(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Bill Minchin, Sports Talk Philly Writer
Two times tonight the Edmonton Oilers held two goal leads. Two times tonight the Philadelphia Flyers erased them. Behind three third period goals, the Flyers came back to extend their winning streak to seven games as they defeated Edmonton 6-5 on Thursday night.
Edmonton would get on the board at 4:39 of the opening period. Leon Draisaitl took a pass from Jesse Puljujarvi near center and went in almost untouched before beating Steve Mason clean. The goal was his 12th of the season.
Philadelphia would get a chance to even it up just three minutes later when Puljujarvi was whistled for hooking at 7:23. Despite good puck possession the Flyers were unable to score and the game remained 1-0 Edmonton.
Late in the opening period the Flyers got another chance with the man advantage as Puljujarvi was sent to the box again this time for holding at 17:45. Like their first man advantage, Philadelphia had good puck possession but were unable to score.
Jonas Gustavsson stopped all nine Flyers shots and the teams went to the room with Edmonton holding a 1-0 lead.
Connor McDavid extended Edmonton's lead to 2-0 when he scored his 12th of the season at 4:35. McDavid took a pass from Draisaitl and beat Mason for the power play goal. Milan Lucic had the other assist.
The Flyers came roaring back just past the midway point of the period. They scored three goals just 72 seconds apart to take a 3-2 lead.
Mark Streit got the Flyers on the board at 12:31. Streit blasted a Travis Konecny pass home from the blue line for his fifth goal of the season. Ivan Provorov picked up the other assist.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tied the score at 2-2 at 13:24. Bellemare fired a wrist shot home for his first of the season. Andrew MacDonald and Chris VandeVelde picked up the assists.
Claude Giroux put the Flyers ahead just 19 seconds later when he scored his eighth of the season. Giroux buried a pass from Jakub Voracek at 13:43.
Edmonton would tie the game at 16:15 of the period when Andrej Sekera potted his fourth of the season. Sekera took a pass from Mark Letestu in slot and beat Mason. McDavid had the second assist on the shorthanded goal.
Edmonton would regain the lead early in the third. Benoit Pouliot scored his fifth of the season just 3:07 into the stanza. Drasiatl picked his third point of the night with an assist on the goal. Adam Larsson had the other helper on the play.
Oscar Klefbom extended the lead just over two minutes later. The power play tally was his fourth of the season. Jordan Eberle and Drake Caggiula had the assists.
The Flyers would not go away.
Jake Voracek made it 5-4 at 6:31. Voracek hammered a one timer home on the power play for his tenth of the season. Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere picked up the assists.
The captain would tie it up six minutes later. Giroux deflected home a Radko Gudas shot at 12:11 of the third for his ninth of the season and second of the game. Voracek collected his third point of the night with another assist.
As the game wound down it appeared we were destined for overtime. Michael Raffl had other ideas. In what was almost exact replica of his goal last Sunday in Nashville, Raffl took a pass from Voracek and went in from boards with a power move right to the net for his sixth of the season with just 1:29 left. Streit had the other assist.
Edmonton would pull their goalie over the final minute but were unable to get it tied.
