Flyers slip past Panthers in shootout
PHILADELPHIA -- Newcomer Valtteri Filppula sent the game into overtime, and Jordan Weal and Jakub Voracek scored in the shootout, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Goaltender Steve Mason stopped 39 shots and denied two of three shootout attempts to lift the Flyers (30-26-7) to their second straight win. The Flyers moved within two points of the Panthers in the crowded race for the second Eastern Conference wild-card position.
James Reimer took the loss for the Panthers despite making 35 saves in relief of Roberto Luongo. Aaron Ekblad netted the Panthers' lone goal.
Luongo, who ranks 23rd in the NHL with 17 wins (17-15-6), stopped all 13 shots he faced in the opening period but did not return for the second period because of an apparent lower-body injury.
Reimer and the Panthers were 9:22 away from a shutout when the Flyers tied the score midway through the third period. Filppula, acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday in exchange for defenseman Mark Streit, drove the net and poked a centering pass from Brayden Schenn past Reimer for his first goal as a Flyer. Filppula's goal snapped a personal 15-game goal-less drought.
Both goalies were tested in the final minutes of regulation, with Reimer smothering a point-blank shot by Wayne Simmonds and Mason snaring a snap shot by Aleksander Barkov with 18.2 seconds remaining.
The Panthers (29-23-11) lost for the fourth time in five games, but they have picked up three points in their past two.
The Flyers peppered Reimer with a flurry of shots early in the second period, but he held them at bay until Ekblad scored his ninth goal of the season and his first career short-handed tally.
With Philadelphia on the power play, Flyers captain Claude Giroux had his outlet pass picked off by Ekblad in the neutral zone. The 21-year-old weaved past Giroux and fired a bullet past Mason to give Florida the lead 11:34 into the second period.
It was the sixth short-handed goal of the season for the Panthers and the ninth short-handed goal allowed by the Flyers. Only the Dallas Stars have allowed more.
The game got chippy near the end of the second period when Panthers right winger Jaromir Jagr and Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto exchanged gloved punches for a pair of roughing minors with 23.5 seconds remaining.
NOTES: Valterri Filppula made his Flyers debut on a second line with Jake Voracek and Brayden Schenn. ... RW Thomas Vanek, acquired on Wednesday from the Detroit Red Wings, made his Panthers debut on a third line with Jonathan Marchessault and Nick Bjugstad. ... The Panthers begin a three-game homestand Saturday against the Dallas Stars. They follow with home games against the Rangers and Wild. ... The Flyers hit the road for games in Washington on Saturday and Buffalo on Tuesday.