In Tampa Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers held two-goal leads twice in their match with the Lightning and still needed to rally for a late goal to force overtime.
In the end though, the Lighting snuck away with a 7-6 win in the shootout.
Steve Stamkos netted a career high five points in the win including two goals.
“Anytime you’re down a couple of goals in different parts of the game, especially in the third and you come back and win, it’s emotional,” Stamkos said. “It shows guys care. Guys never gave up. We got some big goals and stayed with it. Not perfect in a structural point of view, but really good in emotion and never-quit-attitude point of game.”
Brayden Point was credited with the deciding goal in the skills competition.
A Vasilevsky made 37 saves to pick up the win.
Victor Hedman‘ also scored twice and newcomer JT Miller and Dan Girardi added single markers.
“It was fun for the fans, I’ll tell you that,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s always fun when you win, and I just met a couple of kids who it was their first game, so I’m pretty sure they’ll be back.”
The Flyers had leads of 3-1 and 5-3 but had to rally to tie the game at 6-6 late.
“Apparently we thought the game was at 2 p.m. today,” Hedman said. “But there are two teams on the ice; they have been red hot as of late. They did a good job of getting puck out of hands early.”
Philadelphia’s goals were scored by Nolan Patrick, Jakub Voracek, Robert Hagg, Jori Lehtera, Claude Giroux, and Ivan Provorov.
“We know we didn’t play well a couple of nights ago (4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes),” Flyers head coach Dake Hakstol said. “It’s not just about losses; it’s about the overall performance. That wasn’t us the other night and we knew we had to raise our level from where it was the other night. I thought our guys did that.”
[WATCH:Â All Flyers vs. Lightning highlights]
Petr Mrazek made 29 saves in the loss as the Flyers dropped to 34-20-11.
“I think it was a really hard game for both goalies. I wish I could’ve stopped more. I have to do better in those games. Those are important points and the guys played great in front of me. We scored lots of goals. I need to be better,” Mrazek said after the game.
The Flyers are two points out of fist place in the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s tough to be satisfied when you lose,” Giroux said. “But they played a good game on the other side. Their goalie is pretty good;Â if he’s not the best in the League, he’s one of them. He made a lot of key saves.”
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