A fourth straight win eluded the Flyers again as they suffered a 5-4 overtime loss Thursday night to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
The Flyers had leads of 3-0 and 4-2, but couldn't nail them down.
Matvei Michkov gave the Flyers both of those leads in the second period and finished with a team-high three points.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Erik Karlsson countered Michkov's second goal before Evgeni Malkin tied things up in the third period and then won the game in overtime. Michkov and Travis Konecny appeared to get lost in coverage on Malkin's OT winner.
The Flyers (26-26-8) had a three-game winning streak snapped for a fourth time this season. They haven't won more than three straight in over a calendar year. The last time they did was Feb. 6-12 of last season, when they won four in a row.
With 22 games left, John Tortorella's club is six points back of the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot and has five teams ahead of it.
The Flyers went 2-1-1 against the Penguins (24-28-9) in their regular-season series.
Philadelphia Flyers
Find the latest Philadelphia Flyers news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Philadelphia.
• Garnet Hathaway's exit in the second period felt like it could have been a turning point for the Flyers.
The veteran winger was forced out of the game after his head slammed to the ice from a blindsided hit by Bokondji Imama. Interference was called on Imama and Michkov scored on the ensuing power play to make it 4-2.
The Flyers restored order and had some anger from the hit on Hathaway.
But they didn't build on that response.
• Samuel Ersson gave up more than three goals for just the third time since Christmas.
He made 20 saves on 25 shots.
Karlsson had two goals on shots from the outside. Ersson probably could have stopped the second one. It was a killer, too, because it drew Pittsburgh within one before the third period, giving it a much better chance at coming back.
The Flyers started the game very well. The Penguins didn't record their first shot until 14:40 minutes had already come off the clock.
Pittsburgh netminder Alex Nedeljkovic was pulled after Michkov's first goal, which had the Flyers up three 7:24 minutes into the second period.
The goalie switch sparked the Penguins. Joel Blomqvist stopped 21 of 22 shots to record the victory in relief.
• Noah Cates and Owen Tippett scored the Flyers' other goals.
Cates tied his career high of 13. Tippett has four goals in three games out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
Michkov has led the Flyers in scoring since the break with eight points (three goals, five assists) to go along with a plus-6 mark.
• The Flyers head to Winnipeg, Manitoba for a matchup Saturday with the NHL-leading Jets (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | Youtube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube