PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Tyson Foerster scored on a rebound of his own shot with 45.2 seconds left for the game-winner, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Florida Panthers 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Foerster’s shot from just inside the blue line ricocheted off the leg of Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad and came right back to the Philadelphia forward. With Ekblad out of the play and in pain, Foerster fired again and beat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for a 3-2 lead.
Sean Couturier scored on a tip-in about 20 seconds later to seal the win. Dan Vladar stopped 25 shots for Philadelphia.
Brad Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe scored early for Florida, which took a 2-0 lead with Sam Bennett assisting on both goals. Emil Andrae had a goal – the second of his career – and added an assist for the Flyers. Matvei Michkov also scored, and Jamie Drysdale had two assists.
Bobrovsky allowed four goals on 17 shots.
Panthers short-handed
Florida was again without several players, including Aleksander Barkov and Eetu Luostarinen. But the team shared encouraging news earlier Wednesday when forward Matthew Tkachuk — sidelined all season following offseason surgery — revealed he has started skating. There is no timetable for his return.
“He’s back on the ice, and he wasn’t two weeks ago,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “So, we’re taking it.”
Season series complete
It was the third and final meeting between the teams this season, after they split the first two. Philadelphia has also finished its season series with Nashville and St. Louis; Florida has completed its games with Anaheim and Vegas.
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