"We always believed in ourselves," forward Carter Verhaeghe said. "The job's not done yet. We clawed back, but we still have a lot of work to do. We have the right guys in the room."
Pushing their point streak to seven games, the Panthers secured a 5-2 win over the Red Wings less than 24 hours ago in the Motor City. Verhaeghe scored a pair of goals in the win to up his team-leading total to 36, while the blazingly-hot Matthew Tkachuk posted a goal and two assists to tie the franchise record for most multi-point games in a season with 31.
Gustav Forsling and Eric Staal also lit the lamp in Detroit, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves. On Forsling's goal in the second period that put the Panthers up 3-1, Aleksander Barkov tallied the 614th point of his career, moving him into first place on the franchise's all-time scoring list.
"It's a huge honor," said Barkov, who's recorded 61 points (18 goals, 43 assists) in 56 games this season. "After my career I'm going to realize even more what that means, but right now everything happens so fast. We won the game, we're in a playoff race, so you don't think about that too much. But obviously it's a huge honor to play for this organization. I'm really happy."
With Bobrovsky starting each of the last 13 games for the Panthers, there's a chance that head coach Paul Maurice turns to backup Alex Lyon against the Flyers. Recalled from the AHL on Sunday, Lyon, who's posted a 3-2-1 record in six appearances with Florida so far this season, looked sharp while stopping 34 of 35 shots during back-to-back wins with the Checkers this past weekend.
A nice surprise between the pipes, the Panthers know they can count on Lyon after the 30-year-old veteran made 38 saves during a 4-3 overtime win over the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins in his last start on Jan. 28.
Maurice is expected to announce a starting goaltender around 4:45 p.m. ET.
"With eight games in under two weeks, Alex is going to play in probably two of them," Maurice said on Monday. "We've got a plan. There's strong consideration for him playing tomorrow in Philadelphia."
When he speaks, Maurice should also have an update on Sam Bennett, who dished out two assists against the Red Wings before exiting with an injury. Following the win, Maurice had no immediate update on his status. In 63 games, Bennett has notched 16 goals and 24 assists.
Looking at the other end of the ice, the Flyers are in a rut.
Losing 14 of their last 18 games, the Flyers suffered a 5-4 overtime loss to the Hurricanes in their last outing on Saturday. During that 18-game span, they've have been outscored 67-38.
Despite being out of the lineup since Feb. 20 due to an injury, Travis Konecny still paces Philadelphia in goals (27) and points (54). Not far behind, Kevin Hayes ranks second in points (51) and first in assists (34), while Owen Tippett sits third in points (39), including 21 goals.
Expected to get the nod in net for the Flyers, Carter Hart has handled the bulk of the work in net this season, going 18-21-10 with a .907 save percentage. In seven career starts against the Panthers, the 24-year-old netminder has posted a 3-4-0 record behind a .913 save percentage.
Facing off for the third and final time in 2022-23, the Panthers and Flyers have split their season series thus far. After the Panthers secured a 4-3 win in Sunrise back on Oct. 19, the Flyers got their revenge later that month with a 4-3 win of their own in Philadelphia on Oct. 27.
Dating back to Nov. 13, 2018, the Panthers own a 7-3-0 record against the Flyers.
