Postgame RAV4: Foerster Caps Comeback in Florida

On Thansgiving eve, the Philadelphia Flyers earned yet another come-from-behind victory. Trailing the Florida Panthers in the second period, 2-0, the Flyers rallied for four unanswered goals to capture a 4-2 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions at Amerant Bank Arena.

The game seemed destined to head to overtime before the Flyers scored twice in the final minute of regulation. Tyson Foerster (8th goal of the season) netted the game winner with 46 seconds remaining in the third period. Subsequently, team captain Sean Couturier added an insurance goal to seal the win.

Philadelphia won the season series with the Panthers, two wins to one.

Brad Marchand (14th goal of the season) gave the Panthers a 1-0 edge less than six minutes into the first period. Ultimately, the Flyers were lucky to get out of the period down by just one goal.

Carter Verhaeghe (4th goal of the season) extended the Florida lead to 2-0 five-plus minutes into the second period. Shortly thereafter, an Emil Andrae shot (1st) got through traffic and narrowed the gap to one goal. A few minutes later, Matvei Michkov (6th) deflected an Andrae shot into the net for a 2-2 tie.

The Flyers were the better team in the third period despite low shot totals. Finally, Foerster and Couturier delivered the win in regulation.

Dan Vladar played an outstanding game in net to keep the score close before the team in front of him got rolling. He finished with 25 saves on 27 shots. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 13 saves on 17 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. They were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

First period synopsis

The first several shifts of the game went well for the Flyers on both sides of the puck. Then things went sideways.

An Emil Andrae turnover led to a flurry of shot attempts for Florida. The Flyers survived it but Florida scored on the net shift for a 1-0 lead. Nick Seeler broke his stick on a point shot and had to desperately track back without getting a replacement stick. After a pass from Carter Verhaeghe, Marchand scored from point blank range. The other assist went to Sam Bennett at 5:20.

Noah Cates received a high-sticking minor along the boards in the defensive zone. Vladar made a couple of tough saves on chances in close. Florida made another difficult save, this time through traffic. The Flyers survived the kill. Shots were 8-5 Florida through 10 minutes.

At 15:25, Anton Lundell went off for high sticking. The Flyers went to their first power play. Philly never got set up.

Overall, the Panthers dominated about 13 minutes of play after Philly had the better of the first couple minutes. Philly struggled to deal with Florida's relentless forecheck.

Shots: Flyers 7 - Panthers 15

Faceoffs: Flyers 4 - Panthers 10

Second period synopsis

The Flyers got off to a better start in the first few shifts. The fourth line generated a good forechecking shift. However, A.J. Greer got free and went in alone on Vladar. That swung the momentum again toward Florida.

At 5:16, after Tippett had a chance at one end, Florida scored a weak-side goal at the other end. Verhaeghe scored into the open half of the net after Sam Bennett put the puck through the crease across to Verhaeghe on the other side. Ekblad got the second assist.

Sergei Bobrovsky lost his stick. He never got full control of it before an Andrae wrist shot through traffic found the net at 7:56. The assists went to Jamie Drysdale and Tippett.

Andrae went to the box on a high-sticking penalty at 8:12. Christian Dvorak passed up a shorthanded scoring chance to make a drop pass to Sean Couturier. The Flyers captain then tried to pass the puck to Dvorak. The pay went awry without a shot. Philadelphia killed off the rest of the minor.

At 11:13, the Flyers knotted the score at 2-2. With Michkov set up between the circles, the Flyers forward tipped an Andrae shot into the net. The second apple went to Drysdale. Both Flyers defensemen made lateral plays to walk the blue line in the lead-up to the deflection goal.

Shots: Flyers 5 (12 overall) - Panthers 5 (20 overall)

Faceoffs: Flyers 9 (13 overall) - Panthers 5 (15 overall)

Third period synopsis

Three and a half minutes into the period, Garnet Hathaway was unable to settle the puck at the doorstep on a chance created by Sanheim.

Valdar went down in a heap at 7:08 after Marchand collided with him at the net. He stayed in the game.

Through nine minutes, shots on goal were officially 3-1 Panthers but Philly had the better pressure. Shot attempts narrowly missed.

Konecny, playing by far his best period of the game, made a clever seam pass to Sanheim.

At 11:40, the Flyers' Brink took a hooking penalty on an attempted forecheck just inside the attack zone. Vladar made one save during the successful kill.

The Flyers made a late push and cashed in. An intita shot by Foersters was blocked painfully by Ekblad, who went down in a heap. Gustav Forsling, with no stick, came out toward Foerster. Foerster fired again and scored at 19:14. The assists went to Sanheim and Cam York.

Florida was unable to pull Bobrovsky for an extra attacker. Cates' forechecking work created a Florida turnover. Couturier then deflected a Dvorak shot into the net to seal the game, 4-2, at 19:34. Dvorak got the lone assist.

Shots: Flyers 5 (17 overall) - Panthers 7 (27 overall)

Faceoffs: Flyers 12 (25 overall) - Panthers 10 (25 overall)

Flyers Starting Lineup

Trevor Zegras - Christian Dvorak - Owen Tippett
Tyson Foerster - Noah Cates - Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov - Sean Couturier - Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin - Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae – Noah Juulsen

Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1, Game management

The Flyers had things unravel in the first period after a good start. A single turnover started a wave of Florida momentum. Philly regained its equilibrium in a more resilient second period. By the third period, the Flyers dictated more of the play despite generating just five shots on net.

2. Tippett vs. his original team.

Owen Tippett came into the game with 99 career goals and 99 career assists. Assist number 100 came at his former team's expense on Andrae's goal.

3. Between the pipes.

It's hard to overstate how vital Vladar was to this victory. The Flyers could easily have been buried under an early deluge of goals. He kept the team in the team until Andrae's goal started the comeback.

4. Five-on-five play.

Things were ugly for the Flyers at 5-on-5 early in the game. As the game moved along, the Flyers steadied things for the most part and then started to make positive plays happen.