'Ghost' Lifts Flyers Over Predators 3-2 In Overtime
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Shayne Gostisbehere has had a week to remember.
For the second time in three games, he scored in overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers the win. On Friday, his power-play goal with 52 seconds left in the extra period lifted them a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators.
Gostisbehere one-timed Claude Giroux's pass from the slot past Pekka Rinne for his third goal of the season. On Monday, he scored 24 seconds into the extra session to give Philadelphia a 3-2 home win over Carolina.
"It's a fun ride right now, and I don't have any plans of getting off it," Gostisbehere said. "I've never scored that many OT winners in my life, so it's a surreal moment."
Colin McDonald and Michael Del Zotto also scored for Philadelphia, which won for just the fourth time in 16 games.
The Flyers gave up the tying goal to Michael Fisher with 20 seconds left in regulation. Philadelphia went on the power play when Nashville was called for too many men on the ice.
"I think we did a lot of things right tonight and we end up having to go to overtime," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "We did everything right in OT, too. We defended well, had some patience, generated a couple of scoring chances and took advantage of the power play."
Filip Forsberg also scored for Nashville, which ended this five-game road trip with a 1-3-1 record. The Predators finished with five goals in five games.
"It's all about the points obviously; three points is not good," Forsberg said. "We've been scoring a lot of goals during the year, but we lost three games in a row without a goal. It's not acceptable. It's been better the last two games, but any way you put it, it's not good enough if it's just five goals."
To force overtime, Forsberg took a shot from the left circle that bounced off of Michal Neuvirth, creating a scramble in the crease. Fisher poked at it and then, with Flyers' Nick Schultz sprawling in the crease, lifted a shot over Neuvirth.
"Their guy made a real, good desperation play on the rebound," Hakstol said. "There's not a lot structurally we would change there."
It was the second goal in as many games for Fisher, who snapped an eight-game streak without a point while ending the Predators' 227-minute, 39-second scoreless drought in Wednesday's 3-2 win at Buffalo.
"It was a big goal for us at the time; we were pressing at the end," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "It was good to get the extra goal and get to overtime to get a point."
McDonald scored on a rebound with 15:03 left in the game. Evgeny Medvedev, a healthy scratch for the last six games, set up the goal by firing the puck toward the net from the point. Rinne made the initial stop, but McDonald spun around and converted his first goal of the season.
Flyers backup Neuvirth made 33 saves to improve to 5-3-1 this season and 3-0-1 in four career starts against Nashville.
Nashville set a club record by getting shut out in three straight games to start this road trip, but the Predators needed just 44 seconds to get on the board.
Forsberg took Mike Ribeiro's back-handed pass from behind the net and fired it past Neuvirth from the slot.
Philadelphia has been having its own scoring woes, entering last in the league averaging 1.73 goals per game. But the Flyers quickly answered Forsberg.
Del Zotto scored his first goal of the season on a stellar wrist shot from the left circle that whizzed over the glove of Rinne and just under the crossbar to tie the score at 1 with 16 minutes left in the first period. It was the Flyers' first even-strength goal in 264 minutes, 20 seconds.
Friday's contest was the 1,300th game in franchise history for the Predators, who became the 27th club to reach the mark.
Notes: Philadelphia has scored more than one goal in just 12 of its 23 games this season. ... Prior to Del Zotto's goal, Giroux's third-period goal against Los Angeles on Nov. 17 was Philadelphia's last 5-on-5 score. ...Philadelphia plays its third game in four days on Saturday afternoon at the Rangers. ... Prior to the game, the Flyers recalled C Nick Cousins from Lehigh Valley and demoted Taylor Leier. ... The teams will complete their two-game regular-season series on Feb. 4 in Nashville. ... Besides scoring, McDonald fought Barret Jackman with 9:35 left in the third period.
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