Flyers show no quit, snap 3-game skid with overtime win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers rallied three times for a much-needed, 5-4 overtime win Saturday night over the Blue Jackets at the Wells Fargo Center.
They entered the third period trailing 2-0. Owen Tippett delivered the winner in OT.
“I’ve got to get him his ice time because I think he’s about ready to really take off,” John Tortorella said. “He was very important for us tonight.”
Morgan Frost scored two goals in the third period. His first drew the Flyers within 2-1. His second tied things up at 3-3.
But Jake Christiansen scored on a shot from distance with 4:11 minutes left to put Columbus back ahead.
With their net emptied, the Flyers tied it back up with 1:44 minutes remaining on a Tyson Foerster redirection.
Noah Cates scored the Flyers’ other third-period marker to make it 2-2. The Blue Jackets quickly answered with a goal from Kirill Marchenko before Frost countered.
Tippett also finished with three assists and so did Travis Konecny. Cates assisted Tippett’s winner.
“It just goes to show the group we have in here,” Tippett said. “We knew in the second intermission we weren’t out of it. We had resiliency and confidence. Glad we got the job done.”
For Frost, it was his first two-goal game of the season. The 25-year-old center has five points (three goals, two assists) in the last six games.
“It’s a center iceman that we need to be a good offensive center iceman consistently,” Tortorella said. “He still goes up and down. That’s the next step he needs to make is just be consistent. Because you can see some of the things he does.
“That was a pretty good line when we put them together, him, T.K. and Tip, it kind of took off a little bit. Hopefully that will give him a little bit of confidence and he’ll be there. Not just one in three games. Three in three games. And just be consistent.”
The Flyers (15-15-4) snapped a three-game losing streak. They have an NHL-leading seven third-period comebacks. They went to OT for the 12th time.
“Especially after the last few games, obviously we didn’t want to let this one go,” Frost said. “I thought some of the minutes were good, some of them were bad — it just was a little flat. We just had to find a way to put the puck in the net.
“Sometimes it seems like we need to go down in a game for us to really pick it up. It’s good to have that in the bag, but we’d probably like to play with a lead a little bit more.”
Tortorella’s club improved to 3-5-1 in December. Last season, it went 8-2-3 in December.
The Flyers are 2-0-0 against the Blue Jackets (13-15-6) this season. The clubs have two more meetings to go.
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• Samuel Ersson had 21 saves on 25 shots.
He was not very sharp but made some big saves late.
“I let in a couple of sh–ty ones, to be honest,” Ersson said. “The guys, they bailed me out, they scored a bunch of big goals. … We’ve seen it all year, we’re never out of it.
“It’s all about finding ways to win, that’s kind of how I’ve got to see this one. It’s a good win for us, get us back in the win column and get back to playing our game.”
Mikael Pyyhtia extended Columbus’ lead to 2-0 in the second period when Ersson had a turnover behind his net.
The Blue Jackets opened the game’s scoring in the first period after Jamie Drysdale committed a turnover that led to a Mathieu Olivier goal. Drysdale has a minus-6 mark over the last two games.
“I’m not going to lay the blame on the goalies for a little bit of our funk here, but they’re part of it,” Tortorella said. “We need more saves at key times and we haven’t gotten it.
“Ers knows. I think that’s what’s going to make him a better goalie quicker: he self-assesses so well.”
Columbus netminder Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 of the Flyers’ 30 shots.
• Back from his one-game benching, Cam York played a strong game. He made some things happen offensively, picking up an assist on Cates’ goal, and he was solid defensively.
“A little better, still not perfect and still not exactly where I want to be,” York said. “But I thought tonight was a step in the right direction.”
• With Sean Couturier unavailable for a personal reason, the Flyers called up Olle Lycksell from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.
The Phantoms’ leading scorer (24 points in 25 games) had a goal overturned in the second period by a Blue Jackets coach’s challenge. The play was ruled offside and the Flyers remained in a 2-0 hole.
• The Flyers visit the Penguins on Monday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+) for their final game before the NHL-mandated holiday break, which runs Tuesday through Thursday.
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