Flyers Fall To Panthers 2-1 In Shootout
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dave Bolland scored the winning goal in the shootout to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.
Brandon Pirri also had a goal in the shootout for Florida (14-8-8), which played beyond regulation for the fourth straight game.
The Panthers were coming off Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Washington that set an NHL record by going 20 rounds in the shootout. Nick Bjugstad scored the winning tally in the shootout of that game but missed in his chance against Philadelphia.
This one took six rounds as only Pirri and Philadelphia's Jakub Voracek scored in the three regulation rounds of the shootout. And neither team managed a goal in the fourth or fifth rounds. After Bolland beat Steve Mason low, Roberto Luongo stopped Sean Couturier to send the Panthers to the win.
Florida improved to 4-4 in shootouts while Philadelphia dropped to 0-5.
Scottie Upshall scored in regulation for Florida while Voracek had Philadelphia's goal.
Luongo stopped Mark Streit with 1:35 left in overtime with a strong glove save on a hard wrist shot from the slot and then made a sprawling save on Andrew MacDonald's attempt on a 4-on-2 with 20 seconds left. Luongo finished with 25 saves.
The Flyers ended on a four-game homestand 2-1-1. They will begin an eight-game road trip on Saturday at Toronto, with their next home game Jan. 6. Philadelphia is 3-9-3 on the road this season.
Upshall put the Panthers in front 1-0 with 10:23 left in the first period when he batted Tomas Kopecky's cross-ice pass out of the air, off the post and in. The goal stood after an officials' review.
Florida had a goal waved off earlier in the period when the officials ruled after a review that Sean Bergenheim played the puck with a high stick.
The Panthers had the best chance to go ahead in a back-and-forth third period, but Mason stopped Pirri from close range with 9 minutes remaining.
Mason had 30 saves.
Luongo made a good pad save on Luke Schenn's wrister from the right circle with 3 minutes left in regulation.
Voracek scored his 12th of the season 4:07 into the second period on a wrist shot from close range after being set up by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare from behind the net.
Voracek, who entered second in the league in points, upped his points total to 38.
Vincent Lecavalier returned to the ice after missing seven straight games as a healthy scratch.
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