An old adage suggests that hockey games can never be won in the first period, but they can be lost easily. For the Flyers, that adage was true for the first 20 minutes of Saturday's game against the Florida Panthers, as they fell 7-1.
Just 6:46 into the first period, the Panthers (1-0-0) had already led 4-0, thanks to goals from Vincent Trocheck, Nick Bjugstad, Reilly Smith and Jussi Jokinen. Once the first was said and done, Trocheck and Jokinen had multiple points (three and two, respectively).
Trocheck's goal was the result of Steve Mason misplaying a Panthers dump-in. Mason had left his net to play a puck just minutes later, but his pass was immediately snagged by Jokinen, who made it a 4-0 game. After allowing four goals on eight shots, Mason was pulled, giving way to Michal Neuvirth's first appearance of the season.
Any hopes that the Flyers (0-1-1) had of getting off to a good second period start were quelled just 33 seconds in, as ageless wonder and former Flyer Jaromir Jagr scored his first goal of the season. Jagr would later score at the 41-second mark of the third period, for his second-consecutive multi-point game against the Orange and Black (the other being on Jan. 3, when Jagr was still with New Jersey).
Making his Panthers debut after an offseason trade from Boston, Smith scored a pair of power-play goals — the second of which came at 7:55 of the third stanza. Trocheck added three assists, giving him a total of four points. Brandon Pirri and Aleksander Barkov each added a pair of assists, to boot.
Mark Streit put a small dent in the Cats' lead, scoring on a power play from Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds at 3:34 of the second period. By that point, the game was still 5-1, and the Flyers were barely resembling a team that was poised to come back.
In 53:14 of relief time, Neuvirth made 19 saves on 22 shots. On the other end of the ice, Roberto Luongo saved 38 of 39 Flyers shots — the bulk of which came when the game was out of question. Luongo's biggest save came late in the second period on a shorthanded rush from Giroux, Scott Laughton and Michael Del Zotto, where he acrobatically turned them all away.
The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Panthers capitalized on 3 of 7 opportunities. The seven goals allowed was the most by the Orange and Black since Jan. 19, when they fell to the New York Islanders, 7-4.
Ryan White also dropped the gloves for the first Flyers fight of the season, taking on Shawn Thornton in the first period. Both players were ultimately separated by officials, with Thornton getting the better of the shots in on White.
Both teams are set to meet again at Wells Fargo Center on Monday, in the Flyers' home opener. Whether or not the Flyers elect to show up to that game remains to be seen.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
