Reimer holds on for Panthers
SUNRISE, FLA. » James Reimer delivered for the Florida Panthers — again.
Reimer stopped 29 shots in his 10th straight start, and Florida beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Thursday night for its fourth straight victory.
Derek MacKenzie and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the second period as the Panthers earned their first win over the Flyers since March 12, 2016, snapping a four-game losing streak against Philly. Jared McCann also scored.
“We came out hard and (Reimer) made the saves he’s supposed to make,” Florida coach Bob Boughner said. “It got a little crazy in the third, but our first 40 minutes pushed us through to the win.”
Brian Elliott made 24 saves for the Flyers, and Scott Laughton and Sean Couturier scored in the third period.
“I think our urgency was a little off coming into this one,” Elliott said. “They came at us hard and we really didn’t match it, until the last 10 minutes of the game, and that can’t happen.”
Reimer, who was coming off a 1-0 victory against Ottawa on Saturday night, faced an aggressive Flyers comeback in the latter part of the game after the Panthers carried a 3-0 lead into the third.
“They’ve got a lot of offensive talent. As a goalie you want to make some saves, but they’re bound to score on some chances,” Reimer said. “You just keep chugging away and make sure you have that high compete level and things will end the right way.”
Laughton wristed a back pass from Travis Konecny past Reimer with 7:32 remaining. Couturier added his 17th goal with 2:02 left, but Florida held on.
“We really didn’t start playing until about halfway through this game,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “We needed to match the intensity level that the game was at and try to find a way to help us get back into it.”
The Panthers jumped in front when McCann converted a wrist shot at 6:43 of the first. McCann took a feed from Nick Bjugstad at his own blue line and skated untouched into the high slot, where he beat Elliott.