PHILADELPHIA _ The Flyers held '90s Night at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday, getting fans into a nostalgic mood as they showed video clips or photos of Austin Powers, Titantic, the Backstreet Boys, Saved by the Bell, pogs, and Full House, among others, on the scoreboard.
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim got into '90s the act.
He came disguised as Eric Desjardins.
Goal-less in 31 games dating back to last season, Sanheim jumped into the offense and scored two late goals in a 2:05 span to tie the game at 3.
No matter.
Defenseman Seth Jones scored 10 seconds into overtime to give Columbus a 4-3 win over the Flyers.
A poor 'read' by Ivan Provorov enabled Jones to be left alone.
The Flyers were badly outplayed in the first two periods but salvaged a point thanks to Sanheim's late heroics.
With 5:31 left in regulation, Sanheim took a pass from Jake Voracek and scored from deep into the right circle, knocking a shot off the crossbar and into the net to knot the game at 3-all.
Just the 2:05 earlier, he got the Flyers to within 3-2. Taking a slick feed from Claude Giroux (two points), Sanheim went in alone and beat Sergei Bobrovsky on a backhander.
For two-plus periods, the Flyers did little to impress Chuck Fletcher, watching his first game since he was named the eighth different general manager in franchise history.
They generated few quality scoring chances, didn't get into a rhythm because they committed five penalties in the first two periods.
But they regrouped in the third period.
New manager watching. Same lackluster start.
Columbus had a huge territorial edge, outshot the Flyers by a 12-5 margin, and built a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes.
The Flyers have led after the opening period just nine times in 26 games.
The Flyers jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Giroux finished a three-on-one with 14:02 left in the first, beating Bobrovsky by firing a shot into the upper-right corner. It was Giroux's 10th goal, tying Sean Couturier for the team lead.
Just 1:08 later, defenseman Seth Jones tied it off the rush, whipping a shot through the legs of Anthony Stolarz. The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Stolarz made amends, steadying himself and making several difficult saves before Columbus capitalized late in the period.
A botched clearing attempt led to a point drive by Jones that Brandon Dubinsky tipped past Stolarz, giving the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead with 1:52 remaining in the first.
The Flyers thought they had tied it with 1:12 to go in the first as Couturier's shot from beyond the goal line bounced off Jones and past Bobrovsky, but Columbus challenged the call. It worked. The video showed the Flyers' Travis Konecny was offside, so the goal was erased and the Blue Jackets took a 2-1 lead into the second period.
The Flyers' much-maligned penalty kill continued to make strides. The unit killed three penalties in the second period, making them 5 for 5 in the game and giving them 13 consecutive kills.
But the power play was out of sync. Again. It failed to capitalize on its first three power plays, and was 0 for 8 in its last eight games.
From the doorstep, Couturier had a golden power-play opportunity 55 seconds into the third. With an open net, Couturier shot the puck into Bobrovsky.
Less than three minutes later, Bobrovsky stopped Konecny as he tried to finish off a two-on-one with Giroux.
The missed chances looked critical as Boone Jenner gave Columbus a 3-1 lead with 14:45 left in regulation. Jenner sent a right-circle wrist shot past Stolarz, who may have been screened by defenseman Andrew MacDonald. (The goal was credited to Jenner but might be given to Josh Anderson, who may have deflected the shot.)
Entering the night, Columbus had won 15 of the last 21 meetings against the Flyers, including a 6-3 victory in October.
