PHILADELPHIA _ The Flyers were badly outplaying Columbus Saturday night, but their modest two-game winning streak appeared to be ending because Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo was, in hockey parlance, standing on his head.
And then a late-two goal deficit _ and the game _ took a stunning turn when Shayne Gostisbehere's blast deflected off the Blue Jackets' Nick Foligno to get the Flyers within 4-3. That started a shocking ending in which the Flyers scored five goals in the final 9 minutes, 8 seconds.
The 4-2 deficit turned into a 7-4 Flyers victory at the percolating Wells Fargo Center.
"It was huge," Gostisbehere said of his first goal of the season. "It was a big one for the boys and one of the biggest things was how we responded. Down two goals in the third and maybe in some past years we would have folded and gave that one away, but it was a big character win."
Less than two minutes after Gostisbehere's goal, James van Riemsdyk's second tally of the night tied it at 4 with 7:23 left. Kevin Hayes then scored on a short-handed breakaway with 5:38 remaining, sparking the Flyers to a had-to-see-it -to-believe-it victory that ended the dazed Blue Jackets' six-game point streak.
The late outburst increased the Flyers' winning streak to three games.
Van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to pace the Flyers, who iced the win on Mike Raffl's empty-net goal with 1:39 left. With 13.3 seconds remaining, Travis Konecny added a power-play goal.
Third-line center Boone Jenner scored a pair of goals for Columbus, which was outshot, 46-26.
Josh Anderson gave the Columbus a 4-2 lead with 17:45 left in regulation.
The Flyers had tied it at 2-2 with just 2:21 left in the second as van Riemsdyk (power play) scored for the second straight game. Just 25 seconds later, Columbus retook the lead when Jenner scored after Brian Elliott was unable to control a rebound
Earlier in the period, Pierre-Luc Dubois' fourth goal in his last four road games put Columbus ahead, 2-1, with 17:32 remaining in the second.
Five seconds after a penalty to Sean Couturier ended _ he had yet to get into the play _ Dubois was allowed to come in alone from the end line, and he beat Elliott. Defenseman Robert Hagg appeared to miss the coverage.
Couturier (short-handed) and Matt Niskanen were stopped by Korpisalo on second-period breakaways. Niskanen went in alone after he left the penalty box. Late in the second, Korpisalo also denied Joel Farabee, who was alone in front, and he made a sliding save to turn aside Konecny with 55 seconds to go in the period.
Flyers left winger Scott Laughton took a puck off his right hand early in the second period and did not return to action. Raffl took his spot on the third line.
Both goalies gave up bad goals in a first period that ended tied at 1-1.
Columbus tied the score at 1-all when Jenner took a pass from Sonny Milano, and scored from what looked like an impossible angle. From beyond the end line to Elliott's right, he put a shot to the short side that hit Elliott's back and went into the net with 2:34 left in the first.
About 2 { minutes earlier, Jake Voracek had given the Flyers a brief 1-0 lead as he scored from deep inside the left circle, putting a shot past Korpisalo to the short side. Zach Werenski couldn't reach Seth Jones' pass behind the net and van Riemsdyk picked up the puck and fed Voracek (two points).
The Flyers started a string in which they will play 14 straight games against Eastern Conference opponents. They play the Islanders Sunday night in Uniondale, and Carter Hart will get his first start in the last four games.
