RECAP: Flyers 5, Panthers 2

PHILADELPHIA – Well, no one stays undefeated forever.

Suffering their first loss of the season, the Florida Panthers opened their five-game road trip with a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday.

A hard-fought game, the score was tied 2-2 up until 4:10 left in regulation.

“They came out fast,” forward Sam Bennett said. “They had a lot of jump to start the game. They put some good pressure on us. I thought we played well in the third [period]. We had a good pushback and a lot of chances. They capitalized, and we couldn’t get it back.”

Energized in their home opener, the Flyers broke the ice when Tyson Foerster beat Daniil Tarasov with a blocker-side snipe from the slot to make it 1-0 at 8:54 of the first period.

Keeping the deficit at one goal, the Panthers killed off a threatening power play in the second period despite the Flyers spending nearly the entire two minutes in the zone.

Gobbling up one-timers, Tarasov made five saves during that kill alone.

“I don’t have any thoughts in my head at that time,” said Tarasov, who finished with 17 saves during an impressive debut with the Panthers. “Just trying to make the other save and be simple. Stay in the crease and not do too much. Just let the puck come to me.”

Catching the Panthers in a change after a turnover, the Flyers doubled their lead later in the middle frame when Sean Couturier cashed in on a breakaway to make it 2-0 at 15:47.

Getting the Panthers on the board just before the second intermission despite being on the penalty kill, Sam Reinhart, after being stopped on his initial attempt, managed to tuck the puck past Dan Vladar to cap off a wild sequence around the net and make it 2-1 at 19:22.

Last season, Reinhart ranked tied for third in the NHL with five shorthanded goals.

“They’re so good together,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the penalty-killing tandem of Reinhart and Anton Lundell. “That’s an obvious pair for us. I’ve liked our kill.”

Excelling on both sides of special teams to start the season, the Panthers found the game-tying goal on the power play just past the midway point of the third period.

After drawing Vladar out of position, Reinhart skated around the net before setting up Bennett for a goal from the left circle to close the gap and make it 2-2 at 10:15.

His first goal of the season, Bennett will continue to cover the adoption fee of a pet at the Humane Society of Broward County each time he scores as part of his person “Benny's Buddies" charity.

Following a little 4-on-4 action, the Panthers found themselves on their fifth penalty kill of the game late in the third period, but managed to survive and give up just two shots on goal.

Unfortunately, not long after that, Couturier scored to put Philadelphia up 3-2 at 15:50.

From there, Bobby Brink and Christian Dvorak added empty-net goals to lock in the 5-2 win for the Flyers.

“We’ll look back at the game and it won’t be a lot of defensive breakdowns,” Maurice said. “It’s what we did with the puck and why. A lot of standing with the puck when we moved it. A slow-puck game. The turnovers, even broken plays or plays that didn’t get completed, we were standing still when we were moving the puck.”

THEY SAID IT

“He was good. He gets across the net real hard, talks to his D-men. He was fine. Most of the action he got was of the higher end.” – Paul Maurice on Daniil Tarasov’s debut

“That was huge. We had no momentum at that time, and then that give us a bunch of life at the end of the period there.” – Sam Bennett on Sam Reinhart’s shorthanded goal

“It was kind of good. I didn’t play a while, a couple weeks. It was kind of good. I got some shots in the first period.” – Daniil Tarasov on his debut with the Panthers

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart recorded his 11^th career shorthanded goal, third-most in Panthers history.

- Anton Lundell and Luke Kunin each won seven faceoffs.

- Sam Bennett logged a team-high seven hits.

- Aaron Ekblad blocked a team-high four shots.

- Florida improved to 12-for-12 on the penalty kill this season.

- The Panthers surrendered just four shots on goal in the third period.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The road trip is only just getting started.

Opening up a back-to-back against a pair of opponents from the Eastern Conference, the Panthers will face the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.

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