Carter Verhaeghe scored a double in the first period and the Florida Panthers handed the Philadelphia Flyers their first loss of the season on Wednesday at Sunrise. The local favorites eventually prevailed 4-3.
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Despite Verhaeghe’s two goals, it was Rudolfs Balcers who definitively gave his side the lead by breaking a 2-2 tie early in the third period. Josh Mahura added an insurance net midway through the third period, and his success proved to be the game-winning goal.
The Panthers finally put the finishing touches on a penalty late in the game as their opponents moved to six against four due to the withdrawal of the goaltender. Travis Konecny scored well afterwards, but with two seconds to go it was too little, too late.
Sam Bennett, Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk all contributed to the victory with two assists each.
The Flyers, who have won their first three outings this season, showed they weren’t going to be easy prey this season by overcoming a two-goal deficit. This time Nick Seeler and James van Riemsdyk were the scorers.
Sergei Bobrovksy signed the victory by virtue of a performance of 31 saves. Felix Sandstrom blocked 31 of 35 pucks aimed at him.
For the Panthers, this is the third victory in four games. They will now host their Florida rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, on Friday. The next day, the Flyers will visit the Nashville Predators.
pionk slice
Defenseman Neal Pionk completed his double in overtime in the Winnipeg Jets’ 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Denver.
Pionk only needed 31 seconds to make the difference.
Valeri Nichushkin scored in a fourth straight game, netting his fifth goal of the season in the loss. The 27-year-old Russian also added an assist, bringing his total to eight points in four outings.
Mikko Rantanen scored twice for the Avalanche, while Sam Gagner and Cole Perfetti replied for the Manitoba team. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 31 shots to give the visitors the win.