The Philadelphia Flyers completed an incredible three-goal comeback against the Florida Panthers in the second period of last night’s contest. However, Philly watched the game slip away in the final regulation period as the defending Stanley Cup Champs skated out of the Wells Fargo Center with a 7-5 win. The loss snaps a three-game losing streak for the Flyers, who suddenly find themselves in a wild-card playoff position after strong play throughout November after a disastrous opening month in October.
Florida Takes Advantage of Flyers Slow Start
Philadelphia entered the contest against Florida fully rested following a four-day break in the NHL schedule that typically isn’t found during the normal course of an NHL season. Florida arrived in Philly following a 5-4 OT loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, which aligns more with the typical every-other-night-game schedule teams encounter.
Therefore, most people weren’t surprised when Philly started slow, allowing two Florida goals in the first seven minutes of the contest. Ivan Fedotov started for Philly, allowing a brutal first goal against a bad turnover from Tyson Foerster that sent Evan Rodrigues on a breakaway against the Flyers’ Russian netminder for a 1-0 Panthers lead. Four minutes later, Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola ripped a laser of a shot to the top corner that beat Fedotov for a 2-0 Panthers lead that the reigning Champs took into the first intermission.
Flyers Strike Back with 4-goal Second Period
Goaltender Alexei Kolosov replaced Ivan Fedotov on the net to start the second period of action. Flyers Associate Coach Brad Shaw spoke about the goalie change after the game. “It didn’t immediately help us,” Shaw said. “It ended up being something that, you know, got us back into the game eventually.”
Florida’s Captain Aleksander Barkov provided the first goal of the middle frame for a 3-0 Florida advantage. The Flyers had things evened up by the end of the period. Tyson Foerster started scoring on the Power Play at 7:17 of the second period, helping to redeem himself for his first-period snafu. Two minutes later, Nick Seeler ripped a shot above the glove of Panthers goalie Spencer Knight to trip the lead in at 3-2. Florida’s powerplay struck a little more than half past the midway point of regulation on a Carter Verhaeghe goal, with the man advantage extending the lead back to 4-2.
With under three minutes left in the second period, Owen Tippett scored twice in under thirty seconds to tie the score at 4-4 heading into the intermission break. Matvei Michkov assisted on both Tippett goals, increasing his rookie-leading point total to 22 points. Dallas Stars forward Logan Stankoven sits in second place for NHL freshman with 17 points this season.
Panthers Crush Flyers Dreams with Late Third Period Goals
The Flyers scored first in the third period, taking their first lead at 5-4 on a rebound goal by Garnet Hathaway at 5:39. Unfortunately, they were unable to hold the lead late due to questionable officiating and poor decision-making. Joel Farabee took a late cross-checking infraction leading to Sam Reinhart’s NHL-leading 19th goal of the season on the ensuing man advantage for a 6-5 lead. Matthew Tkachuk hit the empty net to finish the scoring in a difficult-to-swallow 7-5 loss for Philadephia at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella did not speak following the game. Instead, Associate Coach Brad Shaw faced the media.
“At 3-0, I loved our ability to stay with it and find a way,” the Associate coach claimed. “Take that game and get it to 5-4 (Flyers lead), that’s a great sign. The fact that we don’t finish it off, that’s something we have to work on. That’s a part of being a team that’s not quite down the path as far as we’d like to be as a group… We just went up against a team that figured out a way to win the Stanley Cup. They’ve been in those scenarios and they’ve found ways to have success. Part of our growth as a group is finding ways (to win) in those games.”
Philadelphia faces another tough Atlantic Division challenger on Saturday afternoon. The Flyers travel north to Boston, Massachusetts, for a Saturday afternoon game at TD Garden. The Flyers (12-11-3) and Bruins (14-11-3) will drop the puck at 1 p.m. EST.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
