The Panthers had won six in a row, but each of their two losses the past two weeks have come on a goal with less than 30 seconds left in regulation, with a 1-0 loss in Carolina on Feb. 29 when Sebastian Aho lit the lamp with 19 seconds left.
By COLBY GUY (Associated Press)
SUNRISE — Garnet Hathaway scored off a rebound with 22 seconds left to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 2-1 victory over the NHL-leading Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
“I think it just reinforces that belief within the room,” Hathaway said. “Guys playing knowing that we step up and play your best game and the guy next to you plays his best game. We can play anyone every night.”
Ryan Poehling also scored for Philadelphia. Samuel Ersson made 29 saves.
“I think they care and I think they believe,” coach John Tortorella said of his team, which gutted out a win while already short-handed on defense with Sean Walker being traded to the Colorado Avalanche the day prior. “That’s the only way we are going to keep ourselves going here is the belief of how we play and play as a team. It’s important, not just with Walker .. but we’re banged up back there, so that just forces you to accept that you have to be a team.”
Gustav Forsling scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots. The Panthers had won six in a row, but each of their two losses the past two weeks have come on a goal with less than 30 seconds left in regulation, with a 1-0 loss in Carolina on Feb. 29 when Sebastian Aho lit the lamp with 19 seconds left.
“Going in, we knew it wouldn’t be easy for us,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It didn’t look like we had a lot in the tank and they played hard. I think we kind of matched that. It was even, and we would like to be better than even at home, and then they got the break at the end that we hadn’t earlier, so we can get some rest and come back for the next one.”
Poehling opened the scoring at 10 seconds of the second period. Forsling tied it at 7:12 of the second, scoring hours after finalizing a four-year contract extension.
Vladimir Tarasenko made his Florida debut after coming over from Ottawa in a trade Wednesday.
Flyers defenseman Cam York left late in the third after blocking a shot with his knee, while Travis Konecny returned from an upper-body injury that sidelined him six games.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Host Calgary on Saturday.
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