Emil Andrae had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Drysdale had two assists for the Flyers (12-7-3), who have won three of their past four. Dan Vladar made 25 saves.
“They are a tough team, a tough building to play [in], and they are obviously the back-to-back champs,” said Vladar, who has won two of three starts against Florida this season. “You know what you’re going to see, and they crashed the net a lot. … They put the pressure on us, but after the first period, we regrouped and played a really good game. The whole game, we deserved to win.”
Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist, and Sam Bennett had two assists for the Panthers (12-10-1). Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 saves.
“It’s unfortunate because it was a good game though and through,” Verhaeghe said. “Ekblad made a big block and unfortunately the puck didn’t get back to him and they got one at the end. They played well. But it [stinks] losing that way.”
Brad Marchand gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 5:21 of the first period, roofing a shot from the right side off a cross-ice feed from Bennett for his 11th goal in his past 14 games.
“I liked our start and then obviously they flipped the table on us,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “[Vladar] was unreal and saved our bacon. Getting out of [the first trailing] 1-0, we were able to regroup and made a couple of adjustments. The resilience of the guys, give them a lot of credit. All four lines contributed, the D, and [Vladar] was great.”
Verhaeghe increased it to 2-0 at 5:16 of the second period. He scored on a one-timer from low in the left circle off another Bennett pass across the middle.