The Philadelphia Flyers had this game in the bag, but a rough second half to the third period forced overtime, before Clayton Keller scored the winner to send the home fans happy.
The Flyers jumped to an early 2-0 lead after Cam York and Christian Dvorak scored within the first four and a half minutes, before Bobby Brink made it 3-0 in the first minute of the second period.
Utah then scored 2 goals in 36 seconds to quell the Flyers’ runaway attempts, and then twice more in last 8 minutes of the third period after the Flyers had taken a 4-2 lead. Barrett Hayton scored on a power play that was assessed after a Noah Juulsen fight, and Keller tied things up with 34 seconds left after Garnet Hathaway failed to score on an empty net.
Samuel Ersson wasn’t as bad as the scoreboard might dictate, but he was in line for the loss after allowing 5 goals on 27 shots, whereas Karel Vejmelka was the winner as he stopped 25 of the 29 shots fired his way.
The Flyers power play was a positive as they finished the game going 2 for 6, but their penalty killing unit allowed a goal on 3 attempts, and on a fairly important kill with a 2-goal lead and 8 minutes remaining in the period.
FIRST PERIOD
Perhaps rejuvenated from their victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, the Philadelphia Flyers started out tonight’s game with a a bang, scoring twice in the first 4 and a half minutes.
Both tallies came from the Flyers first line, with the one first one due to sustained pressure and cycling from Christian Dvorak, Travis Konecny, and Trevor Zegras. Just 30 seconds in, Cam York was able to bury a rebound that came off a Travis Sanheim one-timer, which was set-up by Dvorak.
Then 4:06 later, the same culprits were at it again after Dvorak finished off a breakaway against Karel Vejmelka to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. Noah Juulsen got the puck out of the zone in haste to Konecny who was along the boards near the red-line, he then found Dvorak, who snuck behind the defense and finished off a nice move on the Olympian.
The Flyers controlled the rest of the period as they outshot the Mammoth by a total of 14-7, and despite Utah having not played since Saturday, they looked very slow out of the gates. Samuel Ersson did have to make a few key stops, but overall it was the type of period the Flyers needed to start the game on the road.
SECOND PERIOD
Starting the period on a power play, the Flyers made quick work of their third man advantage of the game, as Bobby Brink jammed home a rebound in the blue paint just 58 seconds in.
The Mammoth were assessed a high-sticking penalty before the final horn to end the first period, and Brink made no mistake on his rebound opportunity. Brink made a bee-line towards the blue paint as Zegras was firing a shot towards the net, and was rewarded for his efforts with his 12th goal of the season.
Off the ensuing faceoff, Liam O’Brien was initially handed a 5-minute major for a high hit on Owen Tippett. However, as the referees reviewed the play, they deemed no penalty was to be called on the play, despite Tippett going straight to the locker room.
It was Utah who had gained all the momentum after the O’Brien hit as they swarmed Ersson and the Flyers shift after shift, until JJ Peterka finished off the loose change in the blue paint to get the Mammoth on the board at the 5:35 mark.
However, on the ensuing shift, the Mammoth cut the deficit in half after Lawson Crouse wired home a one-timer from the slot. Emil Andrae couldn’t handle the puck as they looked to get it out of the zone, which allowed Clayton Keller to corral it and aid the Mammoth in scoring their second goal in just 36 seconds.
Fortunately for the Flyers, their power play was working tonight. as they were able to quell the Mammoth’s attack with their second tally with the extra skater of the period. Dvorak came in off the rush, was initially stopped, but then finished off this own rebound from just below the goal-line at the 10:28 mark.
It was a penalty filled period as the Flyers killed a penalty and received two power plays of their own, including one near the end of the period after Sean Couturier was high-sticked. Nevertheless, it was a great response after Utah had cut the deficit to just 1 goal midway through.
THIRD PERIOD
After a fight between Juulsen and Jack McBain broke out, the former was assessed the extra minor for roughing with 8:11 remaining in the period. Less than a minute into the kill, Barrett Hayton got a piece of Dylan Guenther’s shot, which was able to beat Ersson to cut the deficit back to 1, courtesy of his 6th on the season.
The Mammoth pulled the goaltender with 1:50 remaining and it looked like Garnet Hathaway was going to ice the game with a yawning cage in front of him, however he waited to long and Nick Schmaltz lifted his stick at the last second.
Konecny then had a chance of his own from the point but his shot was blocked, which allowed the Mammoth to survive yet again, before Keller undressed Sanheim en route to their first ever 6-on-5 goal in franchise history with 34 seconds left.
After all that, the Flyers blew a 3-goal lead in regulation, as the Mammoth stormed back to force overtime.
OVERTIME
After tying the game with 34 seconds left in the third period, Keller then scored the game-winning goal after he walked into the middle of the ice from a nice feed from Guenther, before firing it low-glove on Ersson.
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