While Matvei Michkov might have scored the overtime winning goal on Thursday night in Ottawa, goaltender Ivan Fedotov was the Flyers’ most valuable player in a come-from-behind overtime 5-4 win.
Michkov scored the deciding goal with 54.8 seconds left in overtime.
However, Fedotov, a late substitute for injured Samuel Ersson, was a whirling dervish as the Senators generated 37 shots and put lots of pressure on the Philadelphia zone.
The Russian goaltender did allow four goals but Ottawa had at least a dozen dead-on scoring chances.
Over their past three previous games, the Flyers had averaged 37 shots per contest and killed off every penalty that came their way.
Those positive numbers came to a screeching halt on Thursday night.
But no matter. Down 4-2 with barely half a period to play, the Flyers somehow scored three straight goals and went on to an unexpected victory at Ottawa’s Canada Tire Center.
The Flyers picked up goals from Anthony Richard, Bobby Brink and Michkov to improve their record to 7-8-2. It’s the first time the Flyers have gone to overtime in four straight games since four years ago.
Perhaps Fedotov is finally living up to his billing as a star from his play in Russia and international tournaments.
“He played really good,” coach John Tortorella said. “He’s competing so much harder. That’s two (wins) in a row for him.”
Fedotov was still wearing a determined look during post-game interviews in the Flyers locker room.
“The win was so important for me and the team as well,” Fedotov told reporters. “Tonight was a tough game for us. We kept fighting. We had blocked shots (30, including six by Ryan Poehling). We played simple but smart. Right now, it’s important when you have tough game to have confidence.”
Despite generating only 19 shots and giving up two power-play goals after killing off 20 straight power plays over seven games (two short of the franchise record), the Flyers found a way to win this somewhat wacky game.
Josh Norris’ goal at 4:27 of the third proved broke a 2-2 tie. Seconds before, the Flyers’ Joel Farabee went down after blocking a shot, which gave the Senators a little more room to operate. Norris sent a point-blank shot past Fedotov.
Then Adam Gaudette scored the Senators’ second power-play goal for a two-goal edge.
The Flyers weren’t about to give up.
Richard scored off a nifty pass from linemate Bobby Brink at 10:42, then Richard returned the favor, getting off a shot which was stopped but the puck bounced off Brink’s leg into the net.
Despite getting outshot 28-7 through two periods, the Flyers got to the second intermission with a 2-2 tie after a Travis Konecny breakaway goal with 1:12 to play.
The sequence started with a great outlet pass from Noah Cates. Konecny broke clear at the Ottawa blue line and beat goalie Linus Ullman from close range.
Before that goal, Philadelphia had killed off 20 straight penalties over seven games (two short of the franchise record) until the Senators’ Drake Batherson scored with the man advantage (due to a Joel Farabee high-stick infraction) at 8:41.
The Flyers were planning to start Samuel Ersson in goal for this game but had to go with Fedotov when Ersson came up with a lower-body injury, as did center Sean Couturier.
Fedotov entered the game coming off his best game of the season, a 2-1 shootout win at Tampa Bay last Thursday after losing his first three decisions on the schedule.
The goaltender had a standout first period. At the morning skate, Tortorella said Fedotov was sounder positionally in his previous start against the Lightning, which may have been the reason why he got the start over Aleksei Kolosov.
“You saw in the last game there wasn’t a lot of extra movement,” Tortorella said. “He just looked different to me. Again, I’m not going to sit here and talk about technique. I don’t know enough about the position. He just looked more confident and I really thought the compete level was higher than the other games.”
The Flyers got off to a quick start as Travis Sanheim fired a shot through an unintentional-screening Jake Sanderson and past Ullmark at 2:31.
Ottawa countered at 6:02 with Brady Tkachuk finishing off a set-up in the slot.
Philadelphia was outshot by a 17-3 margin in the first period and felt fortunate to come out with a 1-1 tie.
Brink was all smiles after the game. He and Richard had quite a night.
“We stayed within our structure and came out with one,” he said. As for his own performance, he added, “You are going to go times without points and you’re going to have games where you’re going to have a couple. Working hard and trying to battle, doing what you can control, that’s how I look at it.”
Sanheim had a goal, two assists and was a plus-3. He finished up with more than 28 minutes of playing time as usual.
“I thought he (Fedotov) was awesome,” Sanheim said. “I think he was the main reason we win tonight. You look at the shot differential, we didn’t deserve to be in the game. He gave us a chance. I’m happy the guys found a way to win the game because of how well he did play.”
>Short shots
At the morning skate, Tortorella sounded like he was going to scratch Morgan Frost for a second straight game. Then Couturier was a no-go and Frost was put back in.
