Panthers Fold To Flyers

     The Florida Panthers extended their winless streak to four games to open the regular season as they were dropped by the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 in a shootout at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. It was the beginning for the Cats where they play seven of the next eight games away from South Florida.
     Florida(0-2-2) waited to late in the first period to get the lead. Frank Vatrano was in the low slot and put the puck by Brian Elliott with 2:02 left in the period. Denis Malgin and Jared McCann were credited with assists on the play.
     The second period would belong to the Flyers. Wayne Simmonds scored at the 1:18 mark and Jordan Weal followed at 5:54 to give Philadelphia(3-3-0) a 2-1 lead. Aaron Ekblad turned the puck over in his own zone on a pass through the slot and Claude Giroux directed a one-time wrist host past Michael Hutchinson 8:50 in.
     The Panthers stopped three unanswered Philly goals later in the stanza. Vatrano picked up his second goal of the game on an assist from McCann with 7:29 remaining in the second.
     Philadelphia made it a two-goal margin again with 4:31 to go in the frame. Christian Folin sailed a pass from his own goal line diagonally to Scott Laughton on the left side of the Panthers blue line. He centered a pass to Simmonds in the slot and he switched to a backhand shot for his second tally of the contest.
     The Flyers increased the gap to 5-2 with 2:57 left. Giroux got his second goal on a feed from South Florida native Shane Gostisbehere.
     Florida responded with a power-play goal just 22 seconds later. Keith Yandle moved the puck across the ice to Mike Hoffman on the left point. He skated down the left wing. tried to connect a pass to Barkov in the crease and the puck went past the goalie. It was the first goal by Hoffman in a Panthers uniform.
     The Panthers chipped at the deficit during the third period and tied the game 5-5. Evgenii Dadonov found the net from the low slot on a lead pass by Borgan Kiselevich from the right point at 5:06. Barkov evened it up as he sprinted up center ice into the Flyers zone on a breakaway and scored on a backhand shot at the 8:07 mark.
     The contest moved into a shootout with no goals in the overtime session. Jacob Voracek scored on the Flyers first attempt with a low wrist shot. Vincent Trocheck shot for the Cats was wide right with a forehand and a Giroux snapshot was saved with the blocker. Barkov tied it on the Panthers second attempt with a backhand shot. Weal put in a snap shot through the five-hole on Philadelphia's third attempt. Vatrano placed a wrist shot which was kick-saved to give the Flyers a victory.