The Florida Panthers returned from the All-Star Break with a thud, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena.
Florida was buzzing at the start. They outplayed the Flyers by a wide margin in the first period and took the lead at the 9:08 mark with Nick Seeler off for hooking.
After Aleksander Barkov’s shot was stopped, Travis Konecny sent the puck out to Carter Verhaeghe and he curled off the boards and moved into the left circle before sniping Samuel Ersson short-side over the shoulder.
The Panthers finished the frame with ten shots, but their failure to add to the lead would cost them as the Flyers tilted the ice the other way for essentially the rest of the game.
Philadelphia would carve the Cats up with a pair of pretty passes to knot the score with 6:27 left in the second. Sean Walker sent a long stretch pass to Joel Farabee at the Florida blue line and he chipped a backhand feed into the zone for Konency to skate into. Konenecy made up for his earlier mistake with a really sweet finish to solve Anthony Stolarz.
The Flyers would pull ahead 2:36 into the third when Noah Cates picked off an ill-advised Gustav Forsling pass and worked his way into the slot on the backhand before going forehand to beat Stolarz,
Los Gatos would only muster three shots, that’s right, three shots the rest of the way and fail to extend their winning streak to five games. On the other side, the Flyers ended a five-game losing streak. Florida will get back at on Thursday when they host the Washington Capitals. More is needed as the final forty minutes were pretty lousy.
Lift & Drag
- Sam Reinhart saw his 13-game point streak, the second-longest in franchise history, come to end. Reinhart failed to register a shot on goal and his early fine set-up of Niko Mikkola was snuffed out by Samuel Ersson. He amassed 14 goals and 4 assists during the torrid run, which spanned all of January.
- The 24-year-old Ersson finished the game with 19 saves and held the Flyers in it during a rough first period that saw them get doubled up on shots and vastly out-chanced.
- In addition to scoring Florida’s only goal, his 25th of the season, Carter Verhaeghe finished the tilt with a game-high four shots.
- Noah Cates’ game-winner was just his second goal of the season. The last time Cates lit the lamp was on October 24 against the Vegas Golden Knights. I guess he saves them for the conference champions.
- Nick Cousins returned to the lineup and saw his first since January 4. He was credited with two hits and two shot blocks in 13:05 of ice time.
- For more on the first of three between the Cats and Flyers, stroll Broad Street Hockey.