Panthers end Flyers' winning streak

SUNRISE, Fla. - Almost 40 games after the fact, the hit had long escaped Mike Richards' conscious thoughts.

Last night was proof that Richards' hit has never left David Booth. Richards leveled Booth with a blindside hit back on Oct. 24, knocking him unconscious as his face dragged along the ice at the Wachovia Center, not far from the exact spot where Scott Stevens ended Eric Lindros' storied career as a Flyer. The hit broke Booth's nose and kept him off the ice until last month.

Booth's anger rubbed off on his teammates.

The Flyers and Panthers squared off in four first-period fights - two in the first 5 seconds - giving Florida an energy edge it carried to a lopsided, 7-4 win at the Bank Atlantic Center.

"We came out with an attitude tonight," Booth said. "It was just a lot of stuff built up, what could have been had I been playing. You think about that. But it's behind me now.

"I wanted to get it off my chest."

The Flyers' five-game winning streak was snapped as they squandered a chance to inch within four points of the Sabres for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. With a win, the Flyers would have had a chance to cut it to two tomorrow night in Buffalo.

Richards' hit likely cost Booth a silver medal at the Olympics. He was considered a shoo-in for Brian Burke's U.S. team. So Booth kindly asked Richards to square off in a gentlemanly fight in the first period.

It was the first fight of Booth's 4-year career.

"I really don't know what I'm doing when I fight," Booth said. "I just asked him if he wanted to and he was good enough to give me my shot."

Neither player won the short tussle, as they scrambled to the ice. But Booth - who chipped in a goal and three assists to lead the Panthers with four points in his vendetta game - won the war.

"I kind of expected it, I guess," Richards said. "It happened and then it was over. It was rough. We matched their physical presence, we just didn't match their mind frame."

Two nights ago, in a 7-2 walloping of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers struggled defensively in the first two periods but rebounded to score five third-period goals. That didn't happen last night.

"We played mindless hockey," coach Peter Laviolette said. "We didn't execute. You can talk about the discipline in our system, discipline in our action - all of them were subpar. We got what we deserved. It was lousy."

After Florida's two first-period goals, the Flyers struggled to play catch-up for the rest of the night. Every time the Flyers scored to pull it close, an untimely, weak goal would reset the scoreboard.

Danny Briere and Jeff Carter scored power-play goals to make it 3-2 in the second period, but Jason Garrison scored 34 seconds after Carter to make it 4-2.

"I gave up some goals at crucial times and it hurt us," Michael Leighton said. "Obviously, we weren't too prepared for this game."

Leighton was yanked after the fourth goal, ironically just hours after the Flyers' nonactivity at the trade deadline anointed him their starter for the playoff run.

Still, as Chris Pronger said, the defense was the problem, not Leighton. The Flyers gave up a season-high 43 shots.

"How many chances did they have? You can't ask a goalie to stop all that," Pronger said. "Our defense was porous."

Backup Brian Boucher wasn't much better in relief.

Clearly rusty in his first game action since Jan. 3, exactly 2 months, Boucher was beaten on the first shot he faced, from Stephen Weiss. The high snap shot over Boucher's shoulder increased the Panthers' lead to 5-2.

Michael Frolik made it 6-2 just 2:39 later, making it two goals against in Boucher's first 5 minutes of action. But the goalie settled down in the third period to give the Flyers a chance to come back.

Ville Leino helped propel that comeback with a slick forehand-to-backhand move to cut the deficit to three goals with 19 seconds left in the second period. It was his first goal in his first game as a Flyer.

From there, the Flyers controlled much of the action in the third period, outshooting the Panthers, 20-12. Ryan Parent scored the first goal of his NHL career - in his 84th game - to make it 6-4 before Bryan McCabe's empty-netter put the Flyers out of their misery.

"We scored seven goals the other night and we were opportunistic," Boucher said. "But that's not how we want to win hockey games. You can compete when you trade chances."

Since the Flyers cut it to a two-goal deficit with Brian Boucher in net, Boucher was tagged with the loss despite not being responsible for five of the seven Panther goals . . . Florida was 2-for-6 on the power play and had fewer less minor penalties than the Flyers . . . Last night was Michael Leighton's eighth consecutive start since Ray Emery went down on Feb. 1.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.