Photo Courtesy of Kate FreseBy Rob Riches, Sports Talk Philly contributor
PHILADELPHIA — Despite trailing the Florida Panthers in shots for all 60 minutes of regulation, the Flyers kept a pretty strong possession of the puck through overtime. They had their chances, and they had Steve Mason standing on his head on the other side of the ice.
Missed chance after missed chance for both teams looked like the game would have to be decided by shootout. But with just 8.6 seconds to go, Jakub Voracek snagged a rebound, turn around, and tucked it past James Reimer, giving the Flyers (15-10-3) the 3-2 win.
The win extends the Flyers' streak to six games – their longest stretch since a seven-game streak in Dec. 2011.
While it was Voracek's late heroics that gave the Flyers their third goal, it was Mason's heroics that helped the Flyers win. Mason turned away 42 of 44 shots he faced — second-most for him all season — including several dazzling stops late in the third period.
Wayne Simmonds was an unstoppable force for the Flyers as well, netting their first two goals. Simmonds first struck at 17:07 of the first period off of a fluttering wrist shot to even the score at 1, then added his second goal on a power play at 10:08 of the second after tipping home a Claude Giroux shot. Simmonds has now scored two goals in each of his past two games, and his steady play as of late has been a reason why the Flyers' streak has been able to sustain.
Giroux's pair of assists gives him points in five of his last six games, to boot. It's his fourth multi-point effort of the season (and second in the span of a week), and second multi-assist game this year.
The Panthers (12-12-3) had dominated possession from the time the opening puck dropped, and Aleksander Barkov gave them a 1-0 lead off of a dazzling give-and-go exchange between him and Mark Pysyk. As the Flyers looked to preserve their lead late in the game, Jussi Jokinen evened the score from the doorstep, with 4:46 left on the clock.
Simmonds' second goal was the Flyers' only power-play goal of the night, on three attempts. The Panthers were held scoreless on two power plays.
James Reimer didn't face nearly as much action between the Panthers' pipes as Mason did, but he was steady in his own right. He turned away 22 of 25 shots faced, including an incredible glove save on Michael Raffl early in the second stanza.
The Flyers' three-game homestand continues on Thursday, when they welcome Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to Wells Fargo Center.
NOTES: With an assist on Simmonds' first goal, Andrew MacDonald now has 100 for his career. … The last time the Flyers put six or more wins together was Dec. 2-15, 2011 (against Anaheim, Phoenix, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington and Montreal) . … Radko Gudas, Matt Read and Nick Schultz were scratched from the Flyers' lineup. … Steve Mason now has two wins against the Panthers this season, improving his all-time record against them to 9-3-2. … The Flyers and Panthers will meet for the third and final time this season on March 2. … Prior to the game, the Flyers held a moment of silence to honor Ardythe Hope, a Wilmington, Del. firefighter who had fallen in the line of duty in September.
