The Philadelphia Flyers came up just a little short on Saturday night against the unbeaten Florida Panthers. The Panthers took down the Flyers 4-2 in a tight contest, but one that was clouded by penalties and undisciplined hockey. Carter Hart played as well as he could and kept the Flyers in the game for as long as he could but a late shorthanded goal by Jonathan Huberdeau was the dagger that took them down.
Heading into this game, the Philadelphia Flyers knew they were going to have their hands full against the unbeaten and scorching hot Panthers. The Panthers coming into this game were 4-0-0 and had dispatched 4 of the best teams in hockey in the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Colorado Avalanche. To add onto their hot start, they outscored their opponents 18-7 and have received stellar goaltending from their 10 million dollar goaltender, Sergei Bobrovksy,
The first period was a tale of two halves as the first little bit was fast, up tempo, and offensive. The shots were 5-5 rather quickly but then it became a much more defensive minded period after a listless Flyers power play midway through. The Panthers didn’t allow the Flyers much of anything and even controlled parts of it in the offensive zone.
There were no shots for seven minutes from either team but after a couple penalties taken by the Flyers, Travis Sanheim and Nick Seeler interference calls, the Panthers not only took control but also took the lead. Five seconds into Seeler’s penalty, Jonathan Huberdeau ripped a shot past Hart blocker side, as Patric Hornqvist took out Hart’s view until the very end. The Flyers went nearly 15 minutes without a shot to end the period.
The second period was a lot more of what we expected from these two offensive minded clubs. Right off the bat, the Flyers found their legs and were churning their way in the offensive zone. The fourth line was able to draw a penalty and Claude Giroux was able to tie things at 1-1 after he ripped a slap shot top shelf.
The power play was dominating from the onset and after failing to capitalize on their first few scoring chances, the umbrella action from Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, and Keith Yandle clicked once again.
The Flyers then found themselves ahead in the game after a shorthanded breakaway tally from Cam Atkinson. Another couple saves from Carter Hart sparked the offense but the duo of Joel Farabee and Atkinson worked their magic at the blueline. Atkinson poked the puck free and found himself all alone against Bobrovsky and tucked it through the five-hole.
The Flyers offense might have scored twice in the period but it truly belonged to Carter Hart. The young net minder came up with several ten-bell saves that kept the Panthers at bay and the Flyers in the game. The Panthers were buzzing all period and every second counts against this team.
With 26 seconds remaining in the period, the Panthers forced a turnover in their defensive zone and counter attacked briskly. Owen Tippett received a pass to his skates from MacKenzie Weegar and redirected it past Carter Hart. It was reviewed for a kicking motion but was quickly confirmed after the on-ice call as he legally redirected it into the net.
It could’ve been a totally different period had it not been for Hart as he made several great saves, including a glove save on Carter Verhaeghe as he dangled his way through the defense. Then he made an even better glove save on Huberdeau as he found himself wide open in the slot on the power play. He came out of his crease and aggressively went toe to toe with one the most skilled players in the league.
The Panthers outshot the Flyers 13 to 11 in the second period and 23 to 17 overall after two periods. After taking two penalties in the first period at inopportune moments, the Flyers took another three in the second period. It stunted their momentum and even though they were able to score a shorthanded goal, Carter Hart bailed them out.
The third period started off with another good kill and several scoring chances from the Flyers, who couldn’t seem to the beat Bobrovsky after their shorthanded tally. Any time the Flyers seemed to generate offensive opportunities, they found themselves back in the box and killing another penalty.
After a few questionable missed calls by the referees, they handed the Flyers a power play on a phantom elbow from Anton Lundell. A missed pass from Keith Yandle in between Couturier and Giroux led to a shorthanded odd man rush for the Panthers, as Huberdeau found himself all alone against Hart. To his credit, he made the initial breakaway save but Huberdeau followed his rebound, and banked it in off of Hart from behind the net to take a 3-2 lead.
The shorthanded goal seemed to suck the life out the Flyers. The Panthers kept buzzing and the Flyers kept taking penalties as Nate Thompson was called for an unnecessarily aggressive and angry roughing penalty.
With under 5 minutes to go and down 1, the Flyers were buzzing with a scoring chance from Aube-Kubel again and then a great shift by the first line hemmed the defense in the zone. Bobrovsky stood his ground in goal however.
However, that was all she wrote for this game as with the net empty, the Flyers couldn’t capitalize. They had a few cracks at tying the game but Ivan Provorov’s blasts were blocked twice. On the second block, the Panthers counter-attacked, exited the zone, and Sam Reinhart iced the game with an empty netter.
The penalties and undiscipline nature of the Flyers cost them in this one. Even though they were able to net a shorthanded goal, the constant trips to the penalty box mitigated their momentum, chewed off important minutes off the clock, and hemmed their top offensive players on the bench. 7 minor penalties is too much, especially against an opponent like the Florida Panthers.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 of 29 shots he faced, Huberdeau had 2 goals an assist, and Owen Tippett and Sam Reinhart scored the other goals. For the Flyers, Carter Hart stopped 27 of 30 shots and they received goals from Cam Atkinson and Claude Giroux.
It was a measuring stick game and the Flyers played very well for the most part. Had it not been for their 7 penalties, it could’ve been a different game, but give the Panthers credit as they were buzzing all game and had an inordinate amount of dangerous scoring chances.
The Flyers’ homestand comes to a close as they now head out to Western Canada as they face the Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, and Calgary Flames with 3 games in 4 nights, starting on Wednesday at 10PM (ET) at Rogers Arena in Edmonton.
