In Sunrise, the Philadelphia Flyers took their offense out to play with and skated off with a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Carter Hart made 26 saves in the road win; he had lost seven straight on the road.
Carter Hart got a road win for the Flyers – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I didn’t know that,” Hart said. “I prepare the same. There’s no difference from playing at home than playing on the road because it’s the same puck, it’s the same ice surface, it’s the same boards. It’s all the same. You’ve just got to prepare the same no matter where you’re at.”
James Van Riemsdyk, Tyler Pitlick and Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored in the first period.
“You’ve got to find ways to overcome whatever happens,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “We need more consistency, giving up a goal or two here with a poor start. The first wasn’t that bad, the second wasn’t good. We didn’t have the puck much tonight. It wasn’t enough and we weren’t protecting the puck enough. In the third, there was some development, but it wasn’t enough and not early enough.”
Scott Laughton made it 4-0 Flyers in the middle frame
“I figured with that skill level, [the Panthers] would have a strong push, and they did,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. “We made a mistake on the first goal. They got a bounce on the second goal. As players and a team, you’ve just got to play. And that’s what we did. They kept playing, kept making better plays from that moment on, and they would be pressing, [Couturier] caught them there and was able to score that big goal.”
Sean Couturier and Robert Hagg tacked on two goals after the Panthers made it 4-2.
“It seems like all lines have been contributing,” van Riemsdyk said. “That’s what you need. It makes it really tough to play against when you have contributions from everyone out there. That’s what we’ve been getting recently.”
Jonathan Huberdeau and Alexander Barkob had so what goals in the third period.
“It’s not good enough right now,” the Panthers’ forward Brett Connolly said. “We’ve got the guys in here to turn it around, but it’s going to take a lot more from every guy. We’ll keep working and try to turn this thing around quickly.”
[WATCH: All Flyers vs. Panthers highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky got the start but was given the hook in the first intermission. He yielded three goals in the opening frame and made just six saves.
Sam Montembeault, who made 16 saves in the mop up role.
The Panthers held a players only meeting after the loss.
“We just talked in the locker room,” Barkov said. “We’ve got to play harder, and obviously we want to start in the first period. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and start playing a better game. We can’t afford to lose anymore. We can’t afford to play like that anymore. We’ve got to play a lot better.”
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