Flyers beat Penguins again, this time in OT thanks to Hart, Couturier

The Flyers were in another tight game Monday night.

And they came out on the winning end again. They beat the Penguins, 2-1, in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center.

Sean Couturier scored the OT winner off a feed from Travis Konecny. Two days ago, Couturier scored the shootout winner to give the Flyers a 4-3 decision over Pittsburgh.

Tyson Foerster scored the other goal Monday night for the Flyers (13-10-2), who have gone past regulation in four of their last five games.

Meanwhile, four of the Flyers' last five victories have been decided by one goal and after regulation.

"I think if you look since the start of the year, we've matched up pretty well against any team," Couturier said. "We're confident in the way we play and we haven't backed down at all, even through some downs and adversity.

"I think we're starting to get more and more comfortable playing these kind of games where they're tight and we're managing them better. It's nice to see the growth in our team; we've just got to keep doing it."

The Flyers face the Penguins (11-10-3) two more times this season.

• For the second time in this home-and-home set against Pittsburgh, Foerster showed off his advanced shot.

The 21-year-old winger buried a game-tying goal from the circle in the second period.

"Those kind of scorers, once they get one, it just unblocks everything else," Couturier said. "You can see the confidence he has had for the last week or two. It's nice to see him grow because he's a big part of our team."

With four goals in the last three games for Foerster, it sure looks like his confidence is sky high right now.

"I think anytime you can score in this league, your confidence is going to rise," Foerster said.

• Carter Hart was locked in, recording 31 saves, two of them in OT.

The 25-year-old had some timely ones in the second period when the Flyers got stuck in their defensive zone for a long shift.

"When we couldn't get out of the end zone there for a few minutes, he made probably six or seven great saves," head coach John Tortorella said.

With under a minute to go in the first period, the Flyers gave up a 2-on-1 to the Penguins and Sidney Crosby finished it.

Travis Sanheim and Joel Farabee both pinched aggressively in the offensive zone, which left Cam York by himself in coverage.

"The first period, the hard one for me was just giving up something in the last minute," Tortorella said. "I don't think we played that well and then we give up another odd-man rush. But then we found ourself."

Pittsburgh backup Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 31 of the Flyers' 33 shots.

The 27-year-old turned away two Konecny breakaways over the first two periods. He also robbed Farabee with about two minutes left in the second period of a 1-1 game.

• The Flyers' penalty kill was huge yet again. It went 3 for 3 and is 35 for 37 over the last 11 games.

• The Flyers were set to have Rasmus Ristolainen run the point on their second power play unit. The club wants to allocate minutes on its back end a little more evenly.

Sanheim came in playing just under 26 minutes per game and Sean Walker 21:16. York recently took over Walker's power play role, while Ristolainen was going to hop on the second unit for Sanheim.

However, the Flyers went on only one power play Monday night. It came with 5:17 minutes left in the third period and it turned to 4-on-4 only 54 seconds into it because of a penalty.

"We're monitoring the amount of time Walks gets and Sanny," Tortorella said at morning skate. "We may give Sanny a few minutes off the power play. I think there have been some struggles with him there and just to get him down a couple of minutes, too."

Sanheim assisted Couturier's OT winner and finished with 27:43 minutes.

"Back-to-back wins against that team, they've got a lot of skill on that side," Sanheim said. "Credit to the guys in here and we've got to keep this thing going."

Egor Zamula was a healthy scratch for the fourth time in the last six games.

Recently, Tortorella and assistant coach Brad Shaw have liked the experience and length of Ristolainen and Marc Staal on the third defensive pair, especially late in close games.

"Z has been up and down and has struggled a little bit; we're going to still go with him," Tortorella said at morning skate. "When you're trying to win the game — and we've had that discussion, developing and winning — I think Shawsy can rely on them and not kind of hold his breath with a young defenseman still developing in those situations."

• Louie Belpedio was placed on waivers Monday. If the 27-year-old defenseman goes unclaimed, he'll report to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.

Belpedio was rock solid in 12 games for the Flyers. He had two goals, two assists, 18 blocked shots and a plus-6 rating. The Flyers know they can rely on him if injuries hit their defensive group again.

While Belpedio isn't a prospect or homegrown talent, the Flyers called him up in October based on merit.

"If I'm a young defenseman down there in Lehigh, I am pissed off that Louie's here and played as many games as he did," Tortorella said last Friday. "But that's the way it's going to work — it's not going to be given to you. A couple of people lost an opportunity. Louie's a veteran guy, he's kind of in between, but he also showed us that he can give us some games, too, when we don't think some other guys are ready."

The Flyers now have seven defensemen and they'll be calling up a forward to give them an extra for the upcoming trip.

• The Flyers depart Tuesday for their three-game road swing, which starts Thursday against the Coyotes at Mullett Arena.

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