Matvei Michkov plays the hero in the Flyers’ overtime win against the New York Rangers

NEW YORK ― It appears all of that on-ice time during the NHL’s break for the Winter Games paid off for Matvei Michkov.

He scored not only the Flyers’ first goal of the game, but also the overtime winner, redeeming himself after taking a penalty to put the Flyers on the kill at the end of regulation in a 3-2 win over the Rangers.

“He had two big goals,” Konecny said. “First, obviously the overtime one, but I thought the one he scored for us, you know, the first one, was a timely one that helped us calm down and get us back into it. He’s playing great. He looked fast.”

The Flyers were on the second leg of a back-to-back, and they looked it in the first period. The Rangers had them on their heels, dominating puck possession and smothering the Flyers’ breakout attempts.

But Sam Ersson held down the fort early, as the Flyers’ netminder made a few point-blank saves, including a high-danger shot from Adam Fox. But Sam Carrick flung a shot from along the boards at Ersson, and it slipped right through the five-hole, to put the Rangers up 1-0.

“We told him, that’s going to happen, those goals like that,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “I don’t know what happened. Whatever happened, happened, but he dug in there.”

Hathaway tried to spark the Flyers late in the first with a fight after taking a boarding penalty on Brennan Othmann. But coming out of the break, the Rangers added to their lead with an early goal from Alexis Lafrienière, who beat Noah Cates in front of the net to bury a pass from Will Cuylle.

The Flyers got one back on the power play from Michkov, who scored his 14th of the season and third power-play goal. They outshot the Rangers in the second period, 10-5.

And out of the second intermission, the Flyers kept that momentum going. Trevor Zegras sniped one over the shoulder of Igor Shesterkin under 40 seconds into the third period to tie the game at 2-2.

“The first 10 minutes of the first period, we were kind of running around, just giving them the puck, turnovers, and [Ersson] made a ton of great saves for us,” Zegras said. “But I thought after that, we settled in, less turnovers, and just played our game.”

Cates had two point-blank opportunities in front of Shesterkin late in the third to take the lead on the power play, but couldn’t bury either chance.

Michkov’s goaltender interference penalty put the Flyers at a disadvantage to open the extra period, and the situation was made even worse after Rasmus Ristolainen lost his stick late into the penalty kill.

Ersson’s season has been up-and-down this year, but despite the early soft goal, he made 23 of 25 saves, keeping the Flyers in it while they found their legs early in the first period and delivering in overtime.

“[Ersson] was fantastic, he was fantastic,” Zegras said. “The save he made on Fox in the first four minutes, the penalty kill in overtime, he was amazing ... When that first one goes in, he made so many ridiculous saves that it didn’t even matter.”

Ultimately, the Flyers still need to get as many points as possible. Still out of a playoff spot, Zegras said every game is like a playoff game for this group, and they’ll need more timely goals like the overtime winner from Michkov on the breakaway.

“The last 25, I guess yesterday 26, are all playoff-type games for us,” Zegras said. “We’ve got to do something special down the stretch to get in, and we all know that.”

Emil Andrae drew into the lineup for the first time since Jan. 26. He played 11 minutes and 50 seconds ... The Flyers have conceded the first goal 39 times this year in 58 games.

The Flyers return to action on Saturday against the Boston Bruins (3 p.m., 6ABC).