Livescore
Holding late leads proved to be difficult for the Florida Panthers on Monday night.
Florida was ahead of the host Philadelphia Flyers twice during the third period but couldn’t keep Philly at bay.
Instead, the Panthers lost for the sixth time in nine games, falling 4-3 to the Flyers.
Florida’s latest shorthanded goal got things started on the right foot for the Panthers.
Sam Reinhart entered the Flyers goal with the puck and three Philadelphia defenders on either side of him.
A quick cut to the center of the ice suddenly had Reinhart face to face with Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson.
Reinhart was patient and waited for Ersson to go down and take himself out of the play before scoring on a sharp angle shot to give the Cats a 1-0 lead.
Just 96 seconds later, Uvis Balinskis put a quick shot on Ersson through a screen, and the low shot slid right underneath the Philly tendy.
The score remained 2-0 Florida until midway through the middle frame.
Philadelphia came into the Panthers zone with speed and Garnet Hathaway’s centering pass intended for a streaking Ryan Poehling went off the stick of defenseman Nate Schmidt and the puck trickled through Sergei Bobrovsky and into the net, cutting Florida’s lead in half at the 7:51 mark of the second period.
Panthers captain Sasha Barkov took a tripping penalty during the opening shift of the third period, one that the Flyers would take advantage of.
Noah Cates was standing on the doorstep and slammed home a juicy Bobrovsky rebound off a Travis Sanheim shot to tie the game at two.
Less than a minute later, Florida was given a power play of their own after Sean Couturier was caught hooking Balinskis.
Some quick passing opened up space for Reinhart in the slot, and a quick one-timer beat Ersson to give the Panthers the lead right back.
But then less than a minute after Reinhart’s goal, Dmitry Kulikov was called for a questionable tripping penalty and, you guessed it, the Flyers would score on the ensuing power play.
This time it was Morgan Frost, tapping home a nice backdoor pass from rookie Matvei Michkov to knot the score once again.
The Flyers took their first lead of the game at the 14:09 mark when Cates put his second goal of the game past Bobrovsky’s glove while on a breakaway.
That would be the deciding goal, leaving Florida with a frustrated trip up the Jersey Turnpike for Tuesday’s matchup against the Devils.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Reinhart has now scored five goals over his past three games after going six straight without finding the back of the net.
Balinskis has two goals and five points over his past 11 games.
Nate Schmit picked up an assist on Balinskis’ goal, his first point since Nov. 30, a span of 18 games.
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