The Philadelphia Flyers finally lost a game in the 2022-23 season as they fell in Florida to the Panthers by a score of 4-3.
Felix Sandstrom made 31 saves for Philadelphia while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 shots as well for Florida. The Flyers got goals from Nick Seeler, James van Riemsdyk, and Travis Konecny, and they once again tried to mount a comeback after being down by 2 goals.
The Panthers came out flying and took a 2-0 lead before the Flyers tied things up heading into the third. Sandstrom, who was magnificent in the first 2 periods, allowed 2 goals in short order but only one of them was a truly a handcuff as a fluttering shot from Josh Mahura found its way under his arm and stood as the game-winning goal.
On the back end of their first back-to-back situation, the Flyers opted to go with Sandstrom in goal as he looked for his first career victory against former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky, who has done enough damage against his former team over his career.
The lines were jumbled a little heading into tonight’s game as Joel Farabee found himself on the top line with Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny, Zack MacEwen was on the second line with Noah Cates and James van Riemsdyk. Morgan Frost was centering Wade Allison and Scott Laughton, and Jackson Cates, Nicolas Deslauriers, and Tanner Laczynski rounded out the 12 forwards.
FIRST PERIOD
The Panthers started the game with a little gusto as their Presidents’ Trophy banner was lifted, and in doing so they started the game with 3 shots in the first minute and a half and then drew a penalty against Tony DeAngelo, who was called for a tripping minor. The Panthers fired 5 shots – 3 blocked, 1 on goal, and 1 hit the post – as the Flyers survived the penalty kill, but barely at that. As the pressure was mounting and the Flyers not being able to get the puck out of the zone, Carter Verhaeghe ripped a snap-shot top shelf on Felix Sandstrom, who remained on his knees for far too long, allowing the Panthers an easier route to a goal.
As the Flyers have shown in the first 3 games, their ability to come back was on full display and in quick order – or so we thought. Travis Sanheim sent an outlet pass to Travis Konecny coming out of the defensive zone. Konecny and Joel Farabee played pitch and catch with Konecny finishing the play with a nice snap-shot past Bobrovsky. However under review, Farabee fumbled the pass initially and entered the zone before the puck, therefore the call was overturned and remained 1-0 Florida.
The Flyers looked absolutely lost to start this game and found themselves down 2-0 only halfway through the period as Verhaeghe scored his second of the period and incidentally his second of the game.
Prior to the goal, Gustav Forsling was robbed on a 2-on-0 opportunity as Sandstrom outstretched his pad to make the save and as the Flyers went the other way, Konecny’s shot was stopped, the puck went into the corner, DeAngelo got caught too far into the offensive zone, and then Forsling set up Verhaeghe with a perfect stretch pass. Justin Braun was hustling back to try and catch up but to no avail as Verhaeghe ripped it short side for a 2-0 lead on their 10th shot.
The pressure was relentless and the Panthers were going for the jugular, firing shots at will, breaking down the defense, and coming inches away from taking a three-goal lead at the minimum.
Ivan Provorov was called for a hooking minor as Anton Lundell found himself all alone after a very bad line change by the Flyers. Provorov seemingly didn’t notice how bad the change was as he was focused on the passer and as he closed in, he saucered the pass to Lundell before Provorov impeded his ability to get a shot on goal. Sam Reinhart missed a wide open net that could’ve given the Panthers a 3-0 lead but in doing so the Flyers killed off the penalty and scored shortly after, courtesy of Nick Seeler.
The Flyers dumped the puck into the zone, MacEwen raced in to retrieve it, sent it towards the net, and it got deflected to Kevin Hayes, who then sent it out towards the net where Seeler was all alone to backhand it past Bobrovsky.
Down 2-1, the Flyers were able to draw a penalty against Patric Hornqvist, a hooking minor, however it was the Panthers who created the better scoring chance as Reinhart and Barkov went off on a 2-on-1 after the puck bounced in front of DeAngelo. Sandstrom made the saves as they continued to whack away and a scrum ensued but fortunately nothing was called, keeping the power play intact.
DeAngelo turned the puck over again near the boards to Matthew Tkachuk this time, whose snap shot was swallowed up by Sandstrom. It wasn’t the best display of 5-on-4 hockey but as the period was coming to a close, Seeler was high-sticked by Reinhart, sending them back to the power play down by 1. The Flyers survived the barrage – somewhat – as they entered the intermission down by 1 and up a man even though they were outplayed and incidentally outshot 14-8.
As the Flyers came inches away from tying the game, DeAngelo got caught flat footed on a 2 on 0 with Tkachuk creating another scoring chance but luckily Sandstrom was able to pad aside his opportunity to keep the game within 1. A few minutes later, Carter Verhaeghe was really close to scoring his third career hat-trick but once again Sandstrom stretched himself out to make the stop.
Former Flyer Nick Cousins was called for a reckless tripping penalty, nullifying their offensive pressure for at least 2 minutes, and hopefully allowing the Flyers to crawl back into the game and tie things up. In the opening seconds of the power play, James van Riemsdyk set up Konecny with a perfect pass for a redirect but the puck was bouncing as it got to his stick and the puck flew high and wide from the open cage.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period became a battle between the Panthers who were jumping on odd man rushes versus the Flyers who were working in the trenches and board battles. Near the midway point of the period, Nick Seeler was called for a cross-checking minor after a scrum ensued, but was the only casualty.
There were chances aplenty for both teams as Sam Reinhart was robbed after Barkov set him up for a one-timer, and then Nicolas Deslauriers was inches away from tying the game after Farabee’s initial shot was shouldered away to the side.
Sanheim was then held by Verhaeghe evening things up for 6 seconds before the Flyers embarked on their 4th power play of the night.
James van Riemsdyk tied things up on the power play, as he did last night in Tampa, after Provorov’s shot from the point hit van Riemsdyk’s stick, Konecny whacked away, in traffic van Riemsdyk joined him, and it was the latter who was able to slam it through the five hole of Bobrovsky to tie things up.
The Flyers power play has scored a goal in all 4 games thus far in the season and they never gave up hope even after all the odd-man rushes that were being created by the Panthers. The Flyers somehow found a way to tie things up after trailing by 2 goals as they headed into the second intermission all knotted up at 2 with the Panthers leading the charge with a 26-15 shot advantage.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period started off the same way as the other two with the Panthers’ unrelenting pressure. They had plenty of shot attempts that either hit the net or were blocked away, but eventually they cracked Sandstrom as Rudolf Balcers roofed a backhander top-shelf after Sam Bennett split a pass between Seeler and Egor Zamula to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead.
On the very next shift, Morgan Frost was robbed by Sergei Bobrovsky on an abbreviated breakaway by the left pad. Then near the midway mark of the third period, Josh Mahura’s fluttering shot fooled Sandstrom and tucked itself under his arm and into the net for a two-goal lead.
van Riemsdyk had a chance to cut the deficit to one after a long outlet pass from DeAngelo but Bobrovsky once again came up big when needed.
On the next shift, Balcers was called for a hooking minor, affording the Flyers their 5th power play of the game. The Flyers created a few chances but nothing that really tested the goaltender as the penalty was effectively killed with 6 and a half remaining in regulation. With 4:28 left in the period, John Tortorella pulled Felix Sandstrom for an extra attacker – the first time this season. After creating a few chances, Joel Farabee was able to draw a penalty on Gustav Forsling, a two-minute hooking minor with 2:42 left.
The Flyers were oddly passive down two on the scoreboard and up by two men on the ice, passing it over and over again, holding onto the puck for far too long, and the skating was slow for lack of a better word – just no push or urgency. It took a timeout with 39 seconds left for the Flyers to have some jump as they fired 3 shots off the faceoff that were all stopped by Bobrovsky.
With 3 seconds left, Travis Konecny scored a goal with a wide open net in his sights after a perfect slap-shot pass from Kevin Hayes but it was too little too late as they fell for the first time this season, 4-3.
The shots evened up at the end but the Panthers took the slight edge at 35-34.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will rest for a couple days before heading to Nashville to take on the Predators on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.
