Flyers Lead in Comebacks After Second OT Win Against Blues

6 days after defeating the Blues on the road in a shootout, the Flyers hosted the Blues for an overtime win. At 6-0-3 in overtime, the Flyers now lead the league with 8 comeback wins after defeating St. Louis 3-2.

After a rocky first period for Dan Vladar, the Blues led 2-0 on 9 shots. Justin Faulk earned both points after achieving his 1000th regular-season game earlier this week. His second goal of the night was a powerplay goal, even though the Flyers are a top team in the league for the penalty kill at this point. The Sabres lead the league at an 89.8 PK%, with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia following at 86.2. The cross-ice pass from Neighbours allowed Vladar to lose sight of the puck and Faulk’s shot to miss his shoulder. 

Yet after the first, things started coming together for Philadelphia. Just as last week worked out, this is a team we should be able to beat, however a sluggish first period leaves us playing catch-up for the next 40 minutes. Zegras passed the puck to Tippett in the corner, who sent the puck to Rodrigo Abols in a between-the-legs pass for Abols’ first goal of the year. This was Zergas’ 14th assist of the season so far. 

The Flyers continued to hold their own throughout the third period. Tyson Foerster tied the game, his first point back since his injury a few weeks ago. After a hot start to the season, his week off halted that greatly. Hopefully this is him getting his footing back, as he has become an asset to this team offensively. Although their defense showed improvement and they were offensively productive. With the game tied, the team went into overtime for the 9th time this season. 

Travis Sanheim earned his fourth career overtime goal in a great play with an assist from Konecny. The Travii gave the Flyers the leg-up to lead the league in comeback wins.

While any points are points, there are a few different ways I look at this accolade for Philadelphia. On the positive end of things, I think this is a testament to the grit of this team. Plenty of our guys are young, new, or simply having breakout years. Even when things aren’t going in their favor, they hold their own and stay in the game. Just last week against St. Louis, the Flyers came back after being down 1-0, 3-1, and 5-3 before securing a spot to overtime and eventually win in a shootout. It helps that we have the moving pieces to pull this off, such as acquiring one of the top shootout guys in the league in Trevor Zegras. As successful as Dan Vladar has been, Ersson is undeniably great in the shootout. He excels under that pressure when he has the ability to keep an eye on the puck directly. So while we can make these games work, I also believe the quantity of overtime we’re playing is a testament to the slow first period we’ve grown to adapt to. They are typically able to catch up, yet it causes a game of catch-up as I’ve previously mentioned. If we were able to come out with the grit, speed, and connectedness of our second and third periods, we wouldn’t have to spend so much time in OT. Because of this, I would love to see some more flexibility and speed in the first and lose the accolade of most comeback wins. But at the end of the day, we have a young team that’s hungry for wins, and as long as we’re leaving with 2 points, that’s all we can ask for.

The Flyers have a packed schedule coming into Thanksgiving week. They’re back at home on Saturday against the Devils before a 4-game road trip next Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday to close out November.

In their last 10 games, the Devils have gone 5-4-1 compared to Philadelphia’s 5-3-2. Trevor Zegras has one assist advantage to New Jersey’s leader in assists, and although our leading scorer, Owen Tippett, has 4 less goals than the Devils’ Jack Hughes, who’s earned 10 so far this year, Hughes is out for a few weeks after needing surgery on his hand. This may give the Flyers a leg up, but they will still have to look for a stronger first period to prevent the chase.