Noah Cates stays hot as Flyers play comeback kids against Panthers

It wasn’t impossible, but it was never going to be an easy time for the Flyers when it came to defeating the Panthers. Especially not when you spot them a 2-0 lead halfway through the first.

But the Flyers have shown time and time again that they are a resilient team. They proved that once again when they scored three goals in the third period to take a dramatic 4-3 victory over Florida.

Noah Cates led the way for the Flyers as he continued his hot pace. His early third-period goal tied the game at 2-2 before the Panthers took the lead again. And his skilled play late in the third helped Philadelphia to victory.

Morgan Frost continued his strong play as well, tallying an important power play goal to tie the game in the third period. That’s a unit that has come on strong lately.

Noah Cates remains sizzling hot 

There’s a reason that John Tortorella raved about Cates during his rookie season and why he still does to this day. He has, for the most part, been someone that Tortorella can rely on to do the little things right all over the ice. And for a while, the offense wasn’t showing up despite it all. However, Cates has broken out offensively and is part of one of the Flyers most consistent lines in recent weeks.

With his two goals against the Panthers, Cates now has eight goals and 14 points in the last 16 games. To put that into perspective, he has nine goals and 19 points on the season. 

His first of two came at an important time as the Flyers had used a strong second period to get back into the game. Using the momentum they had, Cates evened things up early into the final period.

But that’s not the goal that had everyone talking. Sam Reinhart gave the Panthers the lead back 1:34 seconds later. Frost would tie the game again a little over two minutes later. 

What Cates did with under six minutes remaining in the game is hard to explain with just words alone. Words can’t even do the play justice either. So we’ll just let the video do the talking instead.

“I was just trying to backcheck, kind of a weird change and they had a rush. Just trying to get back and not let them get a chance. And then [the puck] popped out and I don’t know what even happened. I was kinda moving there so luckily just a nice move that beat [Bobrovsky] back door. It felt like I was going pretty fast there,” Cates said postgame.

Power play clicking at the right time

The Flyers man advantage has been a sour spot for years and this season has been no different. The group is oftentimes predictable and sometimes can’t even get into the zone. Reinhart’s first goal came during a power play for the Flyers. A turnover by Jamie Drysdale led to a shorthanded rush where Reinhart made Travis Konecny look silly and waited out Sam Ersson for the opening goal.

But the Flyers didn’t let that affect them as they potted two power play goals, their second straight game doing so. The first was by Cates as he won the board battle behind the net to set up the play. Standing near the front of the net, he would play cleanup duty after Bobrovsky kicked out the shot from Travis Sanheim.

Jamie Drysdale showed incredible poise off a faceoff win late in another third period power play. He toed the line and spotted Matvei Michkov at the back door. It hit off Michkov before Morgan Frost tapped it into the open net.

The goals came at important times, tying the game both times. The Flyers are still at the bottom half of the league as a power play running at 16.8%. But getting goals from the unit in two straight games is a good way to build the team’s confidence.

The Flyers won’t have time to celebrate or rest as the Blue Jackets are the next opponent for the second half of the back-to-back.