Flyers Rally To Beat Jets 4-3 In OT
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Rob Zepp made 25 saves in his NHL debut and Jakub Voracek scored 10 seconds into overtime, sending the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.
Voracek and linemate Claude Giroux forced a Dustin Byfuglien turnover behind the Winnipeg net, and Voracek slid the puck through Ondrej Pavelec's pads for his second goal of the game.
Marc Streit and Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Flyers, who rallied from a 3-1 deficit.
Matt Halischuk, Mathieu Perreault and Byfuglien had Winnipeg's goals. Pavelec made 19 saves.
The 33-year-old Zepp was promoted from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League due to an injury to starter Steve Mason. The Flyers say he is the oldest goaltender to win his NHL debut since 1926.
Zepp, who spent the previous seven seasons in Germany, had a sprawling toe save on Mark Scheifele late in the second period.
Lecavalier tied the game with 3:14 remaining when he sent a high shot over Pavelec's blocker after a failed clearing attempt by Winnipeg defenseman Jay Harrison.
The Jets played for a second game without their top four defensemen, all of whom are out until at least January. Byfuglien, who was moved back to his natural position on the blue line after starting the season as a forward, led the team with almost 27 minutes of ice time.
Voracek opened the scoring just 46 seconds into the game when he one-timed a pass from Giroux on a 2-on-1 rush for his 13th goal of the season. Voracek leads the NHL with 44 points, two better than Tyler Seguin of Dallas.
Halischuk's slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle made it 1-1 at 6:38 of the first. It was his first goal of the season.
Byfuglien then put the Jets in front 55 seconds later when he drove in from the right point, cut to the front of the net and shoveled the puck over Zepp's shoulder.
Winnipeg held a 17-9 shot advantage after the first period.
Perrault scored at 11:21 of the second, corralling the rebound from a Michael Frolik shot at the side of the net and putting it past Zepp to make it 3-1.
The Flyers had four minutes of power-play time late in the frame, but couldn't find the net.
Streit's point shot through traffic beat Pavelec to the stick side with 13:54 remaining.
The Flyers thought they had scored early in the third period when Chris VandeVelde's shot beat Pavelec and the referee declared it a goal. But a video review showed the puck hit the crossbar and came straight down without crossing the goal line.
NOTES: Philadelphia was coming off a 7-4 win at Toronto on Saturday night. It improved to 2-0 on an eight-game road trip. ... The Jets alternated goalies for the 13th straight game. Rookie Michael Hutchinson leads the NHL with a .940 save percentage and a goals-against average of 1.73.
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