Postgame 5: Flyers Fall to Florida, 7-5

The Philadelphia Flyers lost a seesaw game to the Florida Panthers, 7-5, at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening. The Flyers overcame deficits of 3-0 and 4-2 to eventually lead 5-4. Unfortunately, they could not overcome Florida's special teams.

The Panthers strafed the Flyers' penalty kill for four goals on five power play opportunities. The Flyers were 1-for-4 on the power play.

The Flyers had four of the game's first six shots on goal but trailed early. At 2:36 of the first period, the Flyers gave up a goal late in a shift after two lost puck battles. Evan Rodrigues (7th goal of the season) moved to his right and stuffed the puck through Ivan Fedotov's pads. Assists were initially credited to Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen but the scoring was later changed to an unassisted goal.

Florida opened a 2-0 lead at 6:57 of the first period. The sequence started with a Travis Sanheim turnover on the boards. After a pass out from Matthew Tkachuk, defenseman Niko Mikkola (2nd) scored through traffic from the top of the left circle. The assists went to Tkachuk and Jesper Boqvist.

The Flyers played better as the opening period progressed but took a two-goal deficit to the locker room. Shots on goal favored Philadelphia, 10-7.

Ivan Fedotov made five saves on seven shots in his one period of play. Aleksei Kolosov entered at the start of the second period. Kolosov eventually took the loss with four goals allowed on 20 shots.

At 2:01 of the second period, Carter Verhaeghe scored an apparent power play goal on a loose rebound near the net. The Flyers challenged the goal for goaltender interference on Tkachuk as he moved through the crease. The goal was disallowed upon replay review. After play resumed, Kolosov stopped Verhaeghe at the left post.

Florida scored a power play goal that counted at 3:00. Tkachuk made an area pass to Sam Reinhart, who then fed Aleksander Barkov for a backhand goal upstairs (7th) and a 3-0 lead. The assists went to Reinhart and Tkachuk.

Tyson Foerster (6th) responded with a power play goal at 7:13 to narrow the deficit to 3-1. From the right boards, Matvei Michkov attempted to pass to Joel Farabee at the left post. The puck was directed off Farabee's skate to Foerster on the other side. Foerster collected the puck and tucked it home.

At 9:31, Nick Seeler (2nd) stole an attempted breakout pass and then scored an unassisted goal from the left circle between Knight's side at the post. The deficit was now down to 3-2.

Verhaeghe (8th) restored a two-goal lead on the power play, making it 4-2 at 13:35 as he scored from right of the net. The assists went to Tkachuk (third of the game) and Barkov.

Former Panthers winger Owen Tippett proceeded to score two goals (6th and 7th) spaced 23 seconds apart to tie the score at 4-4. Michkov assisted on both. The first goal, scored at 17:41 started with a lost neutral zone faceoff. Tippett forced a turnover. Michkov collected the puck and returned it to Tippett, who scored on a one-time blast from the bottom of the left circle.

The second goal at 18:04 started with a key save by Aleksei Kolosov at one end and a scoring play by Tippett at the other end after taking a pass from Michkov. Tippett attempted to pass to Morgan Frost going to the net. The pass was broken up but the puck went right back to Tippett.

Second period shots on goal were tied at 13-13 (23-20 in the Flyers' favor through 40 minutes).

Scoring his second goal this season against Florida, Garnet Hathaway (3rd) collected loose change around the net for a 5-4 lead at 5:39 after Scott Laughton kept the puck alive. Rasmus Ristolainen, who sent the puck at the net initially, earned the second assist.

During a 4-on-4, Florida tied the score at 5-5. It started with Florida making a play in the attack zone. Gustav Forsling (4th) of the season finessed a shot from the point through traffic and into the net. The assists went to Sam Bennett and Rodrigues.

Florida scored their third power play goal of the game at 18:01 of the third period. Verhaeghe backhanded the puck to a wide open Reinhart (19th) in the left slot. From there, he wired a shot into the net to put Florida ahead, 6-5. The other assist went to Tkachuk.

An empty net power play goal by Tkachuk (8th) with 10.8 seconds remaining in the game sealed a 7-5 final. The goal was unassisted.

Third period shots on goal were 11-8 Flyers (34-28 Flyers overall).

A shaky-looking Spencer Knight earned the win in net for Florida on the strength of seven goals worth of support. He turned aside 29 of 34 shots overall.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny

74 Own Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 39 Matvei Michkov

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates- 10 Bobby Brink

21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York

36 Emil Andrae - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 5 Egor Zamula

82 Ivan Fedotov

[35 Aleksei Kolosov]

PP1: Andrae, Brink, Couturier, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Sanheim, Tippett, Frost, Farabee, Foerster

Scratches: 33 Samuel Ersson (IR) ,77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 9 Jamie Drysdale (IR).

TURNING POINT

The Flyers get high marks for resiliency and for second period push. Ultimately, however, special teams were Philly's undoing.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Eleven 4 Nations participants (eight Panthers, three Flyers): Led by Tkachuk's five-point game (1g, 4a), Reinhart's three points (1g, 2a) and Barkov's goal and assist, six of Florida's eight 4 Nations selectees contributed at least one point. The other two -- Lundell and Lustarinen -- had assists taken away on a scoring change. On the Flyers' end, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim were held off the scoresheet while Ristolainen chipped in an assist.

2. Goalie matchup: Entering Thursday, there was uncertainty over whether Samuel Ersson (coming off a lower-body injury) would be in net for the Flyers or if Sergei Bobrovsky (personal leave) would be available for Florida. Fedotov got the start for the Flyers and Knight played for the Panthers. As it turned out, none of the goalies -- Fedotov or Kolosov for the Flyers and Florida's Knight -- played particularly well.

3. Cates line: The line generated a scoring chance on their first shift of the game but, at the end of the shift, were complicit in Florida's goal that opened the scoring. Midway through the second period, with Foerster's power play goal in the cash register, the line had a strong five-on-five shift that kept Florida hemmed in. The line was on the ice for Seeler's goal.

4. Five-on-five play: The Flyers did well in terms of puck possession. Philly outscored Florida at five-on-five, 4-2. The issues were on the special teams side plus Florida's 4-on-4 tally.

5. Flyers power play reset: The Flyers moved Brink onto the top unit and Frost onto the second. Trailing 2-0 in the opening period, Philly's first power play of the game did not generate much pressure. Foerster's second period power play goal saw both Farabee and the goal scorer were in goal position at the net. The Flyers early third period power play was similar to the first. The final power play was an abbreviated one.