Flyers come back late, beat 'Canes in OT
Playing like the desperate team they are, the Flyers saved their slim playoff hopes with a dramatic comeback Sunday night.
Playing like the desperate team they are, the Flyers saved their slim playoff hopes with a dramatic comeback Sunday night.
Travis Konecny tied the score with 42.9 second left in regulation and Brayden Schenn scored on a rebound 38 seconds into overtime as the Flyers scored a 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wells Fargo Center.
With 11 games remaining, the Flyers moved five points behind Toronto for the second Eastern Conference playoff spot, with 74 points.
Carolina which was playing its fifth game in seven days, is one point behind the Flyers.
The Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals and took a 3-2 lead when Jordan Staal scored off a rebound on a power play with 8 minutes, 11 seconds left in regulation.
With 2:45 left the Flyers went on the power play when Sebastian Aho was assessed two minutes for a faceoff violation. Carolina killed the penalty, but shortly after Konechy tied the score.
Ivan Provorov took a shot from the point that went wide. Behind the net, Konechy tried a back pass to Sean Couturier that went off defenseman Brett Pesce for his 11th goal.
"I was honestly trying to throw it out front to Couturier and got a lucky bounce and it went in," Konecny said.
The Flyers outshot the Hurricanes, 44-22.
In overtime, Schenn scored the game winner off a rebound of a Couturier shot.
In the first period, the Flyers took it to the 'Canes.
From the first minute when Couturier was stoned by veteran goalie Cam Ward, the Flyers put pressure on the Hurricanes, outshooting them by 15-4 in the opening period. Less than six minutes in, Konecny was robbed by Ward on a turnaround shot from close range.
The Flyers finally cashed in when Couturier beat Staal to the puck from behind the net and fed Andrew MacDonald at the right point, who slid a pass over to Provorov. Skating to the top of the left circle, Provorov sent a snap shot by Ward inside the near post for his sixth goal of the season and first in 15 games with 57.8 seconds left in the first period.
"Coots did a great job in the corner by holding off a guy," MacDonald said of Couturier. "He had good patience and got the puck up to me and I had lots of time. Provy's winger came to me, so I just had to slide it over to him and he took care of the rest."
The Flyers doubled the lead on Dale Weise's fourth goal with 8:57 left in the second period.
Konecny sent the puck on net from an angle near the right end line that Ward saved. With teammate Vaitteri Filppula on his knees poking at the puck, it was Weise who got the rebound, firing it in from close range. For Weise, it was his second goal in the last three games after scoring twice in his first 50.
"I was just trying to pull my D out to give [Konecny] some room to shoot," Weise said. "He threw it in there and Val [Filppula] was kind of grinding away in front and the puck popped out to me. I don't think Ward saw it, so I just had to get it up and in."
Carolina got on the board when red-hot Jeff Skinner scored with 7:23 left in the second period.
Defenseman Noah Hanifin fired a shot wide that went off the back of the boards and right to Skinner in front of the net. Skinner then tapped it in for his sixth goal in the last seven games and 26th of the season.
Less than a minute later, Ward stopped Couturier on a breakaway after the Flyers center intercepted a pass and skated in on goal.
Carolina tied the score with 1:03 left in the second period on a goal by Elias Lindholm.
After Provorov lost his stick while battling Victor Rask for the puck behind the net, the Canes center found teammate Phillip Di Giuseppe. Still behind the net, DiGiuseppe fed Elias Lindholm in the high slot. Lindholm fired a shot past Mason, increasing his point total streak to seven games.
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