Panthers run win streak to 7 by beating Flyers in shootout

Aleksander Barkov and Evan Rodrigues scored in the shootout as the host Florida Panthers won their seventh straight game, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.

In the fifth and final round of the shootout, Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made a glove save on Morgan Frost to end the game.

It was Bobrovsky's fifth straight win. It was also career victory No. 404, moving him past Grant Fuhr for 12th place on the NHL's all-time list.

Florida leads the Eastern Conference with 23 points.

Sam Bennett, Nate Schmidt and Dmitry Kulikov scored in regulation for the Panthers, who got two assists from Rodrigues.

Bobrovsky, who played his first two NHL seasons for the Flyers (2010-2012), made 34 saves through overtime.

The Flyers got goals from Joel Farabee, Anthony Richard and Garnet Hathaway. Scott Laughton added two assists, and goalie Samuel Ersson made 28 saves. Owen Tippett scored in the shootout for Philadelphia.

Philadelphia got the first period's only goal. With 4:57 elapsed, Laughton skated from behind the net and won a puck battle with Florida's Uvis Balinskis. Laughton pushed the puck forward to Farabee, who scored on a one-timer from point-blank range.

The Panthers came alive in the second period, scoring three of the four goals.

First, Rodrigues dished back to the trailer, defenseman Nate Schmidt, who scored on a blistering shot from beyond the top of the left circle. Ersson misplayed that shot as the puck tucked in under his left underarm.

The Panthers took a 2-1 lead as Rodrigues worked a give-and-go with Kulikov. For the finish, Rodrigues' lateral cross-ice pass to the slot found Kulikov, who scored off the left post.

Philadelphia challenged that goal, believing the puck had gone out of play earlier in the sequence. But that challenge was denied.

However, with seven minutes left in the second, Philadelphia pulled its goalie temporarily for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty. That resulted in Richard's goal from the high slot, tying the score 2-2.

Bobrovsky, beaten high stick-side, appeared to have been screened on that shot as two Panthers and two Flyers were out in front.

Florida regained the lead with 5:04 left in the second as Bennett scored from close range on a one-timer pass from Carter Verhaeghe.

Hathaway tied the score 3-3 with 10:13 left in the third as he tried to center the puck. Instead, the puck bounced off of Panthers defenseman Balinskis before squirting in between Bobrovsky's pads.

--Field Level Media