Flyers fall to Panthers as their former goalie holds them in check

There would be no comeback on Sunday.

Facing a Florida Panthers team that had lost four straight, and coming off their own emotional 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins the day before, the Flyers came out and controlled play. But they could only get one past Anthony Stolarz. The goalie made 32 saves and handed his former team a 4-1 loss at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Orange and Black had their chances before Bobby Brink got them on the board in the third period on a power play. The Flyers had a big goose egg for the first four man advantages until Ryan Poehling fed a cross-crease pass to Brink at the left post for the slam-dunk goal.

Across the game, the Flyers hit pipe three times — one by Sean Couturier looked like a sure goal as he lifted the puck on his backhand after cutting across the crease, but it nicked the crossbar.

In the second period, the Flyers held the Panthers shotless for almost 12 minutes. During that stretch, the Flyers had 17 shot attempts, including seven shots on goal. Three of those were on a power play drawn by Morgan Frost on a two-on-one as he got a good shot off despite being slashed. Travis Konecny had a chance in the third period when a Poehling wraparound attempt caromed to him at the left post, but with Stolarz out of position, he shot the puck through the crease.

Sam Reinhart gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with his 49th of the season off a three-on-two. Brandon Montour dished over to Anton Lundell, who drew two Flyers to him before finding an open Reinhart for the shot that handcuffed Felix Sandström. Reinhart hit No. 50 on the season with an empty-netter.

After some pleasantries at the end of the first period, the Panthers ended up with a power play to start the second and Vladimir Tarasenko cashed in. Scott Laughton tried to head-man the pass up to Konecny, but it had to get through two guys and it was intercepted, allowing the Panthers to go north. Reinhart went cross-ice to Tarasenko in the right faceoff circle for his 20th goal of the season just 55 seconds into the frame.

Carter Verhaeghe made it 3-0 in the third period when he skated around Adam Ginning and scored off the glove of Sandström from the left circle as Ronnie Attard was closing in.

Sandström made 11 saves. ... As the game wore on, Couturier was back on the second power-play unit. ... Cam Atkinson, Nic Deslauriers, Marc Staal, and Denis Gurianov were healthy scratches. ... The Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-0, to move into the second wild-card spot. They are now two points back of the Flyers for third in the Metropolitan Division. Washington plays the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

The Flyers head to the Big Apple for a matchup with the New York Rangers on Tuesday (7 p.m. on NBCSP).