Foerster breaks tie late in 3rd period, Flyers get past Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Tyson Foerster scored the go-ahead goal with 46 seconds remaining in the third period, and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Florida Panthers 4-2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday.

Foerster made it 3-2 by scoring from the top of the slot to the glove side on his own rebound after his initial shot was blocked by Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad in the right face-off circle.

Sean Couturier then scored on a deflection in the slot with 25 seconds left for the 4-2 final.

Philadelphia, which fell behind 2-0 early in the first period, got its 10th comeback win of the season and fourth multigoal comeback victory.

“It’s unfortunate I hit [Ekblad], he went down, and he was out of position because of that and I scored,” Foerster said. “We always get scored on first it seems like, and that’s not a great thing. But it’s great we always come back and give a good effort every night.”

Emil Andrae had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Drysdale had two assists for the Flyers (12-7-3), who have won three of their past four. Dan Vladar made 25 saves.

“They are a tough team, a tough building to play [in], and they are obviously the back-to-back champs,” said Vladar, who has won two of three starts against Florida this season. “You know what you’re going to see, and they crashed the net a lot. … They put the pressure on us, but after the first period, we regrouped and played a really good game. The whole game, we deserved to win.”

Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist, and Sam Bennett had two assists for the Panthers (12-10-1). Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 saves.

“It’s unfortunate because it was a good game though and through,” Verhaeghe said. “Ekblad made a big block and unfortunately the puck didn’t get back to him and they got one at the end. They played well. But it [stinks] losing that way.”

Brad Marchand gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 5:21 of the first period, roofing a shot from the right side off a cross-ice feed from Bennett for his 11th goal in his past 14 games.

“I liked our start and then obviously they flipped the table on us,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “[Vladar] was unreal and saved our bacon. Getting out of [the first trailing] 1-0, we were able to regroup and made a couple of adjustments. The resilience of the guys, give them a lot of credit. All four lines contributed, the D, and [Vladar] was great.”

Verhaeghe increased it to 2-0 at 5:16 of the second period. He scored on a one-timer from low in the left circle off another Bennett pass across the middle.

Andrae began the comeback by cutting the deficit to 2-1 at 7:57 after Bobrovsky lost his stick making a save on a hard shot from Drysdale. Though Bobrovsky got his stick back, he was holding it backward when Andrae’s point shot cut through traffic.

“I was not aware that he didn’t have his stick, I just got the puck and tried to get around it and put it on net,” Andrae said. “I’m glad it went in. … Obviously you have your ups and downs in a season and in a game. It was a slow start in the first, just trying to get back to a simple and hard game, let the game come to me. I think that worked pretty well tonight. Huge win. [Vladar] was great back there. It was nice.”

Matvei Michkov then tied it 2-2 at 11:13, scoring in the slot with a deflection of Andrae’s shot from just inside the blue line.

“We were slow in the third on plays that cost us some zone time,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “Everything came from the top. Tough one, tough way to lose a game like that. … We didn’t give up a whole lot, and I liked what we got. Just a frustrating ending, that’s all.”

NOTES: Foerster has four goals in his past four games. … Verhaeghe has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past two games. … Panthers forward Sam Reinhart had his seven-game point streak end (13 points; six goals, seven assists). … Ekblad slowly went to the bench after blocking Foerster’s shot. Maurice did not have an update on his status after the game.