Late Rally Lifts Flyers to 5-4 OT Win in Ottawa

The Philadelphia Flyers came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Ottawa Senators in overtime, 5-4, at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday evening. Matvei Michkov capped off the victory with a goal from a severe angle at 4:05 of sudden death.

Goaltender Ivan Fedotov kept the Flyers in the game on his way to a 32-save performance. He also got 29 blocked shots from the skaters in front of him. Travis Sanheim had a three-point game with a goal and two assists. Travis Konecny had a goal and assist, while Anthony Richard and Bobby Brink posted a crucial goal and assist apiece.

The Flyers tied a team record on Thursday: four straight games that have gone to overtime. The Flyers are 3-0-1 in the four-game span, with two shootout wins, one shootout loss and Thursday's OT win.

It took 13 saves by Fedotov in the first period but the Flyers and Senators took a 1-1 tie to the locker room.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 2:31 into the game. The sequence started with Noah Cates winning a board battle. After Garnet Hathaway sent the puck up high to Emil Andrae, Travis Sanheim (4th goal of the season) scored from distance. The assists went to Andrae and Hathaway.

A Flyers turnover from the defensive to neutral zones turned into a transition goal by Brady Tkachuk (9th) at 6:02 of the first period off a backhand pass from Josh Norris. The secondary assist went to Travis Hamonic.

The Senators dominated most of the second period, outshooting the Flyers by a 14-4 margin (28-7 through two periods). However, the game went to the third period knotted at 2-2. Thirteen more saves by Fedotov and a late breakaway goal made it possible.

Ottawa ended a streak of 20 consecutive successful penalty kills by the Flyers and took a 2-1 lead at 8:41 of the second period. Flyers center Ryan Poehling lost his stick, creating a virtual 5-on-3 for the Senators. Drake Batherson (7th) hammered home a one-timer from near the left dot off a setup pass from Tim Stutzle. The secondary assist went to Jake Sanderson.

The Flyers forged a 2-2 tie at 18:48 on a breakaway goal by Travis Konecny (9th) off a nice stretch pass from Noah Cates. Strong board work in the defensive zone by Nick Seeler, Tyson Foerster (off the puck) and Cates started the transition play. The assists went to Cates and Seeler.

Ottawa retook the lead at 4:27 of the third period as the Senators had some self-made puck luck on a goal by John Norris (7th). The puck double deflected, going in off Sanheim's skate at the backdoor. The assists went to Thomas Chabot and Ridly Greig.

The Senators' second power play unit opened a 4-2 lead on a backhanded goal by Adam Gaudette (2nd) at the 10:05 mark of the third period. The helpers once again went to Chabot and Greig.

The Flyers started their comeback at 10:42, coming off a line change. Brink batted the puck over to Richard (2nd), who scored low along the ice through the five hole to cut the gap to 4-3. The secondary assist went to Egor Zamula.

The same two Flyers forwards combined to tie the game at 4-4. Brink (3rd) went to the net as Richard put the puck toward goalie Linus Ullmark. The puck went in off Brink's shinpad at 12:45

Having stolen a point in regulation, the Flyers ended the game in their favor at 4:05 of overtime. Sanheim made a strong move on the attack. After receiving the puck from Konecny, Michkov (6th) found the short-side from a severe angle.

Fedotov stopped 32 of 36 shots overall to earn the win. His stat line did not do justice to how vital his work in net was to the eventual victory. Ullmark was beaten for five goals on 19 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. The Senators had six power plays, scoring on two.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett - 25 Ryan Poehling - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 10 Bobby Brink

90 Anthony Richard - 48 Morgan Frost - 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

82 Ivan Fedotov

[35 Aleksei Kolosov]

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

Scratches: 14 Sean Couturier (lower body), 33 Samuel Ersson (lower body), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 8 Cam York (IR), 9 Jamie Drysdale (IR).

TURNING POINT

The Flyers seemed to have little chance to win once the Senators scored back-to-back goals to grab a 4-2 lead. The puck had been in Philly's end most of the night and there was little sustained attack. The goal by Richard gave the Flyers some life, and Brink's subsequent goal suddenly made the game a dogfight the rest of the way until Michkov, once again, showed off his rare ability to score from ridiculously flat angles.

POSTGAME 5

1) The Flyers were outshot by a 14-3 margin in the first period. The Flyers also had nine shot attempts blocked. Philly was guilty of some poor puck management in the period and relied heavily on Fedotov to erase the miscues. In between Sanheim's goal and a routine shot at 11:15, Philly did not generate a shot on net.

2) Each team had one power play opportunity in the first period. At 12:32, Thomas Chabot got the gate for holding Hathaway. The man advantage did not go well for the Flyers, and it took Fedotov stopping a pair of shorthanded 2-on-1 rushes for Ottawa to keep the score tied at 1-1. The Flyers killed off a late period cross-checking minor on Michkov drawn by Tkachuk, making it 19 consecutive penalties killed off by Philly.

3) The Flyers got themselves into serious penalty trouble in the second period and spent much of the stanza hemmed in the defensive zone. Ottawa (27-for-40 on faceoffs through 40 minutes) also dominated on draws.

4) Ottawa had 12 of the first 13 shots on goal in the second period between a Philly shot at 1:59 and a Tyson Foerster power play shot some 14 minutes later. With the parade of Flyers to the penalty box -- Sanheim, Farabee, Ristolainen and Foerster (negating the aforementioned Flyers power play -- it was very hard for Philly to establish any sort of rhythm. Tortorella used the Flyers' timeout before the start of the third kill.

5) The Flyers started the third period with a very long shift -- 98 seconds -- spent in the defensive zone. After Ottawa took a 4-2 lead, the Flyers' quick response on the Brink-to-Richard and Richard-to-Brink goals not only tied the score but also generated the Flyers first true momentum of the game. Third period shots on goal were 9-5 Flyers (34-16 Senators through regulation).