The Florida Panthers got the 2nd half of their season underway in impressive fashion tonight as they returned to the ice and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2. After 5 days off for the All Star break, the Panthers came out sluggish, but overcame a 1-0 deficit to pick up the win against the Flyers. Rookie Michael Frolik had a hand in all 3 Florida goals to lead the Panthers Tuesday night.

The Panthers came out a little rusty in the 1st period and were outshot 12-10 by Philadelphia. The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 10:44 of the period, but Bryan McCabe would pull the Panthers even just under 4 minutes later. McCabe collected a pass from Stillman and fired a slap shot that found the back of the net high over the goalies’ stick side.

Florida would take control of the game with a strong 2nd period. Shaking off the rust of 5 days off, the Panthers outshot the Flyers 13-11 and scored 2  goals just over 4 minutes apart to stretch their lead to 3-1. Michael Frolik scored his 10th of the season at 7:43 of the 2nd, and David Booth scored his team leading 20th goal at 11:50 to put the Panthers ahead 3-1.

Early in the 3rd period Philadelphia would put some intensity back into the game by scoring just 1:51 into the 3rd period to pull Philadelphia back within a goal of Florida. Tomas Vokoun was solid in net the remainder of the period to hold on to the 3-2 lead and secure victory for the Panthers. Vokoun stopped 11 shots in the 3rd period, and 33 over all.

All in all it was a perfect start to the 2nd half of the season for the Panthers. They picked up a power play goal, held Philadelphia scoreless on the power play, and continued their trend of production from everywhere. Florida needed a good start to the stretch run of the season as they now have 10 games in the next 21 days, all against teams that are either locks for the playoffs or are in hot contention.