Flyers come back in 3rd period, pick up OT win over Blackhawks originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers came to life offensively in the third period Saturday afternoon to rally for a 3-2 overtime win over the Blackhawks at the Wells Fargo Center.
Sean Couturier and Noah Cates scored goals to erase Chicago’s 2-0 lead.
Matvei Michkov netted the game-winner in OT on the power play. John Tortorella’s club went to overtime for the fifth time in the last eight games.
“When you get the moment, you have to be cold-blooded and realize it,” Michkov said through translator Slava Kuznetsov, a Flyers consultant.” And finish it.”
The Flyers (9-10-2) snapped a two-game skid and are 2-2-0 on their five-game homestand.
The Flyers and Blackhawks (7-12-2) wrap up their two-game regular-season series in March at the United Center.
• The Flyers’ first line and top defensive pair surrendered the first two goals to Chicago’s fourth line.
They need to win those matchups. It’s no secret the Flyers have struggled to score, they’re not a high-end offensive team, so breakdowns like those become magnified.
But Couturier and Travis Konecny made up for it in the third period to draw the Flyers within 2-1. Rasmus Ristolainen had the primary assist and finished as a plus-2.
Aleksei Kolosov converted 19 saves on 21 shots for the Flyers.
He had no chance to stop the Blackhawks’ game-opening goal in the first period. The Flyers had a 4-on-2 rush that came up empty, resulting in a Chicago counter rush. Cam York pinched on the Flyers’ push into the offensive zone, giving them another scoring option. But the Flyers were one and done and the play went the other way.
The Flyers had only Travis Sanheim back in coverage followed by Couturier. Lukas Reichel buried a wide-open look.
Kolosov made a huge save on a Blackhawks shorthanded breakaway a little under one minute into the second period to keep the Flyers’ deficit at one. But midway through the period, Chicago’s fourth line struck again as Patrick Maroon put the Flyers in a 2-0 hole.
“There wasn’t a lot of panic, that’s all we talked about, was just trying to take a deep breath and keep playing,” Tortorella said. “Because I thought we were getting chances. We had a bunch of almost chances again, too. We just struggle completing the play. I thought their goalie played really well the first half of the game.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be aware and not just look at the score and say, ‘Oh, s–t.’ I thought our team was playing OK and we just…