Postgame 5: Late Comeback Nets 4-3 OT Win

In the first of a two-game set at KeyBank Arena, the Philadelphia Flyers skated to a 4-3 overtime comeback win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday evening. The Flyers overcame a 3-0 deficit entering the third period to rally for four unanswered goals. The Sabres' winless streak extended to 18 games (0-15-3).
The Flyers were fortunate not to be trailing by multiple goals by the end of the first period. They also couldn't escape unscathed. Henri Jokiharju (2nd goal of the season) tallied a late 1st period goal to open the scoring. In the second period, the hole deepened for the Flyers. An early goal by Cody Eakin (2nd) and a mid-period goal by Brandon Montour (2nd) established a 3-0 edge for Buffalo.
Kevin Hayes (11th) got a goal back early in the third period, giving his team a sniff at a potential comeback. Claude Giroux (9th) cut the gap to one goal midway through the stanza. Sean Couturier (10th) knotted the score at 18:31 to force OT. In 3-on-3 sudden death, Ivan Provorov (5th) scored on a 2-on-1 to win the game.
Brian Elliott allowed two seemingly stoppable goals after breakdowns around him but also made a host of tough saves to keep the game from getting totally out of hand and then made a big late save to prevent a heartbreaking outcome. Overall, he stopped 29 of 32 shots. Linus Ullmark denied 32 of 36 shots in a losing cause.

TURNING POINT
Tage Thompson missed an empty net goal, which started the sequence ending in Couturier's game-tying deflection goal. In OT, Giroux outbattled Rasmus Dahlin for a puck in the D zone, starting a 2-on-1 between Travis Konecny and Provorov. The D-man put a shift on Ullmark and scored through the five-hole to end the game.

MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Flyers played what could only be described as a sleepy first period. They got outworked in puck battles. They did not have their feet moving. There were also some puck management and positional awareness breakdowns. The Sabres had a 5-2 shot advantage quickly and the Flyers went about 12 minutes at one point between shots with an overall 9-3 edge for Buffalo. By the buzzer, shots were 13-8 in the Sabres' favor. With nine seconds left in the period, Scott Laughton accidentally flipped the puck over the glass in the defensive zone, taking a delay of game penalty.
2) Among a dozen saves, Elliott came up with clutch saves on Sam Reinhart off a Kevin Hayes turnover and also stopped Cody Eakin on a 2-on-1. But with 2:19 left, the Sabres won a board battle on the left side. With all five Flyers -- on one side of the ice, the right side was wide open for Jokiharju to get the puck on the right, skate down to the circle and score. The shot through the five-hole looked stoppable but this was a major coverage breakdown.Curtis Lazar and Kyle Okposo drew the assists.

3) The Flyers killed off the carryover Laughton penalty but then lost a puck battle down low and Eakin scored a leaky goal to the short side at 2:10 of the second period. The assists went to Tobias Rieder and Riley Sheahan. At 12:43,after the Sabres' Taylor Hall made a clean offensive entry look easy, Tage Thompson outworked the Flyers defense. Defensive defenseman Montour had a gaping lane over the middle to the center slot. Using Claude Giroux as a partial screen, he scored.
4) Looking to generate any sort of push, Vigneault juggled line combinations, including Sean Couturier centering Giroux and Voracek. The Flyers generated some pressure in the Buffalo end in the latter half of the period but couldn't make a dent in the 3-0 deficit. Second period shots ended up 12-9 Flyers but Phily generated only a single bonafide high-danger chance in close and only a handful of Grade B ones.
5) Vigneault shortened the bench in the third period, with Farabee, Patrick and Lindblom being skipped in the line rotation. An alert pinch by Travis Sanheim (on his 25th birthday) and a good pass to Hayes set up the goal that made it 3-1 at 1:50 of the third period. The shot went off the post and Ullmark before going in.

With 9:09 left in the third period, the Flyers cut the gap to 3-2. Ivan Provorov got it started with an initial pinch to keep play going on a potential clear for Buffalo. Voracek claimed it. A touch pass from Couturier to Giroux resulted in a tap-in for the captain.

The Flyers had a pair of third period power plays, generating a lot of pressure on the second in particular, but Buffalo ran its PK mark against the Flyers this season to 13-for-14.
After Thompson missed an empty net opportunity, the Flyers attacked the other way. Couturier tipped home the tying goal, re-directing a Provorov shot at 18:31. Giroux got the secondary assist.