The Philadelphia Flyers were set to compete in the final game of their four-game homestand against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. The Flyers previously shut out the Anaheim Ducks 6-0 Saturday night. In recent seasons, the orange and the black always seem to play competitive hockey against the Panthers. The Panthers came into this matchup on the back of a 4-3 OT loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
The lines stayed the same as Sam Ersson was between the pipes, and Joel Farabee didn’t draw back into the lineup.
Flyers vs Panthers game recap
The First frame was ugly for Philadelphia as a team. Sam Reinhart got the Panthers on the board with a short-handed goal nearing the eight-minute mark of the period. Less than two minutes later, Uvis Balinskis gave Florida a 2-0 lead. Both goals were preventable as Ersson looked off with his position in the net. However, the Flyers were able to escape the second half of the first frame, with Florida outshooting Philadelphia 8-7 up 2-0.
The second frame started with many attempts from Philadelphia by Couturier and Ristolainen. However, Bobrovsky denied both. This was a strong start and the aggressiveness led to reward. Garnet Hathaway started scoring for Philadelphia, scoring the lone goal in the second period. Originally, the goal was given to Ryan Poehling but later credited to Hathaway. After a back-and-forth period, the Flyers trailed by one.
The final frame was some of the best Flyers hockey that’s been played in a long time. Barkov got sent to the box for a two-minute tripping minor. The Flyers entered the contest 28th in the league on the power play, which didn’t help as Reinhart was able to get a short-handed goal earlier in the game. However, Noah Cates was able to capitalize on the power play and get the puck behind Bobrovsky, making this a tie game at 2-2.
It didn’t take long for the Panthers to regain the lead as Couturier got sent to the box for a two-minute hooking minor, leading to Reinhart scoring his second game goal on special teams.
The entire game felt like somebody was sent to the sin bin every other minute. Two minutes after Reinhart’s goal, the Flyers returned to the power play because Kulikov picked up a two-minute tripping minor. This time, Morgan Frost was able to reach the power play goal. Jamie Drysdale set it up beautifully for Frost could tip in the net. The Flyers now tied up the contest 3-3. They then got their first lead off the game from Noah Cates’ second goal, giving them a 4-3 win over the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Postgame reactions
After the contest, the two-goal scorer for Florida, Sam Reinhart, stated, “They (Flyers) were on our heels. That was the difference between the first and second period.” Evan Rodrigues, who recorded an assist, spoke on the loss, “Our start was good, and we were playing the right way, but it kind of got away from us.” It was evident the Panthers were aware that Philadelphia came out to play the second period with a lot of momentum, and it was one of those games they couldn’t figure out.
The first goal scorer for the Flyers, Garnet Hathaway, took his media available to praise Noah Cates. “I could stay here all night and talk about Noah (Cates) to you guys.” Hathaway gave Cates credit for his performance tonight, the teammate he is, and the work he puts in on and off the ice.
Travis Sanheim went on to talk about the newfound momentum the team found between the first and second frames. “We talked about it. We were happy with how we came out and how we played the first. Especially how we played the last game. – we started playing our game, and we get rewarded that way.”
Philadelphia gets back to action on Tuesday night when they play the Columbus Blue Jackets in a pair of back-to-back games. The Blue Jackets most recently came off of a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues Saturday. Puck drop is at 7 pm.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
