By Michael Bennett
The Flyers dug themselves a deep hole and they almost got out with a win.
Instead, they settled for a point yesterday at the Wells.
Tampa Bay coughed up a four-goal lead, yet escaped with the win when Anthony Cirelli outmuscled Wayne Simmonds to gain position in front of the net and beat Calvin Pickard with a top-shelf wrist shot. It was his fourth goal of the season for a 6-5 OT win.
The Lightning became the sixth team in NHL history to squander a four-goal lead in the third period and go on to win the game. Tampa Bay is the first to accomplish the feat since the Stars beat Carolina 6-5 on Dec. 8, 2015.
Tampa Bay opened a 5-1 lead 9:08 into the third on Brayden Point’s fifth goal in two games. But the Flyers rallied behind two goals by Travis Konecny and Simmonds tied it with 3:32 left in regulation, beating Louis Doming.
James van Riemsdyk had a goal and two assists for Philly, which has dropped three in a row. Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist, and Pickard had 20 stops while subbing for the injured Brian Elliott.
Tampa Bay jumped in front with three goals in the second after a scoreless first period. Erne scored a power-play goal on a slick give-and-go play with Yanni Gourde at 6:02. Cedric Paquette and Point also scored to make it 3-1 heading into the third.
Van Riemsdyk put the Flyers on the board on the power play. The Flyers finished with three power-play goals after they scored three times with the man advantage in their previous 15 games.
It was van Riemsdyk’s first goal since he signed with Philly in free agency, returning to the organization that drafted him after spending six seasons in Toronto. He recently returned to the lineup after missing six weeks with a knee injury.
Erne also set up Paquette’s goal with a deft backhand pass. Erne has a career-best seven points this season after beginning the year with six goals and an assist in 49 career NHL games.
Tyler Johnson and Point scored in the third before Philly battled back. The Flyers’ rally began with power-play goals by Konecny and Couturier. Konecny scored again before Simmonds’ eighth of the season capped the outburst of four goals in 6:04.
Claude Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere each had two assists for the Flyers.
”I mean we got a point out of it,” Gostisbehere said. ”I don’t know if we had any business getting a point tonight, but you know it shows the true grit of our team.”
