Panthers' top line dominates in 5-2 win over Flyers
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers are heating up.
Aleksander Barkov and Brett Connolly each had a goal and an assist to lift the Panthers over the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 on Tuesday night. The Panthers are 6-2-1 in their past nine games.
“We’re getting better every day. It was good to see everybody chip in,” Connolly said.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Colton Sceviour and Mike Hoffman also scored and Evgenii Dadonov had two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 35 shots.
“We’re consistently in every game and ready to play game in and game out. It’s been fun,” coach Joel Quenneville said.
Morgan Frost scored a goal in his first NHL game and Travis Sanheim also scored for the Flyers, who have lost four straight. Carter Hart allowed four goals on 18 shots before being pulled midway through the second period. Brian Elliott stopped all seven shots he faced.
Barkov stretched the Panthers lead to 3-1 after he found a rebound in the right circle and fired it past Hart on the stick side at 6:46 of the second.
“We’ve had all four lines rolling this season and playing really well,” Barkov said. “We’re just having fun here and winning games.”
Huberdeau’s shot from the right circle made it 4-1 and chased Hart with 9:37 left in the second.
“We tried everything we could to come back. Unfortunately, we had dug ourselves a hole and we couldn’t come back,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said.
Frost closed the gap to 4-2 when he skated along the goal line and backhanded the puck high with 5:40 left in the second. Frost was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the AHL on Monday.
“I think the goalie put his stick out, so I just tried to go short side with him and luckily it went in,” Frost said. “Yeah, after, it was a pretty crazy feeling. I was shocked at first.”
Hoffman’s empty-net goal with 2:32 left made it 5-2.
Connolly broke a 1-1 tie with his goal. Connolly shot from behind the goal line on the right side and the puck bounced off Hart’s mask and into the net with 7:30 left in the first to make the score 2-1.
“He’s from behind the goal line, so he just banked it off my head. He saw me leaning a bit forward,” Hart said. “Smart play by him. Kind of a dumb play by me to lean that much forward.”
Sanheim put the Flyers ahead 1-0 when he found a rebound that slid out to the right circle and blasted it past Bobrovsky at 6:26 in.
Sceviour tied it at 1 when his shot from the point deflected off a Flyers defenseman at 10:38.
NOTES: Panthers F Dominic Toninato recalled from AHL Springfield on Monday. Toninato has appeared in three games with Florida. ... F Dryden Hunt loaned to Springfield. ... The Flyers loaned forward Carsen Twarynski to Lehigh Valley when they recalled Frost.
UP NEXT:
Flyers: Visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday
Panthers: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
