Sanheim Scores Twice to Force OT, But Flyers Fall to Columbus

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

In 2:05, Travis Sanheim single-handedly brought the Flyers back into a brand new game late in the third period. In 10 seconds, the Flyers managed to cough it away in overtime.

A miscommunication between Sean Couturier and Ivan Provorov and a lost board battle by Couturier set up the Blue Jackets for the game-winner, as Seth Jones scored his second goal of the game to give Columbus a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers opened the scoring with a goal off an odd-man rush. Claude Giroux got control on a two-on-one, moved in and fired high over the glove of Sergei Bobrovsky to put the Flyers on the board first at 5:58.

The lead was short-lived. Jones simply rolled a shot in on goal 1:08 later and it leaked under Anthony Stolarz to tie the game.

The 1-1 tie held up through most of the rest of the period, which included two unsuccessful power plays for Columbus. But late in the period, the Flyers struggles with turnovers continued and the Blue Jackets finally made them pay.

A point shot by Scott Harrington was deflected in by Brandon Dubinsky to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead with 1:52 left in the period.

Less than a minute later, the Flyers appeared to tie the game as a centering pass from Couturier hit off Jones and went in. But upon a challenge by Columbus, the play was ruled offside, preserving the Columbus lead. In the final seconds of the period, the Flyers managed their first shots on goal in over 10 minutes, but Bobrovsky was up to the task and made two great saves. Shots were 13-5 Columbus after 20 minutes.

The Flyers had to kill off three more penalties in an undisciplined second period. For all the struggles they had on the penalty kill early in the season, the Flyers stayed the course and remained aggressive on the PK, killing off all three to reach 5-for-5 on the night. 

The period ended with the Flyers getting a pair of power plays. The first was unsuccessful. The second had 1:30 of carryover time into the third period.

After a scoreless second period, the Blue Jackets had a 25-11 advantage in shots.

The Flyers nearly tied the game on the remaining power play time. A perfect set-up had Couturier at the side of the net with a wide open net. Couturier slid the puck back into the blue paint and Bobrovsky was able to keep it out as a result. 

The Flyers kept pushing the play for the next few shifts before Columbus scored a back-breaking goal. Boone Jenner fired a shot high over Stolarz to make it 3-1 at 5:15 of the period.

Sanheim started the Flyers rally by finishing off a nice rush. Travis Konecny made a cross-ice pass to Giroux, who led Sanheim to the net with a pass. Sanheim made the move and beat Bobrovsky to cut the lead to one with 7:36 remaining in the third.

Just 2:05 later, Sanheim finished off another rush, roofing a shot over Bobrovsky off a feed from Jake Voracek to tie the game at three.

The game went to overtime, and it took the Flyers just 10 seconds to watch the bid at a comeback end in disaster. Couturier tried to drop pass to an unsuspecting Provorov, leading to a board battle, which Couturier lost. Cam Atkinson got the puck and found Jones open in the slot. Jones fired high on Stolarz to win the game.

The Flyers were outshot, 30-26, in the game. Giroux, Konecny and Sanheim each finished with two points.

Stolarz made 26 saves in the loss. Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots in the win.

The Flyers return to the ice on Saturday afternoon in Buffalo to take on the Sabres. Game time is 1 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Claude Giroux (10) (Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier) 5:58
• CBJ Seth Jones (4) (Oliver Bjorkstrand, Brandon Dubinsky) 7:06
• CBJ Dubinsky (3) (Scott Harrington, Artemi Panarin) 18:08

2nd Period

• No Scoring

3rd Period

• CBJ Boone Jenner (6) (Panarin) 5:15
• PHI Travis Sanheim (1) (Giroux, Konecny) 12:24
• PHI Sanheim (2) (Jake Voracek, Shayne Gostisbehere) 14:29

Overtime

• CBJ Jones (5) (Cam Atkinson) 0:10

Game Statistics