Postgame 5: Flyers Grind Out a 2-1 Win in Florida

The Philadelphia Flyers withstood an early onslaught and went on to earn a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Thursday evening. Increasingly, the game turned into a tight-checking contest, and the advantage eventually turned to the Flyers. Garnet Hathaway scored the deciding goal with 21.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

The Flyers (33-23-8) won both games in Sunrise this season. The Panthers (43-17-4) saw their six-game winning streak come to an end.

Samuel Ersson made several spectacular saves on the way to making 29 saves on 30 shots. He also received help in the form of 29 bocked shots in front of him. In a losing cause, Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 24 of 26 Flyers shots.

The Panthers dominated the latter half of the first period. Primarily due to the work of Samuel Ersson in goal, Philly was able to nurse the game to intermission in a scoreless tie.

The second period was more evenly played than the opening stanza. However, Florida still had an edge.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead just 10 seconds into the second period. Ryan Poehling won the center ice faceoff back to Travis Sanheim, who went D-to-D over to Cam York. York then navigated the neutral zone and passed to Poehling., who cut in toward the net from the left side and elevated the puck (8th goal of the season) under the near-side crossbar. The assists went to York and Sanheim.

Florida tied the game at 7:12. With the Flyers hemmed in their zone on a lengthy shift, Anton Lundell took the puck away from Noah Cates as Cates attempted to clear the zone. Out at the point, Aaron Ekblad passed across to defense partner Gustav Forsling. Forsling's shot beat Ersson through traffic for his 10th goal of the season. The assists went to Ekblad and Lundell

The third period was a tight-checking grind. Philadelphia increasingly had the better of play as the period progressed. Finally, at 19:38, the Flyers forged ahead. Noah Cates won a board battle down low. The puck went back to Marc Staal at the left point. Garnet Hathaway followed it up with the game-winning goal (7th of the season). The assist went to Staal and Cates.

The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. The Panthers were also 0-for-1.

Travis Konecny returned to the Flyers' lineup after a six-game absence. With Nick Seeler on IR with a lower-body injury, Ronnie Attard and Adam Ginning dressed for their respective first NHL games of the 2023-24 season. Nicolas Deslauriers drew into the lineup after being scratched on Monday. Bobby Brink and Olle Lycksell exited as healthy scratches.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 71 Tyson Foerster
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
44 Nicolas Deslauriers -  14 Sean Couturier - 89 Cam Atkinson

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
5 Egor Zamula - 18 Marc Staal
50 Adam Ginning - 23 Ronnie Attard

33 Samuel Ersson
[32 Felix Sandström]

TURNING POINT

The clear-cut turning point was the entire shift that resulted in Hathaway's goal: Cates' work on the forecheck, Staal getting the puck on net and Hathaway's gritty finish. Additionally, do not overlook Ersson's 10-bell save on Aleksander Barkov with Florida on the power play.

POSTGAME 5

1)  The Panthers generated the game's first two shots on goal.  Foerster fired a right circle shot on net for the Flyers' first shot, looking for a rebound off the right pad. Those were the only shots through the first six minutes of play.

Ersson made a very tough save with the right pad on Vladimir Tarasenko from the slot at 8:23. At 9:50, Deslauriers had an attempt near the left post.  The Flyers' best chance came at 11:02 as Konecny grabbed the puck for a breakaway on a bad line change by the Panthers. Bobrovsky made a left pad save.

Sam Reinhart had Florida's single most dangerous change, getting past the defense and going one-on-one against Ersson. The goalie got his pads sealed and prevented the puck from going through into the net.

2) First period shots on goal were 12-5 Florida. Shot attempts were 25-14 Panthers. Scoring chances were 11-6 Panthers. High-danger scoring chances were 6-2 Florida. Faceoffs were 12-10 Florida.

3) Poehling put the Flyers on the board just 10 seconds into the second period. The Flyers had an odd-man rush two shifts later off a Tippett shot block. As the period progressed, Couturier was noticeably moved up in the line rotation, with Frost being moved down.

Nick Cousins and Zamula got their skates tangled behind the Philadelphia net and Cousins received a tripping minor at 3:24. The Flyers generated one shot by Foerster and no pressure of significance.

After Forsling tied the game at 7:12, Marc Staal took a tripping penalty at 8:02. On the ensuing Florida power play, Ersson made a 10-bell save on Barkov at the doorstep off the rush. Late in the penalty, Sam Bennett took the puck to the net. Ersson made another save.

At a TV timeout 10:12 into the period, shots on goal were 7-5 Florida.

At 13:17, Hathaway (roughing) and Matthew Tkachuk (slashing) got coincidental minors. Two minutes of 4-on-4 play ensued. As play went back to full strength, Konecny had a scoring chance off the rush. 

4) Second period shots on goal were 10-9 Panthers (23-15 Florida overall). Shot attempts were 22-19 Florida (48-36 Panthers overall). Scoring chances were 9-5 Florida (22-13 Panthers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 2-1 Flyers (8-6 Florida overall). Faceoffs were 16-8 Flyers (12-5 Florida 21-20 Florida overall). Through the first 40 minutes, the Flyers blocked 21 shot attempts by Florida.

5) Through the first six minutes of the third period, neither team had a shot on goal. On the next shift, Bennett fired a puck on net from the top of the left circle.  Tippett missed the net from the left flank at 6:24. On the next shift, the Poehling line got their forecheck game going. Sanheim generated a point shot that created a second-chance opportunity for Hathaway. Ersson denied a backhand shot by Kevin Stenlund at 9:24.

Shots in the third period were 4-3 Flyers through a TV timeout at 11:00. Neither team had a high-end scoring chance in the third period up to this point.

York painfully blocked a Bennett shot off his thigh. With 6:09 left in the period, Tippett fired off a center slot shot as he got the puck on a broken play.  At the other end of the ice, Poehling made a nice backchecking play to break up a rush. Later on the same shift, Ginning dropped Reinhart with a clean hit in the neutral zone. On the next shift, Bobrovsky denied Couturier off a dangerous turnover by the Panthers.

A long stretch of whistle-free play ensued right up to Hathaway's go-ahead goal with  21.3 seconds left on the clock. The Panthers called timeout and immediately pulled Bobrovsky for a 6-on-5. Florida won a lengthy board battle and Tarasenko used a screen for a quick shot with 5.5 seconds remaining. Laughton came up with one final shot block before time expired.

Third period shots on goal were 12-7 Flyers (30-26 Panthers overall). Shot attempts were 22-16 Flyers (56-55 Florida overall). Scoring chances were 9-3 Flyers (22-18 Panthers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 3-0 Flyers (9-7 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 8-4 Panthers (29-24 Panthers overall).