Postgame 5: Flyers Overcome Panthers, 4-3

The Philadelphia Flyers upset the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers with a 4-3 comeback victory on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.

Two goals by Noah Cates led the way for the Flyers. Philly also got tallies from Morgan Frost and Garnet Hathaway as they overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2. Goaltender Samuel Ersson stopped 20 of 23 shots but came up huge several times in the third period.

The Flyers finished 2-2-0 on their now-completed four-game homestand.

The Flyers went to the first intermission trailing, 2-0. Shots on goal were 8-7 in Florida's favor. Philly blocked seven shots but did not look sharp with the puck or in their pace of play.

Sean Couturier had Philly's first scoring chance of the game on a play off the rush. The Flyers had two of the first three shots on net but Florida narrowly missed the target on several looks at the net.

The Flyers went to the game's first power play at 6:49 as Aleksander Barkov was called for high-sticking in the offensive zone. The Flyers won the first faceoff but the structure and execution broke down. At 7:59, after a bad lateral pass at the Florida blueline, Sam Reinhart (SHG, 26th goal of the season) scored an unassisted shorthanded goal for a 1-0 lead.

The Florida edge grew to 2-0 at 9:34 as defenseman Uvis Balinskis (2nd) beat Ersson through the five hole on a screened shot past Cam York. The assists went to Evan Rodrigues and Nat Schmidt.

Four-on-four play ensued at 11:34 after an A.J. Greer embellishment penalty offset a Couturier slashing penalty minor. Florida went to their first power play at 14:43 on an Egor Zamula tripping penalty. The Flyers killed it off with Florida generating two shots.

Travis Konecy drew an interference penalty on Florida's Rodrigues at 17:59 of the first period. The Flyers lost the first draw this time and never got set up.

The Flyers controlled most of the second period, picking up their puck pressure considerably. In the process, Philly drew back within 2-1. Shots on goal were 13-6 Flyers (20-13 Flyers through 40 minutes).

Garnet Hathaway opened the second period with a big hit on Niko Mikkola during the first shift. At around the three-minute mark, Couturier was stopped by Sergei Bobrovsky on a breakaway. On their next shift, Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster had chances in close.

The Flyers' fourth line, striking for the second straight game, cut the deficit to 2-1 at 7:51. From the right side, Hathaway made a cross-seam pass intended for Ryan Poehling (5th) far side for a potential slam dunk. The puck went in off a defender without Poehling touching it, so an unassisted goal (5th) was credited to Hathaway after the tally was initially awarded to Poehling.

Philly went to its third power play on a Jesper Boqvist hooking minor at 10:04. Morgan Frost was unable to score at the net on a rebound followup, as Philly narrowly missed tying the game. With play back at 5-on-5 a few shifts later, Matvei Michkov came close to a tying goal but was denied by Bobrovsky.

The Flyers went to their fourth power play at 43 seconds of the third period on a Barkov tripping minor. The Frost unit generated strong pressure but could not score. However, the Cates unit followed up on the back end of the power play by making it a 2-2 game.

At 2:01, Cates (PPG, 8th) pounded home a rebound of a Travis Sanheim shot. The helpers went to Sanheim and Ristolainen.

Couturier was called on a marginal hooking penalty in the attack zone at 2:55. Florida got the goal right as Reinhart (PPG, 26th) scored from the right slot to restore a 3-2 lead on his second goal of the game. The assists went to Matthew Tkachuk and Barkov.

Philly returned to the power play at 4:14 on a Dmitry Kulikov tripping penalty. The Flyers won the first draw and got set up, Finally, at 5:59, Frost poked home a loose puck in the crease (PPG, 10th) for a goal in his third straight game. The assists went to Michkov and Jamie Drysdale.

Florida surged for a couple of shifts. Ersson stepped up a couple of times to keep the game tied. At the other end, the line of Owen Tippett, Frost and Konecny came close.

Finally, at 14:09, Cates hustled to the puck, took it to the house and scored an go-ahead goal (9th) for his second goal of the game. The only assist went to Tyson Foerster.

After a Frost turnover deep in the defensive zone, Ersson made two fantastic saves to protect the 4-3 lead with 2:30 left in the third period.

Florida pulled Bobrovsky for an extra attacker. After heavy pressure and another Ersson save, the Flyers finally got a much-needed clearing pass. With 32.6 second left, Foerster was unable to hit the empty net. Florida called a timeout.

Cates kept the puck tied up in a lengthy board battle. Florida never regained the offensive zone.

Former Flyers goaltender Bobrovsky stopped 25 of 29 shots.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
15 Olle Lycksell - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov
21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

33 Samuel Ersson
[82 Ivan Fedotov]

PP1: Drysdale,Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Ristolainen, Foerster, Cates, Brink, Laughton

Scratches:77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (healthy), 86 Joel Farabee (healthy).

TURNING POINT

According to several Flyers players, the team had an animated discussion in the locker room after their poor first period. Opening the second period, Hathaway's big hit on Mikkola set a much more competitive tone. The Flyers built in that small moment and eventually started to take over play for a substantial stretch.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Stay on an even keel: No team wants to play from multiple-goals down in a game but the Flyers have shown the resiliency -- including in all three games of the season series against Florida this season -- to bounce back and eventually erase the deficit. This time around, the Flyers were able to skate off with a win against the Panthers.

2. Ersson coming off a shutout: Flyers goaltender Ersson, like most of the team, had a rocky first period. Then he settled in and ultimately played his best hockey with the game on the line in the third period.

3. Tippett vs. his former team: After posting a goal and an assist against Anaheim on Saturday, the Flyers left winger had three shots on goal on five attempts in 19:20 of ice time against the Panthers. Last time out against Florida, he had two goals on the same late second-period shift. In the bigger picture, Tippett's line with Travis Konecny and Frost is showing promise offensively as a trio.

4. Defensemen joining the attack: Travis Sanheim pinched on the play effectively a couple of times in Monday's game. Most of the offensive contributions from the defense corps on this night came from plays made just inside the point.

5. Special team battle: The Flyers went 2-for-5 on the power play. They were 1-for-2 on the penalty kill. Monday's game marked the first time since January 31 and February 2, 2019, that the Flyers have scored two power play goals in back to back games.