The Philadelphia Flyers will aim to extend their point streak to four games on Sunday when they host the Florida Panthers.
The Flyers (36-26-9, 81 points) answered recent losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins by defeating both clubs this past week. They sandwiched one-goal wins over the Maple Leafs and Bruins around a 3-2 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.
The 3-2 victory over Boston on Saturday afternoon was particularly satisfying as Tyson Foerster scored with 1:29 remaining in the third period. That goal gave Philadelphia the advantage after the teams traded goals 56 seconds apart earlier in the period.
“It’s (about) seeing how they react, and for me it’s not so much a game last week to now, it’s when we get scored on, they tie it, how do we play after that?” Flyers coach John Tortorella said, when asked about his team’s ability to learn from setbacks.
“It’s more of a closeness of reaction as far as the flow and the momentum of the game, and I think we handled ourselves very well.”
Saturday marked the return of captain Sean Couturier, who had been a healthy scratch the previous two games.
“It’s behind me now. I don’t really want to talk about it,” Couturier said when asked if it’s clearer what he needs to do to stay in the lineup. “I just want to help the team in any way that I can and, you know, it all worked out well. We got three out of four points, now five out of six.”
Florida (45-20-5, 95 points) will look to exact a bit of revenge on Philadelphia after dropping a 2-1 decision to the Flyers on March 7. Garnet Hathaway scored the go-ahead goal with 22 seconds remaining in the third period for Philadelphia.
Like the Flyers, the Panthers will be playing the second half of a back-to-back set. Florida saw its winless skid extend to four games (0-3-1) following a 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday.
The Panthers own the most road wins (24) in the NHL headed into the finale of their two-game trek.
“There is a slight psychological shift on the road,” coach Paul Maurice said, when asked why his team has enjoyed success outside of Sunrise, Fla. “So, there is a simplicity to our game on the road. We play a road game. I’d like to play a road game at home a little more.
“… The challenge is how hard it is and you will ebb and flow in your ability to maintain that. … Mentally we want to play as hard as we can every single shift, and that’s what we got to get back to.”
Defenseman Aaron Ekblad remains out for Florida with a lower-body injury. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov (undisclosed), winger Jonah Gadjovich (undisclosed) and defenseman Gustav Forsling (illness) are expected to miss Sunday’s game in Philadelphia.
–Field Level Media