Flyers fall, 3-2, to Nashville in helter-skelter OT game

NASHVILLE ― Before Tuesday’s morning skate, Flyers head coach John Tortorella said, “We’ve been on the road it seems like a month.”

Well, it appears the road somewhat caught up with the Flyers, following a 3-2 overtime loss against the Nashville Predators.

In a long and winding NHL season, the Orange and Black saw their four-game winning streak come to an end, but still managed to pick up a point for the sixth-straight game. They also closed out a three-game road trip 2-0-1.

“Right now, mad that we didn’t get the extra point,” Travis Sanheim said. “Obviously, frustrating. Tough break at the end. We battled hard all night but big picture, really good road trip. We get five of six points against some pretty good road teams.”

After going down 2-0 early in the second period, the Flyers poured on the shots and had their chances on Tuesday night before finally breaking through on Predators netminder Juuse Saros with under 30 seconds remaining in the second period.

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It was inevitable when you put on 39 shots on goal.

Sean Couturier got the Flyers on the board just seconds after another successful penalty kill when a fresh-out-of-the-box Joel Farabee, who was serving an instigator minor for Nic Deslauriers, found Couturier for a bang-in goal at the right post.

“We weren’t frustrated at all throughout the night, and that’s a huge goal for us,” Tortorella said. “... Kill a penalty, and just the amount of chances we were getting and not coming away with anything it was important to at least cut it in half there going into the third.”

Sanheim would tie the game in the third period off a, pun intended, juicy rebound. Travis Konecny, who saw his two-game goal-scoring streak end, fired a shot that Saros kicked out toward Sanheim who had all the time in the world to bury the puck.

“That was just our message all night, that we just had to keep pushing,” Sanheim said about facing Saros. “You could tell early that he was feeling it a bit and sometimes you just got to continue and hope to break through. Erss held us in as well.”

Flyers goalie Sam Ersson was a calming presence once again for the Flyers. He made 19 saves on 22 shots and was solid in net, including facing an early power play after Tyson Foerster was called for slashing.

Per Natural Stat Trick, he faced seven high-danger chances in the first period with one goal coming off the stick of Gustav Nyquist on a deflection. In the second period, he allowed a goal to Michael McCarron that was off a broken play when a shot from the point by former Flyer Luke Schenn deflected to McCarron in the slot off Deslauriers.

In the overtime session, just 18 seconds in, he let up a goal to Filip Forsberg after the Predators star followed his own shot and knocked in the loose puck in the crease.

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“It was one of those, like kind of felt it trickle a little bit and I didn’t know if I had it or if I were to lay back and try to cover it,” Ersson said about the puck that squeaked under his arm before Forsberg banged it in. “Obviously, it’s one I’ve got to come up with I think. It hurts. We played such a good game.”

There were several scrambles between the pipes for Ersson, including a point in the first period when it seemed like every Flyers player was also in the net to help out their buddy. But he once again the 24-year-old kept his composure and, despite being a goalie who likes to see shots, stood up to the task when needed.

“He looks good back there,” Couturier said. “He made some big saves when we needed him. On the kill he’s a big part of our success. ... When you can trust your goalies like that, definitely makes things easier up front for us.”

The Flyers finished with 23 blocked shots — 14 of which came in the third period and four of those came in a 16-second span that included a big block by Desluariers on Forsberg that earned him some love from his teammates on the bench.

“We played well. I don’t have one problem with the team tonight,” Tortorella said. “Third period we sacrificed when they did have some in our end. We just ate pucks.”

Ersson added: “I think all goalies think it’s a little bit easier when you get to feel the puck more but I can’t complain. The guys are doing such a good job not allowing pucks to get to the net. So it’s definitely a tip of the hat to the guys in front of me.”

The Flyers’ power-play struggles were amplified in a game where the referees gave them plenty of chances to get on the board.

In the first period, they had three opportunities with the man advantage but couldn’t bury one past Saros. Across those six minutes, they had 13 shot attempts, including eight shots on goal.

“I dunno, I thought we had some good looks, we just didn’t finish tonight,” Couturier said. Compared to earlier in the year, we really struggled to just get anything going, I thought tonight we had some looks, just couldn’t finish.”

They had another chance in the third period and had some good looks but once again couldn’t find the back of the net. They had six shot attempts, including three shots on goal.

“We talked about it after the first period. We’ve seen [Saros] play and you can see when he’s locked in he’s a tough goalie to beat if he sees pucks,” Tortorella said. “So we tried to make an effort to get in front of him. Our power play had a couple of chances after the first period, had some screens. But he’s the difference.”

Ryan Poehling returned to the lineup after missing two games with an illness. ... The penalty kill continues to roll. The Flyers went 3-for-3 and have now killed off 16 straight across the past five games. ... The game in Nashville marked the start of the dad’s trip. The proud papas will now head to Philadelphia to cheer on the team at home.

The Flyers head home to face Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP).