The Florida Panthers entered Monday night's road game against the Philadelphia Flyers with a 2-2-1 record in their last five games; their most recent game was a 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins.
Meanwhile, the host Flyers were struggling, having won just one of their last five games.
Ultimately, the Flyers emerged victorious with a badly needed win thanks to a wild finish to the contest. They picked up the two points thanks to their comeback 4-3 win, improving their record to 19-20-5; the Panthers fell to 25-16-3.
The scoring was started by Florida sniper Sam Reinhart, his 26th goal of the season; it was also scored shorthanded, giving the Panthers the 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, the lead was increased to 2-0 thanks to Uvis Balinskis, his second goal; the Panthers took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Flyers halved the lead just before the midway point of the second period, as Garnet Hathaway scored his fifth goal.
However, the Flyers drew even early in what proved to be a wild third period after Noah Cates notched his eighth goal, scored on the power-play. While Reinhart would strike again with his second goal of the game, the Flyers stormed right back with consecutive goals.
First, Morgan Frost knotted the score on the power-play with his 10th goal, followed by the second goal of the night and ninth of the season from Cates at the 14:09 mark.
Despite a late push from the Panthers to tie the game once again, they proved unable to.
3 least impressive Florida Panthers players from 4-3 loss to Philadelphia Flyers
#1. Sergei Bobrovsky
Still regarded by most as one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, Bobrovsky didn't have his best outing against his former team.
Philadelphia's first goal trickled through his pads, a play he'd love a second chance on. He was also beaten cleanly on the glove side by Cates on the go-ahead goal in the third period.
Allowing four total goals, he finished the night with a porous .862 save percentage.
#2. Dmitri Kulikov
It was Kulikov, playing in his second tenure with the Panthers, who took the costly tripping penalty that directly resulted in Morgan Frost's game-tying goal.
He also finished the night with a -1 rating while committing a giveaway.
#3. Jesper Boqvist
One of Florida's better defensive forwards, Monday night's loss to the Flyers wasn't a game that his fans can point toward as an example.
He finished with a -2 rating while also taking a trip to the penalty box.
The Panthers will look to bounce back when they face the New Jersey Devils next at Prudential Center on Tuesday.