Wrap: Panthers Maul Flyers, 6-3
The Philadelphia Flyers lost, 6-3, to the Florida Panthers in Sunrise on Thursday night. The Panthers pounced out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. Philadelphia made an admirable comeback push to within 4-3 but never caught up on the scoreboard.
Sam Reinhart recorded a hat trick for Florida. Art Ross Trophy race leader Jonathan Huberdeau racked up four assists, as did defenseman Aaron Ekblad. Florida went 3-for-3 on the power play, while the Flyers went 1-for-3.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Panthers went 3-for-3.
Florida, the NHL's top scoring team greeted the Flyers with a four-goal blitz in the first period. Carter Verhaege (19th goal of the season) gave the Panthers an early 1-0 lead. Sam Reihart (power play, 20th) made it 2-0 on a deflection with a little less than six minutes left in the opening stanza. Florida then got a pair of additional goals in the final two-plus minutes from Reinhart (power play, 21st) and Verhaege (20th) with 30 seconds left.
The second period was the polar opposite. Near the midway mark of the game, James van Riemsdyk (13th goal of the season) got the Flyers on the board to cut the deficit to 4-1. That was followed by a rebound goal by Cam Atkinson (21st) and a deflection tally by Travis Konecny (power play, 10th).
Florida entered the game with a 29-0-0 record when leading after two periods. They went on to make it 30-0-0.
The Panthers restored a two-goal lead at 6:59 of the third period on an Anthony Duclair (PPG, 24th) pass attempt that deflected in off the stick of PKer Patrick Brown. Reinhart (22nd) completed his hat trick into an empty net.
Carter Hart had little chance on at least four of the five goals he gave up on 36 shots. Sergei Bobrovsky got the win with 33 saves on 36 shots.
In the second period, Flyers' center Scott Laughton had to leave the game with a head injury following a heavy crash into the boards on a hit by Petteri Lindbohm. Coincidentally or not, the Flyers almost instantly channeled the emotion into a heavy push. A three-goal onslaught cut a four-goal deficit to one.
Unfortunately for the Flyers, they'd dug too deep of a hole for themselves in the second period. The Panthers staged a strong closeout in the third period, especially after getting an insurance goal on the fluky power play marker by Duclair. Philly never really challenged again once it was 5-3.
The Flyers return to action on Saturday afternoon, visiting the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.
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Phantoms vs. Laval
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-24-10) will host the Laval Rocket (26-19-3) at the PPL Center on Friday night as Ian Laperriere's team starts a three-in-three gauntlet. The Phantoms are winless in their last six games (0-5-1) and are coming off nearly a teamwide abysmal outing in a 4-0 shutout loss in Hershey on Tuesday.
Over the last week to 10 days, the Flyers have seen their avenue to obtain a playoff spot (six teams will reach the postseason in the Atlantic Division) get narrower and narrower as they've suffered a series of losses in divisional games. The Phantoms are now eight points behind sixth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, albeit with two games in hand.
The Phantoms could get some players back in the lineup for this game. Wade Allison had had the chance to get in several practices after being cleared last Saturday to return and being assigned by the Flyers to the AHL club. Team leading goal-scorer Hayden Hodgson has completed a three-game suspension from the AHL and is eligible to play in this game. The Phantoms were also missing defenseman Egor Zamula and center Matthew Strome in Hershey.
Friday's game, a 7:05 p.m. ET start, will be streamed on AHLTV (subscription required).