Flyers’ rally stuns Avalanche in third in critical wild card battle

The Philadelphia Flyers blew a lead to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third period on Tuesday night, giving up two goals in 1:04, one of them shorthanded.

It was a brutal loss. But at least they picked up a charity point.

The same can’t be said of the Colorado Avalanche, who gave up two goals in 19 seconds in the third period to lose in regulation to the Flyers, 4-2, on Thursday night. (Keep in mind they’re missing both Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene due to injury.)

First it was Radko Gudas, scoring another huge goal for the Flyers, his third in five games:

Then it was a terrible fumble of the puck by Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson along the boards, leading to a Flyers rush the other way. The Colorado defense lost any semblance of structure in the chaos, and Claude Giroux netted his 21st of the season for the 3-2 lead:

Ryan White was taken down with a clear shot at an empty net for the fourth goal.

The teams were tied entering the third period, but Colorado took the lead at 6:13 thanks to an awesome individual effort from Andreas Martinsen to set up John Mitchell.

So this doesn’t fall into the “blown games after leading after two periods” category for the Avalanche, who have lost six times in regulation (the most in the NHL this season) and twice more in overtime when leading entering the third.

Why this one hurts: The Minnesota Wild defeated the Calgary Flames to move to 83 points with seven games remaining, three more than the Avalanche, who have a game in-hand. But the teams have a Saturday night showdown in Minnesota that could have been for a wild-card lead change; now, it’s practically a must-win for the Avalanche.

The Flyers, meanwhile, moved to 85 points to continue their slim lead over the Detroit Red Wings (85 points) in the last wild card spot. Detroit has eight games remaining, while the Flyers have nine.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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