Flyers defeat Panthers, 3-2

SUNRISE, Fla. - Trailing by a goal, the Florida Panthers had a five-on-three power play after a double-minor penalty to the Flyers' Max Talbot early in Sunday's third period.

It turned out to be the game's turning point, but it an unconventional manner.

It was the shorthanded Flyers who benefited, en route to a 3-2 victory over Florida at the BankAtlantic Center.

After killing a penalty to Jaromir Jagr, the Flyers were still killing Talbot's high-sticking infraction when rookie Matt Read was pulled down by defenseman Jason Garrison on a shorthanded breakaway. Read converted the penalty shot - his drive went off goalie Jose Theodore and trickled through his legs - with 15 minutes, 46 seconds left to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.

The strange turn of events helped the Flyers increase their points streak to six games. Florida had its six-game points streak snapped.

"When I came out and took a fake shot, I thought he opened his legs up a little bit, and I just shot for the five hole," Read said after taking his first penalty shot on any level. "I think it hit the inside of his pad, and somehow it just snuck through there and barely made it over the goal line."

"I got caught flat-footed," Garrison said of the play that caused the penalty shot. "It was a loose puck in the zone, and I kind of caught him, and then he was off to the races. It was my only play to slide and try to hit the puck. Obviously I hit the body as well."

Read's goal was the first penalty shot scored against the Panthers at home since Mario Lemieux beat John Vanbiesbrouck in 1997. Panthers goalies had stopped eight penalty shots at home since that goal.

The tally proved to be the game-winner, the first of Read's young career, because Tomas Fleischmann scored with 7.4 seconds remaining.

Rookies Read and Sean Couturier (5:27 on the penalty kill) helped the Flyers kill all seven Florida power plays. They have been successful on 26 of their last 27 kills during their 4-0-2 run.

Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, whose team played its first game since a two-day bonding trip, was outstanding as he improved to 4-0-1 in his last five starts.

The Flyers didn't have to face a trap, like they did in the first game of this road trip, and didn't have to slow down their attack to entice their opponent to go after the puck.

Given freedom to skate, they created lots of scoring chances.

The Flyers were coming off a 2-1 overtime loss in which Tampa Bay employed a 1-3-1 trap. The Flyers managed just 15 shots in that game - three fewer than they had in the second period Sunday.

They finished with 35 shots, including goals by Danny Briere and Braydon Coburn.

Briere lifted a backhanded rebound past Theodore with 3:50 left in the opening period to put the Flyers ahead, 1-0.

Early in the second period, the Flyers scored one of their prettiest goals of the season, with a tic-tac-toe passing play while they were on a three-on-two break. Talbot fed Jakub Voracek, who fired a perfect goalmouth pass to a charging Coburn, and the lanky defenseman tapped in his first goal of the season. That gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead with 13:10 left in the second period.

Less than four minutes later, Florida scored when Evengy Dadonov, recalled from the AHL on Saturday because of an injury to former Flyer Scottie Upshall, skated around Chris Pronger and beat Bryzgalov from the left circle.

The Flyers dominated the second period, outshooting the Panthers, 18-7, but Theodore had most of the answers. He couldn't control Read's penalty shot, however, and the Flyers were on their way to raising their road record to 5-1-1.

"I didn't even know I got a penalty shot until I got to the bench and someone told me," Read said. "I was like, 'Oh, OK. Perfect.' "