Flyers score four in second period, defeat Panthers

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux looks like he's having fun again.
Giroux had a goal and an assist in the Flyers' 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.

It was his second consecutive multipoint game, the first time he's done that since Dec. 6-8, 2016. He had two goals and two assists in an 8-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Last season, Giroux was slowed by the lingering effects of hip and abdominal muscle surgery he had in May 2016. Giroux, who had 58 points (14 goals, 44 assists) last season, said not being able to play at a high level made it a grind.
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Flyers highlights]
This season, though, he has nine points (four goals, five assists) in six games and is skating as smoothly ever for the Flyers (4-2-0).
"When you win it's fun," he said.
Coach Dave Hakstol said Giroux's strong training camp has carried into the start of the season.
"He's playing hard and he's making plays," Hakstol said. "He's playing good hockey. … We said that all the way along, his conditioning level, his level of play right from Day One of camp has been excellent."

Shayne Gostisbehere also had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia. Sean Couturier, Dale Weise and Valtteri Filppula scored and Michael Neuvirth had 40 saves.
Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds didn't play the final 8:12 of the third period because of a lower-body injury. General manager Ron Hextall said more information would be available Wednesday.
Jamie McGinn scored for Florida (2-3-0), and Roberto Luongo had 34 saves.
Couturier scored the first of four Flyers goals in the second period at 1:05, and Gostisbehere made it 2-0 when he finished a give-and-go with Simmonds at 7:35, with a hard shot over Luongo's blocker for his first goal of the season. Giroux scored on the power play at 13:22 to make it 3-0, and Weise scored his first at 16:16.
"I thought we started pretty good tonight," McGinn said. "Got shots early, played the right way, then made some turnovers, got into some penalty trouble and didn't rebound from that. A lot of what we gave them was from us, on turnovers and not getting pucks out and we stayed a little bit too long in our end."

McGinn scored his first of the season at 16:10 of the third period on a power play.
Filppula was credited with an empty-net goal at 18:23 of the third when he lost a face-off to the Panthers' Nick Bjugstad, who put it in his net from the neutral zone on the Flyers' side of center ice.

Goal of the game

Couturier scored the Flyers' first goal for the second straight game. Jakub Voracek made a nice play to poke the puck to Voracek in front of Luongo. Couturier puck-handled around the goalie, and as he was falling to the ice pushed it across the goal line.

Save of the game

The Panthers trailed 1-0 when Radim Vrbata had a chance on a 2-on-1 but Neuvirth slid over to smother his shot at 7:07 of the second.

Highlight of the game

Nolan Patrick dropped a pass in the slot between his skates for a trailing Weise, who lifted the puck over a fallen Luongo to give the Flyers a 4-0 lead.
"I kind of saw [Weise] when the puck was on my backhand," Patrick said. "I saw him over my shoulder he was right behind me so I just dropped it back to him and I knew he was on his forehand."

They said it

"As soon as they got the first goal there was a bit of a letdown. First goal's a missed assignment on a face-off, second goal's a missed assignment in the neutral zone. Now you're down 2-0. Now you start coming out of the [penalty] box and getting out of the team play and team structure. We're trying to drive that home and stick with the foundation and the little things that we do well. When we do that we have success. When we go on our own page, that's when we have our troubles." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"Zero-zero after the first [period], we knew we played a good period. You stick with it, you get your chances and they start going in. You just stick with it." -- Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere

Need to know

Giroux's assist was his 400th in the NHL. … Voracek has seven assists in the past four games. … The Flyers have won four straight against the Panthers, having swept the three-game season series in 2016-17. … Flyers rookie defenseman Robert Hagg had an assist on Gostisbehere's goal for his first NHL point. … Luongo remains tied with Curtis Joseph for fourth on the NHL all-time wins list (454). ... Panthers rookie forward Owen Tippett, the No. 10 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, had a game-high seven shots on goal in 11:39 of ice time in his NHL debut.

What's next

Panthers:Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, FS-F, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Flyers:Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, FS-TN, NHL.TV)