Cates scores twice, Flyers rally past Panthers

PHILADELPHIA -- Noah Cates scored two goals, and the Philadelphia Flyers rallied for a 4-3 win against the Florida Panthers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.

Garnet Hathaway and Morgan Frost also scored for Philadelphia (19-20-5), which defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-0 on Saturday and has won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 10-12. Samuel Ersson made 20 saves.

Cates' second goal broke a 3-3 tie at 14:09 of the third period. He won a race for a loose puck at center ice, tipped it past Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov, gloved it down, skated in on Sergei Bobrovsky and lifted a backhand under the crossbar.

Florida led 2-1 at the start of the third period and had been 16-0-0 this season when leading after two periods.

"Huge, just a resilient effort, two wins in a row," Cates said. "Good team like that, the defending Stanley Cup champions. We've just got to keep it rolling."

Sam Reinhart scored two goals for Florida (25-16-3), which has lost three of four (1-2-1). Uvis Balinskis also scored, and Bobrovsky made 25 saves.

"I thought we had more turnovers than shots on the goal in the second period, and then you lose the flow of the game," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "They looked like they're skating faster, we look like we're slower. I don't know that either is true but we created that event."

The Panthers led 2-0 after the first period but a hit by Hathaway on Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola sent a jolt through the Flyers bench.

"We were pretty soft in the first," Cates said. "... To get started like that was definitely a jump for us."

Hathaway cut it to 2-1 at 7:51 of the second period when his centering pass intended for teammate Ryan Poehling went off the stick of Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt and past Bobrovsky.

Cates tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 2:01 of the third period, scoring off the rebound of a Travis Sanheim shot.

Reinhart scored his fifth goal in the past three games to put the Panthers ahead 3-2 at 3:35. He took a backhanded pass from Matthew Tkachuk in the right circle, spun around and beat Ersson with a snap shot on the power play.

It also was the forward's second straight two-goal game.

"He had a two-week block, maybe less than that, when he got sick this year," Maurice said. "Other than that he's just been flat-out great every night."

Frost knocked in a loose puck in the crease during a Philadelphia power play to tie it 3-3 at 5:59.

Cates' second goal gave him seven in the past 13 games after he scored two in his first 27. His ice time also has risen in that span, from 12:52 per game to 16:26. That includes playing 2:03 of the final 2:26 with Bobrovsky pulled for an extra attacker while defending a one-goal lead.

"Every player wants responsibility, and we're certainly giving it to him," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "He sees the door's open as far as the minutes that he's getting."

That trust is feeding Cates' confidence in his own game.

"I think I'm pretty dialed in in all areas, every zone," he said. "Getting opportunities 4-on-4, PP, PK, and just feel focused and dialed in on kind of all aspects of my game."

Reinhart put the Panthers ahead 1-0 with a short-handed goal at 7:59 of the first period. He intercepted a pass at the Philadelphia blue line, skated down the left-wing boards, cut through the slot and scored from a sharp angle on the right side.

Balinskis made it 2-0 at 9:34 with a shot from the right face-off circle.

But the Panthers couldn't sustain their first-period momentum.

"You see the difference when we're dictating the pace and when we're playing our game," Reinhart said. "We carry the play. Just got away from that, played into their hands a little bit, played into their game a little bit and we were on our heels. That's the difference from the first period to the next two."

NOTES: Philadelphia's six wins when trailing after two periods are tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for most in the NHL. ... The Flyers, who scored two power-play goals in their 6-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, scored multiple power-play goals in consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 31 and Feb. 2, 2019. ... Cates is the fourth Flyers player in the past 20 years to score a game-tying and go-ahead goal in the third period, joining Brayden Schenn (Dec. 10, 2016), Claude Giroux (Dec. 19, 2013) and R.J. Umberger (Nov. 16, 2006). ... Hathaway, who also scored against the Ducks, has goals in consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 22-28, 2023. ... Reinhart's short-handed goal was his NHL-best fifth of the season; he also scored five last season. He joined Mike Richards (five, 2007-08; seven, 2008-09) as the only players in the past 20 years to score at least five short-handed goals in consecutive seasons. ... Frost has goals in three straight games for the second time in his NHL career (Dec. 17-22, 2022).