Flyers win final home game 4-3 in overtime against Blue Jackets

In front of a thin crowd, the Flyers played their final home game of the season, winning, 4-3, in overtime in a topsy-turvy performance against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

The Blue Jackets, who have more to gain by losing as they fight for the most balls in the draft lottery, came out with more fire and jumped to a 2-0 lead. After Carter Hart failed to control the rebound on Carson Meyer’s shot, Liam Foudy beat Ivan Provorov to the puck and scored halfway into the first. Three minutes later, all the Flyers followed the puck to the right, and Trey Fix-Wolansky took advantage, scoring from the left circle.

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With five minutes left in the first, Joel Farabee scored off Travis Konecny’s net front pass, and, less than a minute later, James van Riemsdyk tied it with a shot from the right faceoff circle.

The Flyers started the second way faster. In the first 47 seconds, Owen Tippett scored on the remainder of a power play from the first period. The Blue Jackets emerged with the man advantage after a series of penalties in the third, and Sean Kuraly deflected in a shot on the power play to tie it, 3-3.

The game went to overtime, and Tippett scored the game winner in the final 15.5 seconds.

With a giant green smile, van Riemsdyk celebrated his 300th career NHL goal while his best friend on the team, Scott Laughton, ran and saved the puck for him.

“He was pretty quick in there,” van Riemsdyk said with a laugh. “It was nice to share that moment with him. That’s definitely something I’ll look back on really fondly when my career’s over.”

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The entire team was excited for van Riemsdyk and honored to be a part of the milestone. Assistant coach Rocky Thompson, who ran the bench, laughed about the way he reached it.

“The way he scored it, kind of a knuckle puck,” Thompson said. “He scored so many goals in so many different ways, and he’s always kind of around the net, so it’s kind of ironic that he ended up scoring a perimeter goal like that.”

Van Riemsdyk started his career with the Flyers. He was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs but decided to return to the Flyers in free agency. His current contract is expiring, and it’s unlikely he’ll return to the Flyers, with whom he spent eight years. Ahead of the season, Flyers senior adviser Dean Lombardi told van Riemsdyk where he stood in terms of milestones, but with injuries and “snakebitten” stretches, he wasn’t quite sure he’d make it. It ultimately came down to the final two games.

“Excited to get it here in Philly,” van Riemsdyk said. “And that was a cool reception from the fans.”

Farabee dragged the Flyers back into the game after a lackluster start. Rushing up the ice while the rest of his team changed, Farabee was stopped on his shot. He still made a great pass to the undefended front of the net, but no one was there. On his next shift, though, he scored off a similar play. Travis Konecny passed it from behind the net, and Farabee beat Michael Hutchinson through the five-hole.

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With less than a minute remaining in the first, Farabee went on another rush. This time, he was stopped by a crosscheck, giving the Flyers the power play they turned into a goal. By the end of the second, Farabee had generated half of the Flyers best chances. He finished regulation with the most shots on goal (6).

“There was a process for him,” Thompson said. “He kind of went down a little bit and what I like about him is he’s a fighter. He fights, he’s competitive, he comes back out of those situations when he gets beat down. And now you can see his game starting to become a catalyst.”

Power plays didn’t last long Tuesday. The first two penalties called in the game canceled each other out. Shortly after they expired, Farabee drew another, but it was broken in half by intermission. Nonetheless, it was the only full power play for the Flyers, and they capitalized on it with Tippett’s goal to open the second.

At the end of the second, the Blue Jackets served a too many men penalty, but the Flyers wasted it, when, 16 seconds in, Konecny was called for hooking, sending it to another 4-on-4.

New call-up Adam Ginning was called for hooking in the third, but Kirill Marchenko committed a penalty to lose the Blue Jackets’ man-advantage. However, they gained it back for seven seconds after Cam York was called for hooking. The Blue Jackets scored on that power play.

The Flyers play their season finale in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Thursday (8:30 p.m., NBCSP).