Michkov scores two goals, including overtime winner, as Flyers beat Rangers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW YORK — The Flyers rallied from a 2-0 deficit Thursday night to pick up a 3-2 win over the Rangers in overtime at Madison Square Garden.
Matvei Michkov buried the game-winner with his second goal of the night.
“He had some confidence yesterday,” Rick Tocchet said. “He’s getting some confidence here.”
This was the 19th overtime for Tocchet’s club. The Flyers improved to 3-8 in OT and 8-11 after regulation.
Trevor Zegras scored the Flyers’ other goal. It was his 21st of the season and it tied the game at 2-2 just 39 seconds into the third period.
“We’ve done it all year where we’ve had some slow starts, give up the first goal and just keep battling back,” Travis Konecny said.
The Flyers (26-21-11) split their back-to-back set out of the Olympic break. They fell Wednesday night to the Capitals, 3-1.
They were able to capitalize on a Rangers (22-29-7) team that is retooling. The Flyers improved to 1-1-1 against New York this season. The clubs have one more meeting in a week and a half at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
• Samuel Ersson converted 23 saves on 25 shots.
He had a huge stop in overtime as the Flyers were on the penalty kill. Michkov was in the penalty box for a tough goalie interference penalty. He was making a play to the net late in regulation.
New York’s game-opening goal in the first period was one Ersson definitely wanted back.
“I think after letting that goal in, him digging in, I think he should have a lot of confidence,” Tocchet said. “We told him, that’s going to happen, those goals like that.”
Sam Carrick threw a shot from the side boards that squeaked through the Flyers’ goaltender. It was a bad one for Ersson, who was pretty sharp at puck drop. He made an outstanding stop on Adam Fox just 27 seconds into the action.
“He was fantastic,” Zegras said. “The save that he made on Fox in the first four minutes, the penalty kill in overtime — he was amazing.
“When that first one goes in, he made so many ridiculous saves that, like, it didn’t even matter.”
The Rangers extended their lead to 2-0 early in the second period. The Flyers had a defensive breakdown when they left Alexis Lafreniere alone in the slot.
But Michkov, Zegras and the Flyers chipped away. Michkov drew them to within 2-1 a little over halfway through the game with a power play goal.
“He had two big goals for us,” Konecny said. “Obviously the overtime one, but I thought the first one was a timely one. It kind of helped us calm down and get us back into it. He’s playing great, he looked fast, he looked confident with the puck.”
New York netminder Igor Shesterkin stopped 21 of the Flyers’ 24 shots.
More: Michkov says he has same goal as Tocchet, but admits ‘new role’ has been adjustment
• With 24 games left and three more to go before next Friday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, the Flyers are eight points back of the third-place Islanders in the Metropolitan Division race.
“All playoff type of games for us,” Zegras said. “We have to do something special down the stretch to get in and we all know that.”
Before the season, the Flyers didn’t want to be in selling mode come the deadline. And while they’re not expected to be major sellers, you’ve got to think they might look to subtract a piece or two.
“We talked to the players today, we want to give people reasons to keep people together, to stay here,” Tocchet said before the game. “I’ve been in the game for 40 years, if you want to be together, then play harder and things like that. That’s the message.”
• The Flyers showed some resolve.
“I thought it was a gutsy effort,” Tocchet said.
This was their 16th comeback, with six of them coming in the third period.
“We’ve been in a lot of these type of games, close games,” Tocchet said. “It’s a big two points for us.”
They badly needed some of their top offensive weapons to start delivering and those guys did.
“To get Matvei and Zegras to score, that’s big for us,” Tocchet said. “We need those guys to score for us.”
• After being a healthy scratch for the last six games, Emil Andrae drew back into the lineup for Noah Juulsen.
The 24-year-old defenseman was solid in third-pair minutes.
• The Flyers are back in action Saturday when they welcome the Bruins (3 p.m. ET/ABC).
“A bunch of must-wins, we’ve got to make up some ground,” Noah Cates said. … “Just huge games everywhere.”
