The Florida Panthers saw its six-game winning streak come to end when Garnet Hathaway scored with 22 second remaining in regulation time.
After feeding Noah Cates behind the net, an unmarked Hathaway potted the rebound of former Panther Marc Staal’s shot from the left point after Cates sent the puck off the boards back to the veteran defenseman.
The Flyers opened the scoring ten seconds into the middle frame when Ryan Poehling took a pass from Cam York and cut in from the left side to go by a flat-footed Aaron Ekblad and beat Sergei Bobrovsky upstairs. Not the way to start a period… Travis Sanheim was credited with the secondary assist.
Gustav Forsling, who inked an 8-year, $46 million extension earlier in the day, notched Florida’s only goal 6:12 later. Forsling snapped a shot through traffic to pick up his tenth of the season, with the assists going to Ekblad and Anton Lundell.
Unfortunately, that was it for the Cats offensively, despite finishing with 30 shots on goal. As he did in Florida’s last loss at Amerant Bank Arena on February 6, Samuel Ersson held the Panthers to a single tally and Philadelphia away with another 2-1 victory. The Panthers will get one more crack on March 24 in the City of Brotherly Love.
Lift & Drag
- In addition seeing its six-game winning streak halted, as mentioned above, the Panthers lost for the first time on home ice in just over a month, a span of six games.
- Newly acquired Vladimir Tarasenko made his Florida debut and finished the game with two shots on goal, two hits and a block in 15:09 of ice time.
- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 of 26 shots and held the opposition to two goals or less for the 12th straight start. Some goal support would’ve been nice.
- Garnet Hathaway’s late goal was his first game-winner of the season. Hathaway also registered a game-high six shots on goal and garnered First Star honors.
- The line of Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe were on the ice for both Philadelphia goals.
- For more on the Flyers second win over the Panthers this season, stroll down Broad Street Hockey.