Flyers Get First Comeback Win, Defeat Penguins, 4-3, In Shootout

The Philadelphia Flyers had not won a game this season when allowing the first goal, but they did just that against the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning 4-3 in a shootout.

The first two periods of the game were extremely mundane, as both teams misfired on swathes of passes. It also felt like every other whistle was for a Flyers icing. Then, Kris Letang’s shot attempt rode up Travis Sanheim’s stick and went in upstairs over Sam Ersson, giving the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Owen Tippett aggressively bailed the defensive zone, and Tyson Foerster passed him in on a breakaway. After getting stopped on the forehand on an earlier breakaway, Tippett went to his backhand this time and roofed it on Tristan Jarry, tying the game for the Flyers at 1-1.

Jake Guentzel and Scott Laughton exchanged goals inside the first 10 minutes of the third period, keeping things even at 2-2. Laughton’s goal was a short-handed one, and it was his first since Nov. 3 (12 games).

Use the Foerster. 🎯🚀#PHIvsPIT | @tfoerster8 pic.twitter.com/whFsy99fdM

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 3, 2023

Just under seven minutes after that, Foerster got himself on the scoresheet for the second game in a row. The 21-year-old corralled the puck at the left circle and ripped a wrister past Jarry, giving the Philadelphia Flyers their first lead of the night. With his goal, Foerster scored multiple points in back-to-back games.

Leading up to the Foerster goal, the Flyers’ power play was 0-for-3, so the goal was both a welcomed sight and a much-needed tally on the scoreboard. Prior to that, the Flyers had scored just one power play goal on the road this season. Naturally, the Philadelphia Flyers couldn’t make it easy for themselves. Guentzel, with Jarry pulled, found the finishing touch to convert in front of Ersson and tied the game at 3-3 with just 20.6 seconds left on the clock.

Overtime

Sidney Crosby had a pretty quiet game up until overtime. He started the extra frame with a great individual effort to the net, circled the trapezoid, and set up a teammate for a scoring chance, but no goal was scored. Laughton and Cam Atkinson went back the other way on a 2-on-1, but also failed to end the game.

With one minute left, Joel Farabee was whistled for too many men, jumping on the ice too early after Laughton flew a tire in the offensive zone corner. Sanheim and the Flyers did just enough to survive a late Penguins onslaught and crawl their way to a shootout.

Ersson was perfect in the shootout, turning aside everything thrown his way once again. In the second round, Sean Couturier used that penalty shot move to beat Jarry and give the Flyers their game-winning shootout goal. Foerster and Travis Konecny shot in the first and third rounds, but both were stopped by Jarry.

Guentzel, Crosby, and Bryan Rust were all denied by Ersson, securing a 4-3 Philadelphia Flyers shootout win.

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