POSTGAME 5: Sharks Down Flyers in OT, 3-2

The Philadelphia Flyers lost in overtime to the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. Philadelphia saw a two-goal lead slip away in the third period.

The game was scoreless through two periods. James van Riemsdyk (8th goal of the season) got the Flyers on the board 66 seconds into the third period. JVR then scored again on the power play (9th). But, in a period overwhelmingly played in the Flyers end, Tomas Hertl scored twice (18th and 19th goals of the season) to tie the game. Hertl then completed his hat trick in the opening half-minute of overtime (20th) to end the game.
Martin Jones deserved a better fate, stopping 44 of 47 shots in a losing cause. Adin Hill earned the win, making 29 saves on 31 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Nick Seeler and Jackson Cates re-entered the Flyers lineup after exiting COVID-19 protocol. Derick Brassard, who played on Thursday against Pittsburgh, is day-to-day with an ongoing lower-body issue.
TURNING POINT
The Flyers started overtime with a line of Morgan Frost, Cam Atkinson and Cam York. Philadelphia controlled the puck and got the puck into the left corner. Frost tried to get the puck along the wall to Atkinson but the puck got past him and the Sharks broke out on a 2-on-1 against Jones. York took away the pass, so puck carrier Hertl shot from the deep center slot and beat Jones to end the game at the 24-second mark.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Right after Joel Farabee was denied at the left post, the Sharks got the game's first power play at 6;08 of the first period when Farabee was called for tripping behind the San Jose net. The Flyers killed the penalty successfully.
At 10:42, Zack MacEwen cut in to the net on the backhand off the rush. Hill made the save. On the next shift, Jones tracked a Brent Burns shot from the right point and saved it cleanly.
With 5:33 remaining beat a defender off the rush and it took a strong save by Hill to keep the game scoreless. In the final 37.5 seconds of the opening period, Laughton set up a good chance for Atkinson at the net.
2) Overall, it was a much more energetic first period for the Flyers than they've had in most of their recent games. The period was rather evenly played on the whole. Shots on goal were 15-13 in the Flyers favor but with a 6-0 Philadelphia edge in high-danger scoring chances and 11-6 Flyers in overall scoring chances. The Flyers won 11 of 21 faceoffs. Credited hits were 12-12 (James van Riemsdyk led the Flyers with three,as did Jeffrey Viel for the Sharks).
3) The Sharks came out pressuring in the second period, and the Flyers spent most of the opening 3:01 hemmed in their own end. A couple of failed clears by Nick Seeler forced his pairing with Rasmus Ristolainen to stay on the ice for an extremely long shift. Finally, Jones held on to a puck for a much-needed stoppage.
The Flyers' fourth-line combination of Max Willman, Patrick Brown and MacEwen had a strong forechecking shift about nine minutes into the frame. The Sharks then made a push as the period and game passed the midway point. Jones made stops on Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl near the net to keep the game scoreless.
With 7:19 left in the period, Hill denied Atkinson from the slot off a pass by Farabee. A good pinch by Cam York was key.
At the 14:01 mark, the Flyers got their first power play of the game after Jaycob Megna was called for interference. The Flyers first power play unit generated extensive offensive zone time. Most notably, James van Riemsdyk deflected a shot just wide of the net.
York jumped into a rush and had a chance from the left slot but his shot attempt was blocked. San Jose had an opportunity in transition.
On the same shift, Seeler and Ristolainen landed big hits on Matt Nieto. Late in the period, Jones did a good job tracking a Viel shot and made a glove save.
4) Second period shots on goal were 13-10 in the Sharks' favor. Scoring chances were 6-5 in San Jose's favor (officially 3-0 San Jose in high-danger chances but that seemed underestimated on both sides). The Flyers won 15 of 20 faceoffs in the middle frame.
5) The Sharks had 10 of the first 12 shots in the third period, but the Flyers made theirs count, scoring on both.
At the 1:06 mark, van Riemsdyk poked the puck past Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the San Jose blueline. JVR then fired a shot over Hill's glove from the right circle. The assists went to Oskar Lindblom and Kevin Hayes.

Courtesy of Jones, the Flyers withstood more waves of attack from San Jose. The Flyers then went to their second power play at 5:56 as Viel tripped Lindblom. Philadelphia cashed it in as JVR's deflection of a York center point shot popped into the net at 6:47. Cam Atkinson earned the secondary assist.

Exactly one minute later, the Sharks cut the gap to 2-1 on their 11th shot of the period. A shot by Hertl near the net was saved by Jones but the Flyers goalie accidentally batted it into the net. The assists went to Meier and Burns.
At 11:54, the Sharks went to the power play as Gerry Mayhew was called for slashing. Farabee was denied on a shorthanded breakaway, after two dekes, by an excellent save by Hill kicking out his pad (just the Flyers' third shot of the period). The Sharks later came within a whisker of scoring on a scramble around the net.
San Jose finally tied the game at 2-2 at the 14:29 mark (their 19th shot of the period). Hertl scored from the close left slot. Again, the assists went to Meier and Burns.
Third period shots ended up 20-5 in the Sharks' favor (46-30 Sharks through regulation).