Sean Couturier notched two goals and two assists to highlight the Philadelphia Flyers’ 5-2 home victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Trevor Zegras had a dazzling assist on the decisive goal with 4:10 remaining, helping the Flyers secure their first win in three games under new coach Rick Tocchet. Philadelphia’s Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink and Christian Dvorak also scored, and Travis Sanheim registered two assists.
Dan Vladar made 24 saves as the backbone of the Flyers’ defense.
Daniil Tarasov made 17 stops, Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist and Sam Bennett added a goal for the Panthers. Florida had opened the season with three consecutive wins, including a 2-1 home victory over Philadelphia on Thursday.
With the game tied 2-2 and less than five minutes remaining, Zegras avoided two defenders behind the net and somehow slipped a centering pass to Couturier, who buried a one-timer.
The Panthers pulled their goaltender with 3:04 left, and the Flyers had several attempts at the empty net before Brink buried the clinching tally with 2:17 to play. Dvorak added an empty-netter of his own less than a minute later.
Foerster opened the scoring 8:54 into the first period, following a defensive-zone turnover by Florida. Couturier stole the puck and fed Foerster, who skated to the slot and beat Tarasov for his first of the season.
Couturier doubled the lead at 15:47 of the second period, skating in on a breakaway after Travis Konecny found him all alone. The Philadelphia captain snapped one inside the post for his first goal of the campaign.
Florida got on the board with a short-handed tally with 38 seconds left in the second period. The Panthers had several scoring chances before Reinhart gathered a loose puck behind the net and tucked it inside the post for his second goal of the season.
The Panthers tied it on the power play with 9:45 remaining in the contest. Brad Marchand’s cross-ice pass to Reinhart pulled Vladar out of position, allowing Reinhart to find Bennett for an easy shot into the vacated net.
