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The Philadelphia Flyers wrapped up a four-game homestand against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. They had a chance to go 2-2 and got it done. They’d complete their eighth comeback of the season with a 4-3 win. Cates’ two goals helped lead the way. The Flyers improve to 19-20-5 on the season.
The Flyers got the games first power play at Aleksander Barkov got called for high-sticking at the 6:49 mark of the first period. They couldn’t capitalize but the Panthers did while shortanded. Sam Reinhart deked around Travis Konecny and put a wrist shot top right corner past Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson. This gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at the 7:59 mark. No assists were given.
Uvis Balinskis gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead at the 9:34 mark of the first period. He put a wrist shot through the legs of Ersson. He used Cam York as a screen in front. Evan Rodrigues and Nate Schmidt collected assists.
The game went to four-on-four at the 11:34 mark of the first period as Sean Couturier got called for slashing and A.J. Greer for embellishment. Neither team got much going but Konecny had a good scoring chance from the side of the net.
The Panthers got their first power play at the 14:43 mark of the first period as Egor Zamula got called for tripping. They only recorded two shots on net but both were testers. Ersson had to come up big and make the save.
The Flyers got their second power play at the 17:59 mark of the first period as Rodrigues got called for interference. They managed to get three shots on net and Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky had to make a big save on Bobby Brink. Noah Cates set him up in front with a no look pass behind the net.
Garnet Hathaway got the Flyers on the board at the 7:51 mark of the second period. He passed the puck to Ryan Poehling who was in front but the puck went of the Panthers stick and past Bobrovsky. No assists were given.
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The Flyers got their third power play as Jesper Boqvist was called for hooking at the 10:04 mark of the second period. They had a few good chances in front but Bobrovsky made some nice saves.
Barkov got called fpr tripping just 43 seconds into the third period to give the Flyers their fourth power play. They capitalized on this one as Noah Cates put a wrist shot into the wide open net. Bobrovsky made the inital save on Travis Sanheim but allowed a huge rebound. This tied the game up at two. Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen tallied assists.
The Panthers got their second power play as Couturier got called for hooking at the 2:55 mark of the third period. Reinhart scored his second of the game to capitalize and give the Panthers a 3-2 lead at the 3:35 mark. Matthew Tkachuk set him up with a backhanded pass through the legs of a Flyer and Reinhart put a wrist shot past the glove of Ersson. Tkachuk and Barkov were given assists.
Dmitry Kulikov was called for tripping at the 4:14 mark of the third period to give the Flyers their fifth power play. Jamie Drysdale’s shot went off the stick of Matvei Michkov and Morgan Frost took the puck and put a wrist shot past Bobrovsky at the 5:59 mark. This tied the game up at three. Michkov and Drysdale collected assists.
Cates scored his second of the game at the 14:09 mark of the third period to give the Flyers a 4-3 lead. He chipped the puck to himself over the blue line and put a backhander over the glove of Bobrovsky. Tyson Foerster and Egor Zamula tallied assists.
The Panthers pulled Bobrovsky in favor of the extra attacker with 2:15 left in the third period. However, they couldn’t get anymore pucks past Ersson.
The Flyers went two for five on the power play and one for two on the penalty kill.
Ersson gave a solid performce and kept the Flyers in the game. He saved 20 of 23 shots, giving him a .870 save percentage.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
Reinhart (26) (Shorthanded) Assists: none
Balinskis (2) Assists: Rodrigues (11), Schmidt (6)
2nd Period:
Hathaway (5) Assists: none
3rd Period:
Cates (8) (Power Play) Assists: Sanheim (17), Ristolainen (11)
Reinhart (27) (Power Play) Assists: Tkachuk (26), Barkov (27)
Frost (10) (Power Play) Assists: Michkov (18), Drysdale (8)
Cates (9) Assists: Foerster (8), Zamula (8)
Flyers Next Game
Flyers next game is Tuesday, Jan 14. in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.
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