Flyers Rally to Force OT, Fall to Canucks in Shootout

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Michael Raffl drew an interference penalty on Jordie Benn with 6:05 left in the third period. In a period where the Flyers were dominating in every aspect, they simply could not solve Jacob Markstrom. It was a big spot for the Flyers power play and they delivered.

Oskar Lindblom tied the game with 5:02 to play in the third, helping the Flyers force overtime and keep their points streak alive at three games. Markstrom would still get the last laugh in this one, as the Flyers suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

Vancouver wasted little time getting on the board in the first, getting a favorable bounce on a rebound. Carter Hart made a great save on a deflection by Elias Pettersson, but the rebound came straight to Brock Boeser and he put it home to give Vancouver the lead at 5:01 of the first.

Both sides struggled to generate chances beyond that in the first period, and the Flyers held a slim 7-6 advantage in shots in the first.

Early in the second, the Flyers found the net with one of their new additions to the roster. It was rookie Carsen Twarynski scoring his first NHL goal off the wing with a shot to the short side of Markstrom to tie things up at one at 3:14.

Just 1:13 later though, the Canucks regained the lead following an icing call and off the face-off got a deflection by Tanner Pearson on a Chris Tanev shot.

Despite getting 10 shots in the period, the Flyers really struggled to generate a lot of possession time, as Markstrom turned away all quality chances. Through two periods, shots were 17-13 in favor of the Flyers.

The Flyers came out in the third and started their furious rally to solve Markstrom. They generated shots early and often, outshooting the Canucks, 14-6, in the third period. 

Finally, with 6:05 to play, the Flyers got a power play. To that point, the Canucks had not allowed a power-play goal all season. The first unit struggled to generate any time in the offensive zone and the second unit had to take over.

Matt Niskanen got things started with a great move at the blue line to gain entry and positioning. He dropped a pass to Travis Konecny, who fed a pass through the slot to Lindblom for the quick strike and the tying goal with 5:02 left.

The Flyers nearly got the lead in the final minute as Travis Sanheim hit the post on a chance, but the game headed to overtime.

In the overtime, the Flyers and Canucks went back and forth on possession with few shots hitting the net. With 1:13 left in the overtime, Bo Horvat got a breakaway and Hart came up with the big save, but the Flyers were called for a penalty as Sean Couturier was ruled to have thrown his stick in an effort to break up the play.

The Flyers barely managed to kill off the 4-on-3 in the final 73 seconds of overtime and the game went to a shootout.

After a scoreless first round, both Pettersson and Claude Giroux scored on their attempts in Round 2. In the third round, Pearson beat Hart through the five-hole and Kevin Hayes was stopped by Markstrom with stacked pads to seal the Flyers first defeat of the 2019-20 season.

Markstrom finished with 30 saves in 65 minutes plus two more in the shootout. Hart made 22 saves in 65 minutes.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Tuesday night when they take on the Calgary Flames. Game time is at 9 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• VAN Brock Boeser (1) (Elias Pettersson, Chris Tanev) 5:01

2nd Period

• PHI Carsen Twarynski (1) (Justin Braun, Travis Sanheim) 3:14
• VAN Tanner Pearson (2) (Tanev, Josh Leivo) 4:27

3rd Period

• PHI Oskar Lindblom (2) PP (Travis Konecny, Matt Niskanen) 14:58

Overtime

• No Scoring

Shootout

• VAN Brock Boeser – Miss
• PHI Jake Voracek – Save
• VAN Elias Pettersson – Goal
• PHI Claude Giroux – Goal
• VAN Tanner Pearson – Goal
• PHI Kevin Hayes – Save

Game Statistics