Dadonov propels Panthers past Flyers for sixth straight win

The Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to six games with a 4-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at BB&T Center on Sunday.
Evgenii Dadonov scored two goals, Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for Florida (32-25-6, 70 points). Roberto Luongo made 39 saves.

The Panthers trail the Columbus Blue Jackets by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Panthers highlights]
"We're playing our best hockey of the year at the right time," Luongo said. "We know we still have a lot of work to do. No taking things lightly the rest of the way. We have a lot of work to do and we have to make sure we keep pushing like we have."
Travis Konecny scored, and Petr Mrazek made 22 saves for the Flyers (34-21-11, 79 points), who lost their third straight game (0-2-1) and second in two days following their 7-6 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. They are in second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the Washington Capitals.

The Panthers scored their four goals off stretch passes that led to breakaways.
"We preach that every day, stretch teams out and trying to play north-south real fast," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "Today, we got a couple bonus. [The Flyers are] an aggressive team, their [defensemen] are really involved in their [offensive-zone] play, they're roaming around. If you play good defense and you can knife a puck off of them, chances are if we're stretching them out, we might have a chance there."
The Flyers were prepared for that type of attack from the Panthers but were unable to stop it.
"They're definitely a quick team, some of their players," Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said. "We knew what they were going to do and we didn't respect it enough."

Huberdeau scored his 20th goal at 2:47 of the third period to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead. Jakub Voracek and Radko Gudas collided at the Panthers blue line, and Jamie McGinn sent Huberdeau in on a breakaway.
Konecny scored on the rebound of Brandon Manning's shot at 16:39 of the third period to make it 4-1.
Dadonov scored his 20th at 18:06 of the second period to make it 3-0. Barkov jumped on a loose puck in the Panthers zone and fed the puck ahead to Dadonov, who scored over Mrazek's glove.
The Panthers scored twice in the first period.
Barkov took a long pass from Keith Yandle at 2:41, deked Mrazek and slid a backhand past his left pad. Dadonov then got to a puck flipped out to center ice by Nick Bjugstad, held off Gostisbehere and scored at 14:49.
"I liked our start again," Boughner said. "That's been key to our success. We weren't good in the second period, they were. [Luongo] made some huge saves when we needed them today and gave us a chance to get our legs under us."

Goal of the game

Barkov's goal at 2:41 of the first period.

Save of the game

Luongo against Ivan Provorov at 7:21 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Dadonov's goal at 14:49 of the first period.

They said it

"We've got tough games coming up, like every night. You've got to be ready whether you're playing a lower-standing team or a top-of-the-standings team. Every team is good. You've got to be ready to battle every night. It's not different approach or different readiness we need; just got to be ready to battle." -- Flyers forward Sean Couturier
"When we win, we're happy. I think we're happy right now." -- Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov

Need to know

Philadelphia played most of the third period with five defensemen. Johnny Oduya, who made his Flyers debut in place of injured defenseman Andrew MacDonald, played one shift for nine seconds early in the third. He took a hard hit from McGinn with 3:52 remaining in the second period. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol had no update on Oduya after the game. MacDonald (upper body) is day to day. … The six-game winning streak, all at home, is the longest for the Panthers since they won 12 in a row Dec. 15, 2015-Jan. 10, 2016. It was the second time in their history they swept a homestand of six games or longer (also six games, Dec. 20, 2015-Jan. 3, 2016). … Barkov has 10 points (five goals, five assists) during a six-game point streak. … Dadonov has 15 points (nine goals, seven assists) in his past 11 games.

What's next

Flyers: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Panthers: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-F, NHL.TV)