Five days ago, Rick Tocchet talked about the Flyers needing to “build a mental toughness” for the grueling parts of the NHL schedule.
It sure looks like the Flyers found some of that mental toughness Wednesday night amid a stretch of four games in six days, all on the road.
They rallied from another deficit to knock off the Panthers, 4-2, at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
With under a minute left, Tyson Foerster blasted home the Flyers’ go-ahead goal before Sean Couturier iced the game on a deflection in front.
Emil Andrae and Matvei Michkov also provided goals to tie the game in the second period. Andrae (one goal, one assist) and Jamie Drysdale (two assists) finished with multi-point performances.
The Flyers (12-7-3) bounced back from being shut out for the first time this season in a 3-0 decision Monday night to the Lightning. They’ve dropped consecutive games in regulation just once this season (Nov. 1-2).
Tocchet’s club was playing its first of three games in four days, sandwiched around Thanksgiving.
“You might not have your good stuff, you might have your B game, but can you play with your B game?” the Flyers’ head coach said last Friday. “Good angles, shorter shifts, doing things consistently.”
The Flyers took the regular-season series from the Panthers (12-10-1), going 2-1-0 against the two-time defending champs. Florida was without injured forwards Aleksander Barkov (knee) and Matthew Tkachuk (groin) in all three of the meetings.
What a way to win a game for the Flyers. With the score knotted at 2-2 and under a minute to go, Tyson Foerster scored the go-ahead goal, followed by Sean Couturier making it 4-2.
• The Flyers already have 10 comeback wins, with four of them coming from two goals down.
They need to figure out their starts, but they’ve been competitive and resilient. Those are not bad qualities for a team trying to take the next step.
• Dan Vladar was very good again, converting 25 saves on 27 shots.
The 28-year-old has given up two or fewer goals in 10 of his 14 starts.
Fourteen of his saves Wednesday night came in the first period. For the 16th time this season, the Flyers fell behind 1-0. And for the fifth time in the last eight games, they fell behind 2-0.
Brad Marchand struck just 5:21 minutes into the game on a transition opportunity. Nick Seeler had to defend it without a stick as his snapped on a shot at the blue line.
Right before the goal, Andrae committed a turnover that led to five straight Panthers shots and a big momentum swing against the Flyers.
Florida grabbed the two-goal lead 5:16 minutes into the middle stanza, but then the Flyers made their push.
Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 14 of the Flyers’ 18 shots on the night.
• The Flyers had to like the way Andrae responded to a not-so-sharp first period.
The 23-year-old really made things happen in the second period. He sent a shot through traffic for his first goal of the season and then fired another puck for a game-tying redirection by Michkov.
Andrae has been known for not giving in or backing down. The Flyers saw that competitiveness against Florida.
Emil Andrae had his best game of the season Wednesday night with a goal and an assist. Hear from the defenseman after the Flyers’ win over the Panthers.
• Nikita Grebenkin returned to the lineup following a run of healthy scratches. The 22-year-old winger sat out five of the previous six games. He saw 10:59 minutes Wednesday night on the fourth line.
Noah Juulsen was also back in the lineup for Egor Zamula. The 28-year-old defenseman played alongside Seeler on the third pair.
• After Thanksgiving, the Flyers have a back-to-back road set as they visit the Islanders on Friday (4 p.m. ET/NBCSP) and Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).