Canucks survive Flyers’ rally

VANCOUVER 5 PHILADELPHIA 4 (SO)

PHILADELPHIA — With a raucous Philly crowd against them, and a third-period collapse still raw, the Vancouver Canucks pulled themselves together and believed the best was still ahead.

“It’s a rocking building, we’re on the road, anything could happen,” forward J.T. Miller said.

How does a shootout win two nights after losing in one sound?

Elias Pettersson and Miller scored shootout goals and Vancouver scored four times in the second period to lead the Canucks past the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 on Friday night.

Travis Konecny and Claude Giroux scored over the final 2:17 of regulation in the Flyers’ season opener that tied it 4-all and sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy.

Vancouver won its first game of the season after dropping a shootout to Edmonton in its opener.

“I don’t think we felt like they took the life back,” Miller said. “Anything can happen once you get to overtime. We did it to a team two nights ago. It’s part of the game.”

Vasily Podkolzin scored his first NHL goal and Alex Chiasson also had one against Carter Hart in the second period. Chiasson’s one-year deal in Vancouver came with $750,000 — but no spellcheck. His jersey had the i and a flipped, spelling his name “Chaisson.” He showed grit playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the misspelled one on the back. Pettersson and Miller also scored in the second.

Thatcher Demko couldn’t hold the lead for the Canucks.

Konecny scored with 2:17 left make it 4-3 and the Flyers then pulled Hart for the extra attacker. The moved worked when Giroux beat Demko for their second goal in 1 minute, 5 seconds and tied the game.

Until then, the Canucks looked at home in their first game in the United States since March 1, 2020, and pounced on Hart in an abysmal second period.

Once considered the franchise goalie, the 23-year-old Hart couldn’t shake last season’s regression in this one’s opener. Hart was absolutely lost when he lost a puck that rested against his skate, allowing Miller to poke it in for a 4-2 lead. The Flyers were booed off the ice to end the period and the early returns on a Hart rebound weren’t promising.

“You’re going to get a lot of bounces that don’t go your way. We got a couple of bounces to go our way at the end,” Hart said.

The Canucks lost their opener but ended the Flyers’ streak of five straight wins in their first game of the season. Philadelphia overhauled its roster in the offseason, trading for Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen and signing Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard. The Flyers also signed backup goaltender Martin Jones and traded for forward Cam Atkinson.