If this season’s overall form holds, Saturday’s game could get ugly between the sizzling Florida Panthers and the struggling Philadelphia Flyers in Sunrise, Fla.
The Panthers have won six straight games and lead the Eastern Conference with 21 points. The Flyers are last in the Metropolitan Division with just 11 points.
However, the Flyers are coming off an encouraging 2-1 shootout win over the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
Forward Owen Tippett — who was Florida’s first-round draft pick in 2017 — scored Philadelphia’s only goal on Thursday. Tippett also scored in the 2-0 shootout.
The Flyers, though, rank just 27th out of 32 NHL teams with 2.50 goals per game. They are 30th in shots per game (25.4).
“There are not a lot of goals that are coming for us right now,” Tippett said. “We’re focusing on how we’re playing defensively, and we’re jumping on our (offensive) chances when we can.”
Indeed, the Flyers are 3-2-0 in their past five games, and they held their opponent to one goal or fewer in all of those wins.
Given the offensive struggles, Flyers coach John Tortorella is directing his players to shut down the middle of the ice, keep opponents on the perimeter and then block a ton of shots.
In those three recent wins, the Flyers are averaging 22.7 blocked shots per game.
Flyers backup goalie Ivan Fedotov beat the Lightning on Thursday for the first win of his NHL career. He is 1-3-0 with an .851 save percentage and a 4.05 goals-against average.
Fedotov wasn’t supposed to get the start on Thursday. However, Aleksei Kolosov suffered a lower-body injury during the morning skate.
Starting goalie Samuel Ersson has also been hurt, but Tortorella was impressed with Fedotov on Thursday.
“I don’t think there was a lot of extra movement in his game,” Tortorella said. “He seemed more confident, and he competed hard.”
While the Flyers are struggling to score, the Panthers have been busy blowing teams out as they did on Thursday in a 6-2 win over visiting Nashville. During Florida’s six-game win streak, the Panthers are averaging 5.0 goals per game.
For the season, the Panthers rank fifth in the league with 3.86 goals per game. Their power play is sixth with a 26.2 percent success rate.
“Our power play is cooking right now,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after Thursday’s win.
But the reigning Stanley Cup champs are a complete team. Florida also ranks fifth in penalty kill percentage (86.1), and starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is a rock (7-2-1, 2.97 GAA, .891 save percentage).
Bobrovsky has won four straight games.
Then there’s center Sam Reinhart, who ended Thursday with 11 goals, tied for the league lead. He also leads the NHL with a plus-13 rating, and he tops the Panthers with 11 assists.
Reinhart has a five-game goal streak. During that span, he has six goals and three assists.
The Panthers are 9-0-0 this season when Reinhart scores a goal.
“There are no weaknesses in his game,” Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov said of Reinhart. “Every second he’s on the ice, he’s playing the game the right way.”
