Flyers Defeat Sharks in Shootout, 4-3

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the San Jose Sharks via shootout, 4-3 (2-0), on Monday at Wells Fargo Center. Philly was unable to protect or build upon a three-goal lead in the second period and the Sharks chipped away. After a scoreless overtime, the Flyers claimed a victory in the shootout.

Matvei Michkov led the Flyers with a second period breakaway goal and first period power play assist. The Flyers also received a power play goal by Travis Konecny and an early even strength marker by Erik Johnson. In the shootout, Michkov and Konecny converted their attempts to secure a second point from the game.

The Flyers improved to 6-8-2 on the season. The team has earned five of six points over their last three games. The Sharks are 5-9-3.

The Flyers grabbed a quick 1-0 lead at 1:40 of the first period on a goal off the rush. Erik Johnson (1st of the season) jumped into the play and received a cross-ice feed 2-on-1 from Anthony Richard. Johnson fired a shot that beat goalie Vitek Vanecek. The lone assist went to Richard.

Crisp power play puck movement created a tic-tac-toe power play goal for Travis Konecny (8th) at 15:56 of the first period. The sequence went from Emil Andrae at the point to Matvei Michkov on the right side to goal scorer Konecny.

The first period was fairly wide open, and it continued into the second period. In segments of the frame, the ice was seemingly tilted in the Flyers' favor. However, the Sharks refused to go away, scoring a pair of goals to slice a three-goal deficit to a single tally.

At 5:09 of the middle frame, Matvei Michkov (5th) got open behind the defense to take a pass from Ryan Poehling and go off on a breakaway. The Russian rookie finished it off with a wrister between the pads. The assists went to Poehling and Egor Zamula.

San Jose drew back within 3-1 off the rush at 15:29 on a goal that went in off the skate of defenseman Jack Thompson (2nd). The assists went to William Eklund Mikael Granlund.

The Sharks got another goal at 18:33 to suddenly cut the gap to 3-2. Behind the net, Eklund spun away from Rasmus Ristolainen. Granlund (7th) scored from the right circle, Fabian Zetterlund drew the second assist.

Barclay Goodrow (2nd) brought the Sharks all the way to a 3-3 tie at 17:36 of the third period. Henry Thrun's shot from the point went off of a Flyer in the slot to goal scorer Goodrow in the circle. Cody Ceci got the secondary assist.

At the expiration of regulation, Michkov was called for a roughing penalty. That set up a 4-on-3 power play for the Sharks to start overtime. Samuel Ersson came up with several big saves on the ensuing kill.

Through regulation and overtime, Samuel Ersson stopped 27 of 30 shots for the Flyers. Vitek Vanecek denied 39 of 42 shots at the other end. Ersson was 2-for-2 in the shootout, while Vanecek was 1-for-3.

The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. They were 3-for-3 on the PK.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 10 Bobby Brink

90 Anthony Richard - 25 Ryan Poehling - 39 Matvei Michkoc

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 19 Garnet Hathaway

36 Emil Andrae - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
5 Egor Zamula - 77 Erik Johnson

33 Samuel Ersson

[82 Ivan Fedotov]

PP1: Andrae, Tippett, Couturier, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Zamula, Foerster, Farabee, Brink, Richard

Scratches: 48 Morgan Frost (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 8 Cam York (IR), 9 Jamie Drysdale (IR), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (lower body).

TURNING POINT

The Flyers built a 3-0 lead but were unable to truly pull away before San Jose struck twice to reduce their deficit to one goal. Philly was doing a good job of closing out the game in the third period until Goodrow forged a 3-3 tie.

In the shootout, the Flyers elected to shoot first.

1st round: Tippett fired wide of the right post. Macklin Celebrini was denied by Ersson's right pad.

2nd round: Michkov cut to the left and tucked the puck home low to the stick side. Will Smith got in tight and missed to the glove side.

3rd round: Konecny waited patiently moving in and flipped the puck upstairs to clinch the bonus point.

POSTGAME 5

1) The Flyers found plenty of skating room in the first period, especially through the middle of the ice. In addition to Johnson's goal, there were two open chances for Cates and one for Konecny. Through the first 7:35 of the game, shots on goal were 6-3 Flyers.

2) Immediately after Johnson's goal, Givani Smith took a pop at Michkov. Johnson came directly to his teammate's defense and the two fought at 1:40 into the first period. Later, Ersson made an outstanding save on Ty Dellandrea at 14:48. First period shots on goal ended up tied at 11-11.

3). Konecny missed a half-open net as Vanecek made a desperation save early in the second period. Through the first 11:27 of the middle frame, shots on goal were 9-2 Flyers. Seeler fought Goodrow at 12:09.

4) San Jose got a goal back but continued to struggle with turnovers and failed clearing opportunities as the second period wound down. However, the Flyers were unable to expand on their lead before the Sharks scored again. Second period shots on goal were 14-7 Flyers.

5) At 3:37 of the third period, Konecny and Couturier came within a whisker of scoring on follow-ups to an initial Tippett chance. At 3:55, the Flyers went to their third power play but were unable to score. Back at 5-on-5, Macklin Celebrini nearly scored on a reverse spin-o-rama. At 9:22, Brink took a tripping penalty but the Flyers killed it off in good shape. Shots in the third period were 15-7 Flyers.