Sunrise, FL (Sports Network) – Ilya Bryzgalov made 15 of his 31 saves in the third period, backstopping the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers at BankAtlantic Center.
Danny Briere, Braydon Coburn and Matt Read provided the goals for Philadelphia, which improved to 4-0-2 since dropping a 9-8 decision on October 27 to the Winnipeg Jets.
“I thought we played very well as a team,” Read said.
Jose Theodore stopped 32 shots for the Panthers, who had picked up points in six straight games (3-0-3).
“We had periods tonight where our belief, commitment weren’t there and it ends up hurting you on the scoreboard,” said Florida head coach Kevin Dineen.
Read was awarded a penalty shot with the Flyers already down a man, and the rookie forward slipped the puck through Theodore to put Philadelphia up 3-1 at the 4:14 mark of the third period.
Tomas Fleischmann beat Bryzgalov with eight seconds remaining, but it wasn’t enough for the Panthers, who fell behind in the first period on Briere’s backhander from a sharp angle.
Coburn doubled the Flyers’ advantage at 6:50 of the second. The defenseman joined the rush and carried the puck down the middle into the Florida zone. Coburn dished to the right for Jakub Voracek and continued driving to the net, where he knocked in the return feed.
Evgeny Dadonov put the Panthers on the board less than four minutes later.
Forward Stephen Weiss played in his 573rd game as a Panther, tying Robert Svehla for second-most in franchise history…Wayne Simmonds picked up his 100th career point with the primary assist on Briere’s tally…Florida has lost four consecutive home games — the previous three in shootouts.