By Mary Cunningham and NHL.com
The Flyers dodged a big-time bullet last night at the Wells.
Shayne Gostisbehere scored 1:01 into overtime, and the Flyers rallied for a 5-4 win against the Arizona Coyotes.
Gostisbehere took a pass from Jakub Voracek in the slot and beat Darcy Kuemper:
“Had an opportunity to go up,” Gostisbehere said. “Kind of cheated a little bit and I stayed up. I knew [Voracek] was going to win the battle. He made a great play. I knew I just had to find a hole for him to make the pass and he made a great play.”
Scott Laughton scored two goals, Gostisbehere and Dale Weise each had a goal and an assist and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers (8-7-1).
Brian Elliott made 16 saves in relief of Calvin Pickard, who was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots.
Derek Stepan and Michael Grabner each scored shorthanded 24 seconds apart in the second period for the Coyotes (7-6-1), who lead the NHL with nine shorthanded goals.
Grabner and Oliver Ekman-Larsson each had a goal and an assist, Brad Richardson scored, and Kuemper made 26 saves.
The Coyotes played most of the game with five defensemen. Alex Goligoski left the game 3:18 into the first period after playing two shifts because of a lower-body injury.
Weise tied the game 4-4 with 2:13 remaining in the third period. Gostisbehere intercepted a pass in the Flyers zone and sent Weise in alone on Kuemper. It was Weise’s first goal since Dec. 20, 2017.
“It feels great,” Weise said. “The situation, to tie the game like that, it feels even better. I’m not a guy who stresses over goals and points. I’ve been all around it, I know it’s going to come. I don’t really judge myself on goals. I know I’ve been playing well, that’s the huge part for me. But it obviously feels good to score.”
Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said the goal is the culmination of recent strong play for Weise. After averaging 10:34 of ice time in his first six games, he’s averaged 14:05 the past seven.
“He’s a confident player right now,” Hakstol said. “Maybe that was lacking in the past couple years. He has his confidence, he’s working extremely hard, been a really good player.”
Laughton’s second goal, at 2:21 of the third, brought the Flyers within 4-3.
The Coyotes scored three times in the second period to take a 4-2 lead but couldn’t hold on.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead on Konecny’s goal 1:18 into the first period, and Laughton made it 2-0 from the slot at 5:47.
