Flyers cough up two-goal lead in loss to Columbus in OT Blue Jackets rally in third, Gaudreau wins it in OT

PHILADELPHIA – The visiting Columbus Jackets rallied from a 2-0 deficit on Thursday with a pair of goals in the third period to tie the game, 2-2, and force extra time.

Johnny Gaudreau  hit for the only goal in the skills competition to send the Blue Jackets to a 3-2 win over the Flyers.

Daniil Tarasov made 39 saves in the win.

Columbus moved to 13-19-8., he also stopped all three skaters on penalties.

“I thought he was outstanding tonight,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “The 5-on-3, guys in front of him did a good job, but at the end of the day, your goalie has to be your key player, especially in the 3-on-5 and he was really good from start to finish.”

Trailing 2-0 in the third, Columbus got within one at 2-1 off a strike by Damon Severson at 5:24.

“It was an ugly win,” Severson said. “We were not good for two periods, and then we found a way in the third to get something going there.”

Jake Bean forced the extra session when he tied the game, 2-2, midway through the third.

“I don’t think we necessarily played bad in the third, I just think we were trying to hold on instead of being aggressive,” the Flyers Joel Farabee said. “When you do that, teams are too good in this league, they’re going to get their chances. I feel like we’ve got to stay aggressive in the third there, keep the pressure on them and not try to sit back and win the game.”

The Flyers dropped 19-13-6.

Travis Konecny hit for a double for the Flyers.

His first of the match came at 17:12 of the opening stanza.

“We need to play with the 2-0 lead longer,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “That’s where I think you can grind a team. But we give up the first one too quickly. When they score the second, that’s where … prior to that, they had very few chances, but they piled them up after the second goal. You take a point and go home.”

Konecny hit for his double at 4:29 of the third for the 2-0 lead.

“We’ve had it done to us more than a few times this year, unfortunately,” Severson said. “Teams have come back from not only one, two goals but a lot more than that. So, tonight was one of those nights where we just found a way to come back, scratch and claw back and find a way to score two, get it to overtime and then skill takes over from there.”

Samuel Ersson made 26 saves in the loss..