Giroux, Simmonds score twice in Flyers 6-5 shootout win over Florida

The Philadelphia Flyers came into tonight’s game looking to even up their record.

Late goal losses are the worst, and the Philadelphia Flyers witnessed that first hand in their 1-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. They can’t dwell on the past, and must look forward to this matchup against the Florida Panthers.

Brian Elliott started in-net opposing Michael Hutchinson. Christian Folin also entered the game for Andrew MacDonald, who was a late decision healthy scratch from Head coach Dave Hakstol.

Florida came into the game without a win in three games on the season, and started out on fire. The Flyers couldn’t keep them out of their zone in the beginning of the first period. Elliott had recorded nine saves through twelve minutes of the period, compared to Hutchinson’s three. Travis Konecny took an interference penalty, handing Florida their first power-play opportunity of the game. The Flyers killed it off with some aggressive penalty-kill work, especially from Scott Laughton. Aaron Ekblad received a hooking penalty later on, giving the Flyers a chance to take the lead. The Top unit provided a lot of pressure in the Panthers zone, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Seconds later, Frank Vatrano scored on a sharp angle and gave Florida a 1-0 lead to end the period.

Wayne Simmonds deflected a Travis Sanheim wrist shot passed Hutchinson and tied the game at one a piece early on in the second period. Minutes later, Jordan Weal scored his first goal on the season after deflecting a Robert Hagg slap shot from the point. Simmonds took a high sticking minor and the Flyers found themselves shorthanded for the second time in the game. After killing off the penalty, Ekblad made a costly turnover in his own zone and Claude Giroux took advantage to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.

Florida answered right back as Vatrano scored his second goal of the night and made it a one goal game. Simmonds scored his second goal of the game soon after, with Laughton assisting on the play with a nice dish. Not long after, Giroux scored his second of the night on an incredible feed from Shayne Gostisbehere. A scrum ensued in front of the benches after the face-off and the Panthers were awarded a third power-play. They finally capitalized on a goal from Mike Hoffman, scoring their first power-play goal of the year, and the Flyers led 5-3 after two.

Konecny opened the period with a great chance on Hutchinson, but was denied on a pad save. Evgeni Dadonov got behind the Flyers defense and put Florida within one goal. Elliott was pulled by Hakstol in favor of Calvin Pickard right after. Elliott allowed four goals on 23 shots. This wasn’t effective at first, as Aleksander Barkov scored on the breakaway and tied the game up 5-5. The teams traded scoring chances to end the period and still needed overtime hockey to decide the game.

Hoffman took a tripping penalty with three minutes to go in the overtime period, giving the Flyers a four-on-three power-play opportunity. They had chances, but ultimately couldn’t put the puck in the net sending the game to a shootout. Barkov scored for Florida with Jakub Voracek and Weal scoring for the Flyers. Pickard stopped Vatrano on the final shot attempt and gave Philadelphia the 6-5 victory.

Giroux and Simmonds stole the show and were all over the ice tonight, netting two goals apiece. Konecny finally getting that first goal of the season would’ve been nice to see as he created more scoring chances this game, but it should come soon enough.

This was the Flyers first win at home and are now 3-3-0 on the season. Next game is Thursday on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets!