Flyers Rally Back, Fall to Lightning in OT

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Stop me if you have heard this before. The Flyers entered the third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning down 5-2, rallied back to force overtime, before losing.

In almost a carbon copy of the first meeting between the two teams in November, the Flyers somehow managed a frantic rally to get the game tied after trailing by three goals and earn a point. But, yet again, they coughed up the chance at the second point almost immediately, as Alex Killorn scored 18 seconds into overtime to give the Lightning a 6-5 win on Thursday night.

The Flyers actually opened the scoring just part the halfway point of the first. A double deflection on a shot by Travis Sanheim caught Michael Raffl last before sailing over Andrei Vasilevskiy and in to put the Flyers on the board.

Scoring first means very little against the Lightning, who managed to grab the lead before the end of the period. Off a turnover, Tampa got a three-on-two and turned it into a goal as a quick cross-ice pass from Tyler Johnson connected with Nikita Kucherov for a one-timer that beat Michal Neuvirth.

On a power play in the closing minutes of the first, the Lightning struck again. Neuvirth made three saves on the PK before Brayden Point put in his own rebound to give the Lightning the lead.

The Flyers got the game tied up early in the second on a spectacular play by Claude Giroux. Giroux entered the zone, made a move on Ryan McDonagh, lifted the stick of the Tampa defenseman and then cut around Vasilevskiy and scored. The Lightning challenged the play for offside, but the call stood, giving the Flyers a power play off the delay of game penalty.

The Flyers power play was not able to get on the board in two opportunities through two periods, in large part to Vasilevskiy, and that came back to haunt them when Tampa earned power play chances.

At 12:13, it didn't take a power play to get Steven Stamkos on the board. He was left alone in the slot as the Flyers had a defensive breakdown, and with that much time and space, didn't miss on his chance.

Just 2:31 later, with the Lightning on a power play, Stamkos scored again on a one-timer off the cross-ice feed from Kucherov to make it 4-2.

For good measure, on a delayed penalty call on the Flyers in the closing seconds of the period, the Lightning scored again as Kucherov's shot was deflected in by Johnson.

The Flyers came out in the third with a lot of energy and started capitalizing on chances. First, Dale Weise deflected in a shot to get the Flyers back to within two early.

Three minutes later, Robert Hagg fired a shot through a screen that beat Vasilevskiy and cut the lead to one.

Just over four minutes later, Ivan Provorov rifled a shot high off a face-off and the comeback was complete. The Flyers had tied the game in just 8:38.

The Flyers had to kill off a penalty late in regulation and had some chances to take the lead, but Vasilevskiy stood strong, getting the game to overtime.

In overtime, a turnover by Giroux in the neutral zone gave up possession. Anthony Cirelli dropped a pass to Killorn, who fired a shot off the post and in to end the game.

Neuvirth made 31 saves in the defeat. Vasilevskiy stopped 28 in the win.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Saturday to take on the Florida Panthers. Game time is 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Michael Raffl (2) (Scott Laughton, Travis Sanheim) 10:50
• TB Nikita Kucherov (17) (Tyler Johnson, Brayden Point) 13:56
• TB Point (22) PP (Yanni Gourde, Steven Stamkos) 19:12

2nd Period

• PHI Claude Giroux (13) (Andrew MacDonald, Radko Gudas) 4:36
• TB Stamkos (21) (Kucherov) 12:23
• TB Stamkos (22) PP (Kucherov, Victor Hedman) 14:54
• TB Johnson (17) (Kucherov, Stamkos) 19:51

3rd Period

• PHI Dale Weise (5) (James van Riemsdyk) 1:33
• PHI Robert Hagg (4) (Giroux, van Riemsdyk) 4:21
• PHI Ivan Provorov (4) (Jake Voracek, Sean Couturier) 8:38

Overtime

• TB Alex Killorn (10) (Anthony Cirelli) 0:18

Game Statistics