PHILADELPHIA – One more in the Great Fighting City of Philadelphia.
In the first of a back-to-back, the Florida Panthers (24-15-2) will take on the Philadelphia Flyers (18-20-5) at Wells Fargo Center on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.
Coming off a heart rate raising game against the Boston Bruins on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena, the Panthers will look to bounce back from the 4-3 loss in overtime.
Scoring twice, Sam Reinhart added his 24th and 25th goals of the season, including a game-tying goal with 2.8 seconds left in regulation before David Pastrnak netted the overtime winner for the Bruins with two seconds left in extra time.
“I think we had good energy throughout the whole game,” said Aleksander Barkov. “We did the right things, we played the right way. We had a lot of puck possession in their zone, which we want to do every single night. Obviously, not the end result we wanted, but I think there was a lot of positives in this game.”
Now, the Panthers will take on the Flyers for their third and final meeting of the season.
The prior two games between the teams were nothing short of dramatic.
On Nov. 9, the Panthers secured the victory with a 4-3 shootout win.
A back-and-forth, high-scoring affair in their last matchup on Dec. 5, the Flyers’ four-goal second period was sandwiched between the Panthers scoring three unanswered goals at the start and end of a 7-5 win.
The Panthers now enter their latest tilt against the Flyers sitting second in the Atlantic Division behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, who hold a three-point edge with one more game played.
Special teams have been a key factor in the first two wins against Philadelphia.
While on the man-advantage, the Panthers have lit the lamp four times on seven opportunities, with all four coming in their matchup in December.
Killing penalties hasn’t been a problem either.
On the penalty kill, the Panthers have prevented scoring on five of Philadelphia’s six power play chances.
With 10 different goal scorers in the prior two games, the Panthers haven’t had a shortage of depth.
"It's very important," said Anton Lundell on getting depth scoring. "It doesn't matter if it's the first or fourth line, that's just how good our team is."
Topping the charts, Matthew Tkachuk has recorded five points (goal, four assists) against the Flyers this season.
On the wings of the centering Aleksander Barkov, Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues have each tallied four points (goal, three assists) in the wins.
Sergei Bobrovsky will get the nod in net.
Per head coach Paul Maurice, Aaron Ekblad and Jonah Gadjovich will both not make the road trip in order to get some recovery time from injuries.
Finishing the last game of four-game homestand, the Flyers earned a decisive 6-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks in their last outing on Saturday.
With 41 points, the Flyers sit just five points outside of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
"It's really beneficial for us," said Uvis Balinskis on playing against teams fighting for a playoff spot. "That's our style of game and how we play. Every game is like a playoff game for us."
A month out from the 4 Nations Face-Off, Canada will be represented by two of the Flyers’ top players in Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim.
Leading all Flyers in goals (20), assists (30) and points (50), Konecny brings the offense and an edge (37 penalty minutes).
On the blue line, Sanheim leads Philadelphia’s defensemen in goals (six), assists (16), points (22), penalty minutes (26), shots (81) and ranks first on the team in average time on ice (24:37).
The Panthers will also have to look out for a familiar face in Owen Tippett, who scored twice in 23 seconds in their last meeting.
Samuel Ersson will be between the pipes for the Flyers.
This season, the Philadelphia goaltender owns a 10-7-2 record, 2.86 goals against average, and .888 save percentage.
THEY SAID IT
“I thought my game was going the right way and was good, and it just wasn't going in for me. Sometimes it just takes one to kind of not grip the stick as tight.” – Evan Rodrigues on scoring against the Boston Bruins
“I think there’s been an upswing over the last month, in the last two weeks especially. I thought last night was a good example of what he’s capable of.” – Paul Maurice on Nate Schmidt’s game as of late
FIVE CATS STATS
- 11 different Panthers have recorded a point against Philadelphia this season
- The Panthers have outshot their opponents 454-377 in the third period
- Florida’s 83.9% penalty kill on the road ranks fifth in the NHL
- Sam Reinhart has 16 goals in 33 career games against Philadelphia
- A.J. Greer leads the team with 117 hits
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Mackie Samoskevich
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Dmitry Kulikov
Niko Mikkola – Nate Schmidt
Tobias Bjornfot – Uvis Balinskis
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
- Jan. 6: D Tobias Bjornfot recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- Dec. 23: F Rasmus Asplund loaned to Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Monday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA
TV & Streaming: Panthers+, WSFL-TV, WHDT, WFTX, ESPN+ (out of market)
Radio: 790 WAXY (DADE/BROWARD); 1230 WBZT-AM & 92.1 WZZR-FM (PALM BEACH); 100.3 WCTH (FLORIDA KEYS); 101.7 WCZR (TREASURE COAST)
Cats on Tap: Click Here
