After going twenty rounds with the Capitals on Tuesday night, the Florida Panthers only needed six to dispose of the Philadelphia Flyers at the sold out Wells Fargo Center. The Cats got goals in skills competition from Brandon Pirri (first round) and Dave Bolland to take a 2-1 decision.
After having an early Sean Begernheim goal waved off, the Panthers opened the scoring midway through the first when Tomas Kopecky‘s shot was stopped by Steve Mason and the rebound went in off Scottie Upshall, who was crashing the net. Dylan Olsen picked up the second assist on Upshall’s fourth of the season.
In an all too common occurrence, Florida couldn’t add to their lead and Philadelphia tied in the game at the 4:07 mark of the second period. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare found Jakub Voracek open in the slot and he easily beat Roberto Luongo for his twelfth goal. Voracek also scored the Flyers only goal in the shootout.
The low-scoring, but exciting game tightened up in the third period, with just a combined 12 shots on goal.
In overtime, the Flyers had the better of the chances. Luongo made nice stops on Mark Streit, Matt Read and Andrew MacDonald to get the Cats to the shootout.
Bolland ended the game in the sixth round, calmly skating down the middle of the ice and beating Mason with a wrist shot low.
Odds & Ends
- Roberto Luongo made 25 saves in regulation in overtime to raise his record to 12-6-6. Steve Mason turned aside 31 shots in just his third career loss to the Panthers.
- The loss dropped the Flyers to 0-5 in shootouts this season. The last time Philadelphia won one was December 30, 2013.
- The Florida defense was active with Brian Campbell, Aaron Ekblad and Willie Mitchell each registering four shots on goal.
- Jakub Voracek’s goal tied him with Tyler Seguin and Evgeni Malkin for the NHL scoring lead with 38 points.
- The win gave the Panther sole possession of the Eastern Conference’s second wild card slot, one point ahead of Boston and two ahead of the New York Rangers, who have a game in hand.
- The Panthers are now 12-2-8 in games decided by a one goal.
- Visit Broad Street Hockey for more on the Cats latest triumph.