For the third straight game, the Flyers took an elite opponent the distance. A last-minute regulation loss in Carolina and a shootout win in Tampa set the stage for one more challenge against the Florida Panthers. The Flyers met the challenge.
The Flyers rallied back twice, including to score the tying goal in the third period, before falling in a shootout, 4-3, to the Panthers on Saturday night.
The Flyers opened the scoring at 4:57 of the first. A wide shot by Scott Laughton took a bounce back into the slot. After Bobby Brink put a shot on goal, Laughton fished the puck free for Joel Farabee, who buried the rebound to make it 1-0.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 11-10 Flyers.
The Panthers had started to apply more pressure late in the first and carried that into the second. At 5:32, they got the game tied. Nate Schmidt fired a shot from the point that beat Sam Ersson to make it 1-1.
At 8:40, the Panthers got the lead. Dmitry Kulikov was left in the slot and lifted a shot over Ersson. The Flyers challenged for a potential missed stoppage, but the call stood, making it a 2-1 game
The Flyers tied the game with seven minutes remaining in the second. Anthony Richard fired a shot through traffic during a delayed penalty call to even things at two with his first as a Flyer.
Just 1:56 later, the Panthers were back in front, as a defensive breakdown allowed Sam Bennett to be left alone at the side of the net. Bennett’s ninth goal of the season made it 3-2.
Through two periods, shots were 24-17 Flyers.
At the midpoint of the third period, the Flyers tied the game back up. Garnet Hathaway made a move around Aleksander Barkov and tried to put a pass through the slot. The pass hit the leg of Uvis Balinskis and went through the legs of Sergei Bobrovsky to even things back up at three.
That forced overtime, which was an entertaining back-and-forth five minutes with multiple chances at both ends.
In the shootout, Barkov and Owen Tippett traded goals in the first three rounds. Evan Rodrigues got the deciding goal in the fifth round to seal the result for the Panthers.
Ersson made 28 saves on 31 shots in the loss. Bobrovsky stopped 34 of 37 shots in the win.
Laughton had two assists for the Flyers. Rodrigues had two assists in addition to the shootout winner.
The Flyers return home to take on the San Jose Sharks on Monday night at 7 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | T | |
| Flyers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Panthers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Joel Farabee (3) (Scott Laughton, Bobby Brink) 4:57
2nd Period
- FLA Nate Schmidt (2) (Evan Rodrigues, Aleksander Barkov) 5:32
- FLA Dmitry Kulikov (2) (Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart) 8:40
- PHI Anthony Richard (1) (Travis Konecny, Rasmus Ristolainen) 13:00
- FLA Sam Bennett (9) (Carter Verhaeghe, Niko Mikkola) 14:56
3rd Period
- PHI Garnet Hathaway (2) (Laughton, Nick Seeler) 9:47
Overtime
- No Scoring
Shootout
- FLA Aleksander Barkov – Goal
- PHI Travis Konecny – Save
- FLA Sam Reinhart – Save
- PHI Owen Tippett – Goal
- FLA Anton Lundell – Save
- PHI Bobby Brink – Save
- FLA Matthew Tkachuk – Save
- PHI Sean Couturier – Save
- FLA Evan Rodrigues – Goal
- PHI Morgan Frost – Save
Game Statistics
| Flyers | Panthers | |
| Shots | 37 | 31 |
| Power Play | 0/2 | 0/2 |
| Hits | 23 | 16 |
| Faceoff % | 44.3% | 55.7% |
| Giveaways | 10 | 15 |
| Takeaways | 6 | 3 |
| Blocked Shots | 16 | 7 |
| Penalty Minutes | 6 | 6 |
