Wrap: Flyers Battle Back for a Point in Nashville
Despite controlling the majority of the play for the first 39 minutes of Tuesday's game at Bridgestone Arena, the Philadelphia Flyers had to battle back from a 2-0 deficit to forge a regulation tie and claim one point. Nashville scored 18 seconds into overtime to send the Flyers (15-10-3) to a 3-2 defeat.
The Predators took a 1-0 lead at 9:42 of the first period on a deflection goal by Gustav Nyquist (4th of the season). Assists went to Alexandre Carrier and Filip Forsberg. Nashville took a 2-0 lead at 3:05 of the second period on a delayed penalty against the Flyers. Garnet Hathaway touched up the puck but there was no whistly. Michael McCarron scored the goal (4th), assisted by Luke Schenn and Cole Smith.
Moments after the Flyers killed a penalty late in the second period, Sean Couturier (7th) scored from a tight angle at 19:36 to bring the Flyers within 2-1. Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson collected the assists. Philly tied the game at 2-2 the 6:49 mark of the third period. Travis Sanheim (4th goal of the season) moved in to collect a Travis Konecny rebound and scored. Couturier earned the secondary assist. The Flyers got away with an apparent holding penalty on Konecny on the front end the play but there was no whistle.
Philadelphia decidedly had the better of play over most of the first 46 minutes of the game but had to withstand several strong pushes by Nashville over the rest of regulation.
Eighteen seconds into overtime, Flilp Forsberg moved off the right boards over the middle and wristed a shot on net. Samuel Ersson made the save but couldn't freeze the puck. The puck sat on his pad and Forsberg followed it up to end the game (15th goal of the season). The assists went to Roman Josi and Ryan O'Reilly.
Ersson stopped 18 of 21 shots in a losing cause. He received 23 blocked shots in front of him. Juuse Saros was outstanding in net for Nashville, making 38 saves on 40 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Predators were 0-for-3.
For a full period-by-period recap, stats, highlights and analysis, see the Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. The Flyers will have an off-day on Wednesday. On Thursday evening, they'll host the Washington Capitals at the Wells Fargo Center.