No Michkov again, Flyers battle defending champs but fall in shootout

No Michkov again, Flyers battle defending champs but fall in shootout originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Flyers went the distance with the Panthers before losing Saturday night, 4-3, in a five-round shootout at Amerant Bank Arena.

The clubs combined for nine shots in a back-and-forth overtime The Flyers had six of them, featuring breakaway looks from Joel Farabee, Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny. Sergei Bobrovsky, though, was brilliant in net for Florida.

Evan Rodrigues was one of two Panthers to put one past Samuel Ersson in the shootout. Owen Tippett was the Flyers’ lone scorer in the skills competition. John Tortorella’s club is 2-1 in the shootout this season.

The Flyers (5-8-2) went 1-1-1 on their difficult three-game road trip. They fell, 6-4, in the final minute to a Hurricanes team that entered Saturday on an eight-game winning streak. Then they rallied for a 2-1 shootout decision over the Lightning, who own a pair of titles since 2020.

Farabee, Anthony Richard and Garnet Hathaway scored the Flyers’ goals Saturday night. Scott Laughton had two assists. The offensive effort was without Matvei Michkov, who was a healthy scratch for a second straight game.

Hathaway made a nice play and then received a friendly bounce to draw the Flyers even at 3-3 in the third period.

Richard, who was called up Wednesday, recorded his first with the Flyers to tie things up at 2-2 in the middle stanza. The Flyers had an extra skater because of a delayed penalty.

But Florida regained its lead not even two minutes later when Sam Bennett was left alone in front. The Flyers appeared to have a bad line change.

The Panthers (11-3-1) have won seven straight by a combined score of 33-17.

The Flyers took two of three meetings from Florida last season, beating it twice on the road. They face the reigning champions two more times this season, with both matchups in Philadelphia.

• Ersson was back in net after leaving last Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury and missing the…