Flyers Swoop On Panthers

     The Philadelphia Flyers outlasted the Florida Panthers 4-3 at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. The contest concluded a short two-game road trip for the Panthers. Eric Staal made his playing debut with the Cats. 

     Florida(4-3-1) broke out to a 1-0 lead at the 3:41 mark of the first period. Carter Verhaeghe backhanded it out of the right corner and Aleksander Barkov trapped the puck in the low slot. Gustav Forsling took a snap shot from the high slot that trickled by Carter Hart for his second goal of the campaign. 

     Philadelphia(5-2-0) tied it up 1-1 at 6:41 of the first. Joel Farabee centered a loose puck from the right wing. Travis Konecny made a backhand pass across from the slot area and Tony DeAngelo placed a one-time shot from the low left circle past Sergei Bobrovsky for his second tally this season. 

     The Panthers answered back at the 7:58 mark to reclaim the lead 2-1. Colin White dropped the puck from the high slot to Radko Gudas. His slap shot was saved then Josh Mahura scored on a wrist shot from the low left circle for his second tally of the year. 

     The Flyers evened it 2-2 with 4:32 left in the period with a power-play goal. Kevin Hayes released a wrist shot from the high slot that was blocked in the crease by Gudas. Konecny chipped a square pass from the left of the crease and Scott Laughton tapped it in from the top of the crease for his third goal of the season. 

     In the second period, Philadelphia got their first lead of the contest 3-2 with 9:43 remaining. They won a left-circle faceoff, Nick Seeler snapped a shot from the left point that was deflected in by Zack MacEwen in the inner left circle.  

     It became 4-2 for the Flyers over a minute later with 8:31 left in the second. Former Panther Owen Tippett sent a lead pass from the red line to Hayes at the Florida blue line for a breakaway. He was stoned on his shot, then centered the puck from the right corner and Farabee steered it in from the top of the crease for his second goal of the year. 

     The Cats scored with the man advantage just 36 seconds into the third period and closed it to 4-3. Matthew Tkachuk took a snap shot from the right wing which was saved, Sam Reinhart poked away the rebound and Brandon Montour shoveled a backhand shot from the low left circle.