Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny both scored in regulation and again in the shootout as the Philadelphia Flyers wasted a three-goal lead before prevailing 4-3 over the visiting San Jose Sharks on Monday.
Erik Johnson also scored for Philadelphia, while Samuel Ersson made 28 saves. Michkov, who was a healthy scratch in each of the Flyers’ previous two games, finished with a goal and an assist before his key tally in the shootout.
Jack Thompson, Mikael Granlund and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Sharks, who had won five of their previous seven games. Vitek Vanecek made 40 saves for the visitors.
After both teams failed on their first shootout attempt, Michkov deposited an impressive backhand-to-forehand move. Following a save by Ersson, Konecny netted the decisive goal, dragging the puck on his forehand before flipping it under the crossbar.
The Flyers scored twice in the first period, beginning with Johnson’s first goal of the season at 1:40. With just over four minutes left in the period, Konecny made it 2-0 on a tic-tac-toe setup, as Emil Andrae found Michkov, who one-timed a feed to Konecny, whose blast from the right circle beat Vanecek for a power-play goal.
At 5:09 of the second period, Michkov got behind the defense and beat Vanecek 5-hole to make it 3-0.
However, San Jose began to chip away later in the period.
With about 4 1/2 minutes left in the stanza, William Eklund’s centering pass caromed off Thompson’s skate and past Ersson to get the Sharks on the board. About three minutes later, Eklund set up Granlund at the right faceoff dot for a spicy wrister that got under the crossbar.
The score remained 3-2 until Goodrow netted the equalizer with 2:24 left in regulation. Henry Thrun’s shot from the left point ricocheted to the right of the net where Goodrow slammed it past Ersson.
San Jose began overtime with two minutes of a 4-on-3 advantage after Michkov took a roughing penalty at the end of regulation. Ersson made several key saves during the ensuing penalty kill.
Vanecek made some key stops on the other end late in overtime, including denials of Andrae and Michkov to send the game to a shootout.
–Field Level Media
