Flyers tally 3 goals in first to steamroll Panthers

James van Riemsdyk had a goal and two assists and Carter Hart made 26 saves, leading the visiting Philadelphia Flyers past the Florida Panthers, 6-2, on Thursday night at Sunrise, Fla. Tyler Pitlick, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Scott Laughton, Sean Couturier and Robert Hagg also scored for the Flyers.

Hart, 21, beat the Panthers for the second time in four nights as the Flyers improved to 9-3-1 in their past 13 games. It was Hart's first road win since Nov. 10. Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers. It was the 20th goal for Huberdeau, marking the third straight season he has reached that milestone.

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after allowing three goals in the first period, making just six saves. Two of the goals were allowed off of rebounds. Rookie Sam Montembeault (16 saves, three goals allowed) replaced Bobrovsky.

The Panthers, who are 2-5-1 since the All-Star break, were booed on their home ice after falling behind 4-0. Philadelphia opened the scoring with 4:24 gone in the first period as van Riemsdyk shoved home a short rebound of a shot by Matt Niskanen. The score came just 12 seconds after a Flyers power play had expired, with the Panthers never able to clear the puck in that final sequence.

The Flyers made it 2-0 with 17:37 elapsed in the period as Pitlick, skating on a one-man rush with only defenseman Josh Brown back, beat Bobrovsky on a hard shot from the right circle, handcuffing the goalie. Just 55 seconds later, the Flyers were up 3-0 as Aube-Kubel scored on a long rebound of a Michael Raffl shot.

It took until 18:58 of the second period, but the Flyers finally beat Montembeault as Laughton's shot banged in off the left post. Florida cut its deficit to 4-1 on Huberdeau's goal just 33 seconds into the third. MacKenzie Weegar's bullet cross-ice pass set up Huberdeau perfectly, right on the front porch.

The Panthers made it 4-2 on Barkov's goal at the 4:56 mark into the third. This time, it was Keith Yandle's cross-ice pass that set up the goal. But Couturier's goal on a rush with 5:08 left served as the dagger to thwart Florida's comeback hopes.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)