Panthers recover after blowing 3-goal lead, rally past Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal with 1:59 remaining in the third period and the Florida Panthers recovered from blowing a 3-0 lead for a 7-5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and four assists for Florida (16-9-2). Reinhart had a goal and two assists, and Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist. Spencer Knight made 29 saves.

"It's not a recipe for success down the road," Tkachuk said. "But I we guess found a way to get this one. It was crazy. Special teams were good for us to get us a few goals. And I guess we needed them tonight."

Florida was 4-for-5 on the power play, with Reinhart's man-advantage goal holding up as the winner. Flyers goalie Aleksei Kolosov kicked the rebound of a Verhaeghe shot to Reinhart, where he scored from the left face-off circle.

"The power play was wired," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "It's been great for a while now. Don't like winning hockey games on our power play [but] we did tonight."

Owen Tippett scored two goals, and Matvei Michkov had three assists for Philadelphia (12-11-3), which had its three-game winning streak ended. Tyson Foerster, Nick Seeler and Garnet Hathaway scored, and Kolosov made 16 saves after replacing Ivan Fedotov at the start of the second period. Fedotov allowed two goals on seven shots.

"At 3-0 I loved our ability to stay with it and find a way," Flyers assistant coach Brad Shaw said. "Take that game and get it 5-4, that's a great sign. The fact that we don't finish it off, that's something we have to work on."

The Panthers led 4-2 late in the third period when Tippett scored twice in 23 seconds to tie it.

He knocked the puck away from Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad in Florida's zone, got it back from Michkov and scored at 17:41 to make it 4-3. He then scored in front at 18:04 to tie it 4-4.

"I don't think we necessarily played bad in the first," Tippett said. "Just the way it goes sometimes. We didn't get too down on ourselves obviously to come back in the second period there, and make it a game going into the third."

Tkachuk said there never was any panic, with the mindset being win a period, win a game.

"You can't really change the first 40," he said. "Just got to win a period. And I guess one positive going to the third is we're tied on the road, and we'll take that every time. So let up one early, but we're able to get a bunch back late. Just very weird win, but in the end it's a win. Take it, and we'll go on home somewhat happy about it."

Maurice said he didn't have to say anything to the players before the third.

"I love these guys, and there wouldn't have been anything but vile, evil thoughts and words," he said. "And some nights you need to just shut up and not go in the room. I thought tonight was a perfect time for that."

Hathaway put the Flyers ahead 5-4 at 5:39 of the third period with a goal from the crease.

However, Gustav Forsling tied it 5-5 with a shot from the blue line at 14:43, and Reinhart's goal put Florida back ahead 6-5.

Tkachuk closed the scoring with an empty-net power-play goal at 19:49. He has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) during a five-game point streak.

"He's on a heater," Rodrigues said. "I think a lot heavier on the forecheck, he's getting into more scrums, a little bit more emotion. That's his game. When you see him getting under people's skin, you know he's on it and he's into the game."

Rodrigues gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 2:36 of the first period when he got the puck away from Foerster on the rush, skated in, and pushed it under Fedotov's pads.

Niko Mikkola made it 2-0 at 6:57 with a shot from the left face-off circle.

Barkov scored from in front on the power play at 3:00 of the second period to put the Panthers ahead 3-0.

Foerster made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 7:13 before Seeler cut it to 3-2 at 9:31, intercepting a pass deep in the Panthers' zone and scoring from the left face-off circle.

Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead 4-2 with a power-play goal at 13:39.

"We hope that's unique," Maurice said. "You wouldn't want to see that ever again. I think we kind of got what we deserved in the middle period. We got 3-0, 4-2 leads and were just not very good. So what you're left with, what's important, is finding a way."

NOTES: It was Tkachuk's fourth five-point game, matching his father, Keith Tkachuk, for the sixth-most among United States-born players. He also had four points (two goals, two assists) against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, making him the first Panthers player with at least nine points in a two-game span. ... Barkov has eight points (three goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. ... Reinhart's assist on Barkov's goal was his 300th in the NHL. ... Panthers forward Sam Bennett had an assist on Forsling's goal, which gave him six points (four goals, two assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Forsling's goal was his 50th in the NHL. ... The win was Maurice's 110th with the Panthers, tying him with Jacques Martin for the most by a Florida coach. ... Michkov is the first Flyers rookie with three assists in a game since Philippe Myers had three against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 3, 2019. The 19-year-old also is the first teenager with three assists in a period since Tkachuk with the Calgary Flames on Dec. 10, 2016. ... The 23-second span between goals by Tippett are the fastest two goals scored by the Flyers this season.