Michkov scores in OT, Flyers rally past Senators

OTTAWA -- Matvei Michkov scored with 55 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Philadelphia Flyers rallied with three straight goals for a 5-4 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

“It’s the National Hockey League at its best,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “You play as bad as we did and then come out a winner. I just … I have no idea.”

Michkov scored on a sharp-angled shot from the goal line at 4:05 after Philadelphia goalie Ivan Fedotov stretched across to stop a one-timer from Shane Pinto with his right pad at 1:56.

“It’s just a standard procedure, going down there thinking that [the hole] is closed off, and for some unknown reason it goes in,” Senators goalie Linus Ullmark said of Michkov’s goal. “I can’t tell you how it goes in or why it goes in. Probably, if I were to do that 100 more times, I would do exactly the same thing. So, I was just as shocked as everybody else in the building that it actually went in.”

Travis Sanheim had a goal and two assists, and Travis Konecny, Bobby Brink and Anthony Richard each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (7-8-2), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games and had gone to a shootout in each of their previous three. Fedotov made 33 saves.

“It was a tough game for us,” Fedotov said. “We played the first half of the game not that good, but we kept fighting. Everybody stopped the puck, like, blocked shots and played in some moments simple but smart and scored in some important moments.”

Josh Norris had a goal and an assist, and Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson scored for the Senators (8-7-1), who had won two in a row. Ullmark allowed five goals on 19 shots.

“Not his best,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said of Ullmark’s performance. “We’ve been playing well here for three games. You hate to lose a game like that where you dominated in a lot of areas for most of the night. Tough game for Linus as far as he’s got seven shots after, I don’t know, like, 35 minutes. Those are not easy games for the goalie.”

Norris gave the Senators a 3-2 lead at 4:27 of the third with a wrist shot from the left face-off dot.

Adam Gaudette extended it to 4-2 at 10:05, making a move to the inside and putting a backhand over Fedotov’s glove in tight for a power-play goal.

Richard cut it to 4-3 at 10:42 with a one-timer on the rush. Brink then tied it 4-4 at 12:45 after the rebound of Richard's shot went in off his skate.

“We chased the puck the whole game, and I think in the third period, other than the goals they scored, we played really well,” Richard said. “We put them on their heels by flipping some pucks in the neutral zone, which was the game plan at first. We got some lucky bounces and ‘Michy’ closed it in overtime. I don’t think we deserve that win, but we deserved it the way we played in the third period.”

Ottawa outshot Philadelphia 37-19.

“I thought [Fedotov] was awesome; probably the main reason we win tonight,” Sanheim said. “You look at the shot differential; we didn’t deserve to be in the game, and he gave us a chance. I’m happy that the guys found a way to win the game for him because of how well he did play back there for us.”

Sanheim gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 2:31 of the first period with a one-timer from the right point that snuck under Ullmark’s right pad.

Tkachuk tied it 1-1 at 6:02, scoring with a wrist shot five-hole on Fedotov off a centering pass from Norris.

“Some unfortunate goals that I’d like to have back, but I thought we battled through, and I think that we deserved two points tonight,” Ullmark said.

Batherson put the Senators back ahead 2-1 at 8:41 of the second period, scoring a power-play goal on a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Tim Stutzle.

“We just started really slow and they’re a high-volume type of team and they’re just really good in the O-zone,” Richard said. “We struggled to find our legs at the beginning of the game, and I think when you’re chasing that much in the first period, you kind of lose your energy and your legs and the other team is building on that.”

Konecny tied it 2-2 at 18:48. He took a stretch pass from Noah Cates and beat Ullmark with a snap shot glove side on a breakaway.

“It’s obviously not our best,” Sanheim said. “I think any time you can get two points out of not playing a good hockey game, you’ll take it and move on. We’ll get ready for a homestand that we’ve got to be good at. It’s learning lessons, areas we need to be better at.”

NOTES: Michkov (19 years, 341 days) is the youngest player in Flyers history to score an overtime goal, passing the mark previoulsy set by Nolan Patrick (20 years, 136 days on Feb. 2, 2019). Michkov is also the first rookie in the NHL to score an overtime goal this season. … Philadelphia last earned a multigoal, third-period comeback win on Jan. 12, 2024 (4-3 at the Minnesota Wild in overtime).