Panthers Stop Flyers

     The press box at the BB&T Center was dedicated to Roger Neilson earlier in the day as the Florida Panthers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 on Monday night. Neilson was the first head coach in Panthers history and led them in their first two campaigns in the NHL. He also coached almost three seasons with the Flyers after his tenure with the Cats.
     Neither team scored in the first period, however it was all Florida(7-13-5) during the second. They stopped a five-on-three power play for the Flyers that lasted 1:23 in the first couple of minutes of the second period.
     After they killed off the second penalty, the Panthers scored 29 seconds later at 3:35 when Sean Bergenheim came from behind the Philly cage and stuffed in a backhand shot by Steve Mason. It was his first goal since March 20, 2012 which he also got against the Flyers.
     Bergenheim made it 2-0 at 13:59 as he redirected the puck in the slot following a Marcel Goc slapshot from the top left circle during the Panthers second power play of the game.
     Philadelphia(10-11-2) fought back in the third period to close the gap to 2-1 at 7:06. They were on the power play when Claude Giroux passed the puck from the left circle to Scott Hartnell in the slot area. He snapped a one-time shot that was saved by Tim Thomas, but Wayne Simmonds pounced on the rebound and put it in the net from the edge of the crease. It was his fifth tally of the season and Giroux extended his point streak to five games.
     Erik Gudbranson picked up an insurance goal, his first this season, with 4:08 left in the third period to give the Cats some breathing room down the stretch. He fired a slapshot from the top of the zone that hit Mason's left shoulder, went up into the air and rolled into the net.
     Thomas started his ninth consecutive game in goal for Florida as he made 37 saves and improved his record to 6-7-1. Mason fell to 7-8-2 as he stopped 28 shots in the loss. The Panthers went 1-for-2 on the power play while Philadelphia was 1-for-4.