Philadelphia Flyers fall to Florida Panthers 2-1 despite comeback attempt

PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 13: Oskar Lindblom #23 of the Philadelphia Flyers checks Mike Matheson #19 of the Florida Panthers while battling for position in front of Roberto Luongo #1 on November 13, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 13: Oskar Lindblom #23 of the Philadelphia Flyers checks Mike Matheson #19 of the Florida Panthers while battling for position in front of Roberto Luongo #1 on November 13, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Florida Panthers in their third game of a five game home stand.

Coming off a 4-0 shutout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers faced off against a Florida Panthers team riding a four game winning streak entering the game. The Flyers were on a winning streak of their own as well, looking for their fourth straight win.

Brian Elliott got his third straight start after shutting out the Blackhawks on Saturday. He opposed Roberto Luongo in-net, who had a 3-0-0 record coming in with a 1.42 Goals-Against Average and a .952 save percentage.

The game started off with both teams trading icings, shots, and a couple of scoring chances. It seemed that they were trying to feel each other out as most of the shots taken weren’t very dangerous. The Flyers had the early shots-on-goal advantage, leading 4-1 with just under twelve minutes left in the opening period.

Frank Vatrano took the game’s first penalty after interfering with a Flyers player, giving Philadelphia their first power-play of the night. The Flyers got just one shot off on this opportunity, as the Panthers killed off the penalty with relative ease. Florida controlled play late in the period, and took a 11-6 shots-on-goal advantage heading into the second.

Elliott started the second period with some absolute robbery on Mike Hoffman on a rebound attempt, keeping the game scoreless for the Flyers. Sean Couturier took a hooking penalty a little later on, giving Florida their first power-play of the evening. The Flyers would kill the penalty without one of their best shorthanded players thanks to some aggressive work by Scott Laughton.

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Ivan Provorov took a tripping penalty with just over twelve minutes left in the second, giving the Panthers their second power-play opportunity of the game and in the period. Florida ended up taking advantage, as Aaron Ekblad banked a puck off of Elliott and gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead. This broke Elliott’s shutout streak, who hadn’t allowed a goal since November 1st against the Los Angeles Kings. Provorov took another tripping penalty, this time to prevent a breakaway chance from Hoffman, and gave the Panthers yet another man advantage.

The Flyers killed the penalty off with some more great play from Laughton and kept the deficit at one goal. It didn’t take long for the Panthers to change that, though, as Evgeni Dadonov put them up 2-0 with an absolute snipe passed Elliott. Florida kept the lead to end the period, with the Flyers offense on auto pilot through the first 40 minutes of play.

The third period began with the Flyers second line applying pressure in Florida’s zone, but Luongo stood tall. Jakub Voracek finally got the puck passed the longtime net-minder, making it a 2-1 game after a nice feed from Oskar Lindblom. Philadelphia kept the pressure on, obtaining nine scoring chances through seven minutes of third period play.

Florida weathered the storm and halted the Flyers comeback attempt, winning the game 2-1. Luongo had nearly all of the answers and put the Panthers on his back in the third period, making 27 saves on 28 shots.

Philadelphia has to be more consistent throughout each period, and can’t turn the jets on in the final 20 minutes of the game if they expect this season to be successful.

The Flyers are now 9-8-1 on the year. Next game is Thursday against the New Jersey Devils.