POSTGAME 5: Flyers Run out of Comebacks in 4-3 Loss to Florida

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Florida Panthers, 4-3. at FLA Live Arena on Wednesday evening. The Flyers battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the second period but Florida put the game out of reach in the third.

Carter Verhaeghe (1st and 2nd goals of the season) built a 2-0 lead for the Panthers in the first period, sandwiched around a disallowed would-be goal for Travis Konecny. In the latter stages of the first period,Nick Seeler (1st) got one back for the Flyers.
Florida had various chances in the second period to restore a two-goal margin. In the latter stages of the period, a James van Riemsdyk power play goal (2nd) in a scramble near the net made it a 2-2 game.
Rudolfs Balcers (1st) restored a 3-2 lead for Florida at 3:51 of the third period. Florida defenseman Josh Mahura (1st) made it 4-2 at 9:08. Travis Konecny (4th) scored a 6-on-5 goal with two seconds left in the game.
With the Flyers playing for the third time in four nights, Felix Sandström got the nod in goal.Sandström stopped 30 of 34 shots. Veteran netminder Sergei Bobrovsky started for the Panthers, denying 31 of 34 Philadelphia shots.
The Flyers were 1-for-6 on the power play. The Panthers went 0-for-3.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 49 Noah Cates - 17 Zack MacEwen
21 Scott Laughton - 48 Morgan Frost - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 59 Jackson Cates - 58 Tanner Laczynski
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 54 Egor Zamula
32 Felix Sandström
[79 Carter Hart]
TURNING POINT
A communication breakdown between Nick Seeler and Egor Zamula turned a routine 2-on-2 into a deadly scoring chance. Balcers put Florida ahead again; this time to stay.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1. The Panthers roared out to a 10-3 shot advantage and a 2-0 lead in the scoreboard over the first 10:47 of the first period. A negative early tone was set when Kevin Hayes and Wade Allison passed up open shooting lanes and made attempted passes that were intercepted.
Tony DeAngelo took a tripping penalty at 2:02. Eetu Luostistaren hit the post late in the man advantage.
Florida took a 1-0 lead at 6:06. Verhaeghe fired off a right circle that found the net hight to the short side high with Sandström on his knees. The assists went to Aleksander Barkov and Radko Gudas.
Less than a minute later, at 7:04, it seemed momentarily as if the Flyers had tied the game. Konecny took a pass over the middle from Joel Farabee and beat Bobrovsky down low. The Panthers challenged for offside, saying that Farabee had lost control of the puck upon entry and put himself offside. Upon review, the goal was overturned.
Florida opened a 2-0 lead at 8:38 on a transition rush (their second within a minute). Verhaeghe took a pass from Forsling and his shot was partially blocked by the stick of Justin Braun but made its way into the net. Barkov picked up his second assist of the period on the play.
After a misread by Ivan Provorov, the Flyers defenseman scurried back and took a hooking penalty to restrain Anton Lundell at 14:02. The Panthers came within a whisker of a 3-0 lead but Sam Reinhart missed a half-open net.
The Flyers cut the deficit to 2-1 at 16:31. MacEwen won a battle behind the net and Hayes finessed the puck out in front to a wide-open Seeler, who scored.
Veteran forward Patric Hörnqvist was called for hooking Provorov at 16;45. The Flyers did not score, and coughed up a 2-on-1 shorthanded chance early on the power play.
A hustle play by MacEwen created a scoring chance after play went back to five-on-five manpower.
Finally, at 19:28, Seeler took a Reinhart high-stick to the face. The Flyers were unable to score over the remaining 32 seconds and took 1:28 of carryover PP time into the second period.

2. The Flyers gave up an unacceptable four odd-man rushes in the first period. First period shots were 14-8 in Florida's favor. Scoring chances were 11-4 Florida (with a 5-2 high-danger differential). All things considered, things could have been a lot worse on the scoreboard for the Flyers than a 2-1 deficit.
   3. During the carryover power play for the Flyers, a shorthanded breakaway for Tkachuk was stopped by Sandström. The Flyers had one shot on goal at the other end on a Konecny scoring chance.
   The Flyers went back to the power play at 3:45 when Nick Cousins tripped Sanheim. Konency was unable to finish a chance with net to shoot at PP2 later coughed up yet another odd-man rush for Florida.
   Florida started to crank up their cycling game on the forecheck as play moved to the middle stages. The Flyers responded with a good cycling shift of their own, led by Scott Laughton, Wade Allison and a good pinch by Seeler.
   Seeler received the only penalty (roughing) from an after-the-whistle scrum in the Flyers' end stirred up by Tkachuk at 11:55. Sandström robbed Reinhart. at the doorstep.
   With six seconds remaining on the Florida power play, Verhaeghe grabbed hold of Sanheim and took a penalty at 13:49. Finally at 15:16, after a Prorovov shot was blocked by Forsling and Konecny kept the puck alive, van Riemsdyk dug it free and scored from just in front of the crease to tie the score at 2-2. Farabee and Konecny received the assists.

At 18:25 of the middle frame, Lundell sped over the middle. Sandström made a clean glove save of the shot.
Laughton blocked a shot to snuff out a play in the final half-minute as the game went to the second period tied at 2-2.
4. Second period shots were 12-7 in the Panthers' favor. Scoring chances were 11-6 Florida (with an 8-3 high-danger differential). Through two periods, the Flyers had blocked 11 shots (led by three from Seeler) and were credited with 13 hits (four for McEwen).
5. On the first shift of the third period, a Konecny turnover in the neutral zone led to a heap of pressure in the Philadelphia zone. On the next shift, Laughton authored a blocked shot with Florida pressing.
Florida took a 3-2 lead at 3:51. It started out as a 2-on-2 before Balcers got behind the D and took a pass from Bennett. Shifting to the backhand, he went upstairs on the backhand. Tkachuk received the secondary assist.
Frost was denied on a breakaway by Bobrovsky with a chance to re-tie the game on the next shift. Frost attempted to go glove side.
At 9:08, a fluttering shot by Mahura from the top of the right circle -- perhaps partially blocked by DeAngelo -- beat Sandström under the glove. This was one that needed to be stopped. Bennett and Tkachuk each drew another assist.
JVR took a stretch pass from DeAngelo and went in on Bobrovsky. The goalie stopped the backhand attempt.
Balcers was called for hooking Noah Cates at 11:23. In the waning seconds of the power play, Frost drove the net but Allison wasn't quite able to get a return give-and-go back to the center.
With 4:28 left in regulation, the Flyers pulled Sandström for an extra attacker. Philly's young players generated push. Farabee drew a hooking penalty on Forsling with 2:31 left. The Flyers generated no meaningful pressure.
Philly called timeout with 39.2 seconds on the clock. They had one final crack but were unable to score with sufficient time left for a final push, Konecny scored from the right side with two ticks left on the clock. DeAngelo and Hayes received assists.
Third period shots were 19-9 in the Flyers' favor; 35-34 Florida for the game, High-danger scoring chances were 4-2 Flyers (14-10 Florida for the game).