Philadelphia Flyers
GIF Rewind: Ivan Provorov wins it in OT as Flyers complete comeback in Buffalo
Well, you can’t say the Philadelphia Flyers are ever boring. After falling behind 3-0 to the Buffalo Sabres, they scored four unanswered goals to win the game in overtime on Monday night. Kevin Hayes, Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, and Ivan Provorov scored in the overtime win.
Carter Hart getting two-game break to ‘work harder’ and ‘work better’ in practice
It wasn’t a great start for the Flyers, though.
The Flyers were outshot 13-8 –– 11-8 at 5-on-5 –– in the first period, and were completely out of sorts on the Sabres’ lone goal. All five players on the ice were on one side of the zone with Henri Jokiharju having all the time in the world to pick his spot against Brian Elliott.
They got outworked along the boards and their defensive coverage was lacking. It was looking like the Flyers could survive the first period with a 0-0 tie, but this ended that hope.
Things only got worse in the second period.
Elliott couldn’t stop the puck behind the net and the Flyers lost a battle. Then, Cody Eakin beat Elliott on the short side with a shot that should’ve been stopped.
That goal was scored just 2:10 into the period and it looked like the Flyers wouldn’t be able to bounce back.
Shortly after the midpoint of the period, Brandon Montour found a loose puck in the slot and beat Elliott with a shot.
The reality of losing to the Sabres was setting in, and the Flyers weren’t doing much to turn things around. The Flyers outshot the Sabres 12-9 at 5-on-5 in the second period, but very few of their chances were high-quality. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Sabres had five high-danger scoring chances in the second period to the Flyers’ one.
Kevin Hayes tried to change that early in the third period. Hayes got a bit of a lucky bounce off a shot, but it crossed the goal line and that’s all that matters.
The Flyers decided to show up in the third period, and the leadership group got the team back within one goal.
Jakub Voracek won a battle and got the puck to Sean Couturier, who passed it to Claude Giroux for an easy goal in front.
After an abysmal first two periods, the Flyers had a chance with nine minutes left in the third period.
They had a prime opportunity to tie it up on the power play, but they couldn’t convert on a few good chances.
The Sabres were content to keep the Flyers to the outside and get pucks in deep. Vigneault took his timeout with 2:05 left after a Buffalo icing and pulled Elliott for the extra attacker.
Then, the leadership group showed up yet again.
With the goalie pulled, Claude Giroux hustled back to disrupt Tage Thompson, who pushed the puck just wide.
Then, Sean Couturier got a piece of a shot in front to tie the game at three.
The Flyers survived the final minute and it didn’t take them too long to win it in overtime.
Giroux kept Rasmus Dahlin away from the puck, sparking a two-on-one for Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov. Konecny passed the puck to the defenseman, who made a nice move to win it.
And Provy had the celly to go with it.
The Flyers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in what would’ve been their worst loss of the season.