While Sam Reinhart and his franchise-record 20 power-play goals will continue to be the number one option on the top unit, being able to get goals from the second and third options on the man advantage will only make the Panthers that much more dangerous down the road.
“It’s important if one guy’s covered to use other guys,” Verhaeghe said.
Despite only facing five shots in the first period, Anthony Stolarz was tested late. With less than two minutes left, the Panthers goaltender kicked away an uncontested shot from Travis Konecny from the right circle with his left pad to keep the Flyers off the board.
“He was good right from the start,” Maurice said.
Finishing with 23 saves, Stolarz made four high-danger stops.
With a tight schedule in the second half, the veteran backup will continue to be relied upon.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Stolarz said when asked about playing a part in the playoff push. “At the end of the day, you want to play games. You look at the situation the team’s been put in with playing well, playing a lot of meaningful games. It’s going to be the first time in my career down the stretch that I’m going to be doing that. I’m looking forward to it.”
Overall, you could see the Panthers start to lose some steam midway through the first.
“I think we had about two shots after the 10-minute mark,” Maurice said. “We started playing with the puck more than we needed to. Philly wasn’t in the game yet. They hadn’t got off the plane. Then they got going in the second.”
Getting revenge in the second period, Konecny cut through the defense, took a pass from Joel Farabee and lifted a shot over Stolarz’s glove on a breakaway to make it 1-1 at 13:33.
Giving the Flyers the lead early in the third period, Noah Cates intercepted a puck in the offensive zone, navigated his way into the low slot and scored to make it 2-1 at 2:36.
Pulling Stolarz for the extra attacker with just under three minutes left, the Panthers generated a few quality looks but couldn’t find the game-tying goal before the final horn.
Still playing well enough to win, Florida finished with a 2.58-2.42 lead in expected goals.
That being said, they expect a stronger effort against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
“Any time you take a week off in the middle of the season your execution is a little different,” Verhaeghe said. “I think it was really good for our bodies to kind of heal a little bit from the first half of the season. Any time you’re going every day and then take a week off, it takes a little to get back. But it’s no excuse. We can be a lot better and clean some things up.”
THEY SAID IT
“I didn’t like our game in that we weren’t where we need to be. I’m not particularly worried about it, you’re just not in a good mood. I don’t like the way we played.” – Paul Maurice
“They played in our face. Credit to them. They’re a good team and they’re in the playoffs for a reason. Pucks were bouncing out there and the execution wasn’t our best.” – Carter Verhaeghe
CATS STATS
- The Panthers led 28-12 in shot attempts in the first period.
- Aleksander Barkov went 8-for-14 (57.1%) in the faceoff circle.
- Sam Bennett and Nick Cousins each blocked two shots.
- Brandon Montour saw a team-high 22:53 of ice time.
- Carter Verhaeghe has recorded at least one point in five of his last six games.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Panthers will look to bounce back when they host the Capitals (22-19-7) at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
For tickets, click HERE.
