philadelphia to earn the equalizer as Ryan Poehling’s 3rd goal of the year off a sweet feed from Joel Farabee pulled the Flyers even.
The Devils would respond just 1:44 later on the power play after a Scott Laughton tripping infraction to retake the lead, courtesy of Jesper Bratt.
Again, the Flyers were beaten down low and Ersson had little chance to keep the puck out of the net as Philadelphia allowed a power play goal, a rarity this year.
Just ahead of the halfway mark of the period, Poehling would again receive a pass and deposit it into the net as Travis Konecny fed the puck over on a mini 2-on-1 and #25 beat Vitek Vaněček for his second goal of the night.
Not long after, the Flyers received successive power plays and proceeded to do absolutely nothing with them, a common theme this season.
They actually almost allowed a goal on the power play, but Ersson shut it down with relative ease.
2-2 is how this game would enter the third period after the Flyers battled back. They outshot New Jersey 12-9 in the period and 19-13 overall to that point and looked like the better team after Bratt’s power play marker.
THIRD PERIOD
The Devils pushed hard throughout the third period and really forced Ersson to be at this best, which he was and the final frame trudged on knotted at 2-2.
Philadelphia received one more power play about eight minutes in after Kevin Bahl hooked Garnet Hathaway on his way to the net, but they didn’t capitalize on it.
These teams have always had bad blood, and maybe more so tonight after the last matchup on November 30th between these teams after the infamous hit by Hathaway on Luke Hughes. Nathan Bastian added fuel to that fire with a strong chop at Ersson after he covered the puck on a save, resulting in plenty of exchanged unpleasantries late in the period.
All that roughhousing would ultimately lead to nothing substantial, and this contest would have to be settled in overtime after a hard-fought 60 minutes.
OVERTIME
New Jersey won the initial draw and had some quality chances throughout the extra frame, but Ersson again was spectacular.
The Flyers gained possession and created some chances of their own, but Vaněček was able to stave off the first few opportunities.
However, Owen Tippett stripped Jack Hughes inside the Devils’ blueline, skated in, and beat the goaltender high by the glove to send the Orange and Black back to Philadelphia in victorious fashion by a score of 3-2 to extend their point streak to 9 games.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Owen Tippett – PHI, 2) Ryan Poehling – PHI, 3) Michael McLeod – NJD
UP NEXT
The Flyers will try and push their point streak to 10 games on Thursday night when they host the Nashville Predators (7:00pm, NBCSP) in a rematch of last Tuesday’s overtime thriller in Music City.
Union Forge Vodka proudly serves as the Official Vodka of Flyers Nation. This partnership celebrates the unyielding spirit of Flyers fans and offers a quality spirit that perfectly compliments the team’s essence. Whether celebrating victories or showing resilience, Union Forge Vodka embodies the winning spirit of both the Flyers and their dedicated fans. Stay connected with exciting giveaways by following @unionforge and @flyersnation across all social media platforms.
