Meier, Sharks Rally Late, Defeat Flyers in OT

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Just like in the first two games on the California road trip, the Flyers entered the third period with the lead. Instead of trying to build on it, the Flyers took the "safe" route in protecting the lead. They failed.

Joe Thornton scored to tie the game with 4:57 left in regulation and Timo Meier scored his second goal of the game just 13 seconds into overtime in a 4-3 Flyers loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

For the third straight game, the Flyers scored first and they wasted little time in doing it. Just 37 seconds into the game, Nolan Patrick finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play and the Flyers had the lead.

It took the Sharks little time to tie the game back up. At 3:15, Tomas Hertl found Meier alone in front for an easy tip-in to even the score at one.

The Flyers regained the lead late in the first period. Wayne Simmonds set up Jordan Weal for a turnaround shot that beat Martin Jones, making it 2-1 Flyers after 20 minutes despite being outshot 16-9.

The Sharks took advantage of a power play in the second period to tie the game back up. Joe Pavelski was left open at the side of the net and Kevin Labanc was able to feed him with the pass for an easy goal.

Late in the period, the Flyers capitalized on a rush to take the lead back. After Ivan Provorov was hauled down in front of the net, Oskar Lindblom centered for Jake Voracek, who scored on a delayed penalty call to put the Flyers ahead, 3-2, with just 30 seconds left in the second period.

The Flyers were able to hold the lead throughout the third period, despite an onslaught of chances for the Sharks, even while the Flyers were on a man-advantage.

Finally, with 4:57 to play, the Sharks found the equalizer on a perfectly placed shot by Thornton over the shoulder of Cal Pickard. Moments before the tying goal, Travis Konecny hit the post on a chance that would have given the Flyers a late two-goal lead.

That helped forced overtime and the Sharks wasted little time capitalizing on another Flyers mistake.

In the opening seconds of overtime, Claude Giroux took control and dropped the puck into the neutral zone to open space. Voracek lost a battle with Logan Couture, and Couture broke free, turning it into a two-on-one. Couture centered for Meier who buried the chance, giving the Sharks the win.

Pickard stopped 31 of 35 shots in the loss. Jones stopped 22 of 25 in the win.

The Flyers have one more game on the road trip, heading to Arizona to face the Coyotes on Monday night at 9 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Nolan Patrick (4) (Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom) 0:37
• SJ Timo Meier (10) (Tomas Hertl, Marc-Edouard Vlasic) 3:15
• PHI Jordan Weal (2) (Wayne Simmonds, Dale Weise) 16:40

2nd Period

• SJ Joe Pavelski (6) PP (Kevin Labanc, Brent Burns) 10:35
• PHI Jake Voracek (4) (Lindblom, Ivan Provorov) 19:30

3rd Period

• SJ Joe Thornton (1) (Labanc, Brenden Dillon) 15:03

Overtime

• SJ Meier (11) (Logan Couture) 0:13

Game Statistics