Sanheim scores in OT, Flyers rally to edge Blues

PHILADELPHIA -- Travis Sanheim scored with 1:09 remaining in overtime and the Philadelphia Flyers rallied for a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Sanheim finished a 2-on-0 rush with Sean Couturier after Blues forward Brayden Schenn fell in the neutral zone.

"I was trying to rim it to 'TK' [Travis Konecny] at the red line," Sanheim said. "Their guy kind of got a stick on me and I fanned on it, so 'TK' was forced to come back, and he obviously makes a great play, sucking two guys to him and springs me on a breakaway."

Rodrigo Abols and Tyson Foerster scored, and Konecny had two assists for Philadelphia (10-6-3), which won for the second time in five games (2-1-2). Dan Vladar made 27 saves.

Justin Faulk scored two goals for St. Louis (6-9-6), which lost its fourth straight game (0-1-3). Joel Hofer made 25 saves.

"We're trying to scrape out two points," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "We haven't been able to. I liked our effort. I liked the way we're playing hard for each other. We've got to find ways to extend leads. We've got to find ways to close out games."

Faulk made it 1-0 at 5:31 of the first period with a one-timer from the right point through traffic.

The Blues went ahead 2-0 at 12:08 on Faulk's power-play goal from the top of the left face-off circle. Jake Neighbours, back after missing 12 games because of a right leg injury, had an assist on the goal.

It was the sixth straight game the Flyers trailed after one period, but the players never felt the game was out of reach.

"Not the start we wanted, but I didn't think we were ever out of it," Philadelphia defenseman Nick Seeler said. "I thought we were competitive the whole game. We were getting shots to the net in the first. I'm not sure what the shots were (12-9 Flyers), but we all had a feeling that it was going to come. [Abols] got us going there with a really nice shot, and I thought our forecheck was outstanding in the third, and we really put a lot of pressure on them.

"You could just feel it coming."

Abols made it 2-1 at 17:57 of the second when he scored from in front off a pass from behind the net by Owen Tippett. It was the forward's first goal of the season.

"Just a great play by those two guys (Tippett and Trevor Zegras)," Abols said. "'Z' I think with two, three guys there makes a low play; that's the kind of stuff we talk about every day, those low plays into support and have that triangle offense and I'm just the beneficiary of two great plays there."

Foerster tied the game 2-2 at 11:49 of the third period with a one-timer from the left face-off circle after Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae held a clearing attempt in at the blue line.

The Blues now are 0-6 in games that go past regulation; they had a lead in five of them.

"There's a lot to like about how we played tonight," Faulk said. "I thought we were pretty limiting, we were moving, we were competing. Energy was good. Just in that same situation we've got to find a way to seal it and whether that's keeping it a 2-1 game or getting an insurance goal there and having pressure that way. There's overtime opportunities, but in that situation, you've got a lead going in to the third period, you've got to find a way to close it out."

NOTES: It was Faulk's first two-goal game since Oct. 19, 2022. He now has 51 goals in 442 games with the Blues. ... Faulk also scored 85 goals in 559 games with the Carolina Hurricanes. He's third active defenseman with at least 50 goals for multiple franchises, joining Brent Burns (Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks) and Erik Karlsson (Sharks and Ottawa Senators). ... Foerster's goal was his first in four games after the forward missed four because of a lower-body injury. ... Tippett has six points (one goal, five assists) during a three-game point streak. ... Sanheim's goal gave him 220 career points, passing Shayne Gostisbehere for fifth-most all-time among Flyers defensemen.