Thursday Round-Up: Panthers, Lightning Erupt In Wins

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored the go-ahead power-play goal with 1:59 left in the game to help the Florida Panthers overcome a blown three-goal lead and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-5 on Thursday night.

Matthew Tkachuk added an empty-netter in the final seconds to seal the win.

The Flyers got rolling when Owen Tippett scored consecutive goals and Garnet Hathaway pounced on a rebound in the crease to give them a 5-4 lead. Gustav Forsling tied the game at 5 with just over five minutes left after the Panthers wasted 3-0 and 4-2 leads.

Evan Rodrigues and Niko Mikkola scored in the first period, and Aleksander Barkov scored a power-play goal three minutes into the second for the 3-0 lead.

Flyers coach John Tortorella pulled goalie Ivan Fedotov after he gave up two goals on seven shots in the first and replaced him with Aleksei Kolosov. Kolosov saved 16 of the 20 shots he faced.

Tyson Foerster and Nick Seeler, who stole a pass and fired one from the circle, cut the lead to 3-2 in the second, but Carter Verhaeghe answered for Florida and made it 4-2.

Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov had three assists in his first career three-point game.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point had four assists and Brandon Hagel scored twice to lead Tampa Bay to a victory against San Jose.

Jake Guentzel, Conor Geekie and Cam Atkinson each scored a goal and assist. Anthony Cirelli, Nick Perbix and Nicholas Paul scored the Lightning’s other goals.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 20 saves.

Alex Wennberg scored for San Jose, while Vitek Vanecek took the loss after allowing five goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood to start the second period. Blackwood made 21 saves.

After Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead in the first period, Hagel scored two goals 23 seconds apart to make it 4-0. It’s the third-fastest time the same player scored two goals in Lightning history, behind Steve Downie (11 seconds on Feb. 12, 2012) and Jason Wiemer (15 seconds, October 3, 1997).