RECAP: Panthers 4, Flyers 3 (SO)

SUNRISE, Fla. – They just keep finding ways to win.

Extending their winning streak to seven games, the Florida Panthers got a heroic performance from Sergei Bobrovsky in a 4-3 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Helping the Panthers improve to 11-3-1, Bobrovsky made 12 high-danger saves.

“Bobby gets better the bigger the game, the higher the stakes and the more intense it is,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “Today, he showed that. When he makes more saves and he gets more action, that’s when he’s even better and takes his game to another level.”

Right after the Panthers cracked a shot off the crossbar, the Flyers broke the ice when Joel Farabee crashed the net and deposited a rebound to make it 1-0 at 4:57 of the first period.

Keeping the deficit at just one goal, Bobrovsky made 10 saves in the period.

Evening the score for the Panthers in the second period, Nate Schmidt hopped over the boards, skated into the zone, teed up a pass from Rodrigues and blasted a blistering 93-mile-per-hour slapper past Samuel Ersson to make it 1-1 at 5:32.

A blink and you’ll miss it sort of goal, Schmidt’s shift lasted just five seconds.

“That was enjoyable,” Schmidt smiled. “There’s not a lot of things you can say about the shift, right? Step on, shoot, goal and then line up and do it again.”

Continuing his generosity, Rodrigues helped put the Panthers on top when he set up Dmitry Kulikov for a quick shot in the slot that pinged off the crossbar and in to make it 2-1 at 8:40. The Flyers challenged the goal –- citing the puck-out-of-play rule -- but it was upheld after a lengthy review.

On a delayed penalty -- one that came not long after a missed trip kept Eetu Luostarinen from likely having a breakaway -- the Flyers got the game deadlocked again when Anthony Richard threaded a shot from the blue line through heavy traffic to make it 2-2 at the 13-minute mark.

Letting the tie last less than two minutes, Sam Bennett answered for the Panthers when he took a backdoor pass from Carter Verhaeghe and beat Ersson with a one-timer from the right side of the net to make it 3-2 at 14:56.

With the goal, Bennett recorded the 300^th point of his NHL career.

“It’s great,” said Bennett, who ranks second on the Panthers with nine goals. “I don’t look at that too much, but any time you can get another milestone I guess it’s great.”

Benefitting from an odd bounce, the Flyers tied the game in the third period when an attempted pass from Garnet Hathaway ricochetted off a defender’s skate and slipped through Bobrovsky’s pads to make it 3-3 at 9:47.

“Philadelphia played their butts off tonight,” head coach Paul Maurice said.

From there, Bobrovsky did his usual brick-wall routine.

Helping the game get to overtime, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner stoned Owen Tippett, arguably Philadelphi’s top sniper, on a point-blank attempt with less than four minutes left.

From there, Bobrovsky went on to stop all six shots he faced in the extra frame, including denying Travis Konecny on a breakaway with just a few ticks of the clock remaining.

Getting goals in the shootout from Aleksander Barkov, who sent jaws to the floor with “The Forsberg,” and Rodrigues, Bobrovsky stopped four of five shooters to lock in the 4-3 win.

“That was a fun challenge,” said Bobrovsky, who finished with 34 saves. “Lots of breakaways. I think it was fun for fans, too. We had some great scoring chances, too. It’s just fun all around.”

THEY SAID IT

“It’s good when you get this chemistry this early in the season.” – Evan Rodrigues

“It was a lot of flipping the puck out of the zone and living to fight another day. I think this team kind of relishes in that environment. Not a lot of teams can feel that way when they want to make plays and make sure they feel good. This team seems to want that type of game because it gets us into it.” – Nate Schmidt

“Enjoy the opportunity, enjoy the moment, and play one moment.” – Sergei Bobrovsky

“I had no problem with that game being tied after two [periods] with how hard they worked. That’s the way it should be. You worked as hard as they worked, and it was a grinder up and down. I don’t think it was very easy.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- The Panthers improved to 92-18-8 in games in which Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart each record a point.

- Anton Lundell won nine faceoffs.

- A.J. Greed had a team-high five hits.

- Sam Bennett has earned a point in eight of his last nine games.

- The Panthers went a perfect 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

- The Panthers led 27-10 in shot attempts and 3-0 in goals when Dmitry Kulikov was deployed at 5-on-5.

- Florida led 59-40 in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Let’s make it eight!

The Panthers will try to keep their winning streak alive when they return to the ice to host the New Jersey Devils at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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