PHILADELPHIA — In front of a thin crowd, the Flyers played their final home game of the season, winning, 4-3, in overtime in a topsy-turvy performance against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
The Blue Jackets, who have more to gain by losing as they fight for the most balls in the draft lottery, came out with more fire and jumped to a 2-0 lead. After Carter Hart failed to control the rebound on Carson Meyer’s shot, Liam Foudy beat Ivan Provorov to the puck and scored halfway into the first. Three minutes later, all the Flyers followed the puck to the right. Trey Fix-Wolanksy took advantage and scored from the left circle.
With five minutes left in the first, the Flyers finally got it together. Joel Farabee scored off Travis Konecny’s net front pass and, less than a minute later, James van Riemsdyk tied it with his shot from the right faceoff circle.
The Flyers started the second way faster than they started first. In the first 47 seconds, Owen Tippett scored on the remainder of a power play from the first period. They maintained their pace, preserving their lead and doubling the Blue Jackets in shots.
After the Flyers failed to take a shot for the first nine minutes of the third, the Blue Jackets got the chance to tie the game. The Blue Jackets emerged with the man advantage after a series of penalties, and Sean Kuraly deflected in a shot on the power play.
The goal sent the game to overtime, where Tippett scored the game winner in the final 15.5 seconds.
300
With a giant green smile, van Riemsdyk celebrated his 300th career NHL goal while his best friend on the team, Scott Laughton, ran and saved the puck for him.
Van Riemsdyk is known for dirty goals scored around the net. This one couldn’t have been more different. He took his shot from the right faceoff circle, beating the goalie.
After high-fiving his teammates, van Riemsdyk returned to the ice and got into an uncharacteristic scuffle, backed up by Laughton. Van Riemsdyk finished with three shots and two penalty minutes in 12 minutes, 34 seconds on the ice.
Fightin Farabee
Farabee dragged the Flyers back into the game after a lackluster start. Rushing up the ice while the rest of his team changed, Farabee was stopped on his shot but still made a great pass to the undefended front of the net. But no one was there. On his next shift, though, he scored off of a similar pass. Travis Konecny passed it from behind the net, and Farabee beat Michael Hutchinson through the five-hole with five minutes to go in the first.
With less than a minute remaining in the first, Farabee went on another rush. This time, he was stopped by a crosscheck, giving the Flyers the power play they turned into Tippett’s goal the next period. By the end of the second, Farabee had generated half of the Flyers best chances. He finished regulation with the most shots on goal (6).
Penalty for penalty
Power plays didn’t last long Tuesday night. The first two penalties called in the game cancelled each other out. Shortly after they expired, Farabee drew another, but it was broken in half by intermission. Nonetheless, it was the only full power play for the Flyers, and they capitalized on it with Tippett’s goal to open the second.
At the end of the second, the Blue Jackets served a too many men penalty. But the Flyers wasted it. Sixteen seconds in, Konecny was called for hooking, sending it to another 4-on-4.
The third period was even worse. Ginning was called for hooking, but Kirill Marchenko committed a penalty just over a minute in to lose the Blue Jackets’ man-advantage. However, they gained it back for seven seconds after Cam York was called for hooking. The Flyers only had to survive seven seconds of a 5-on-3 before Ginning came out, but Marchenko followed him out. The Blue Jackets scored on the remaining seconds of the power play.
What’s next
The Flyers play their season finale in Chicago against the Blackhawks at 8:30 p.m. EST.
