The Flyers stole one. They lost the expected-goals battle 2.28–3.24 and won anyway.
Philadelphia beat Florida 4–2 while being comprehensively outchanced. The Panthers generated 3.24 expected goals to the Flyers' 2.28 — a 59–41 split — yet lost. This was a goaltending heist.
The dominance was real. Florida took 27 shot attempts to Philadelphia's 18 and created 4 high-danger chances against 3. By every measure of play, the Panthers controlled the game. The scoreboard told a different story.
D. Vladar made it stick. He stopped 25 of 27 shots (0.926 SV%), recording 1.24 goals above expected. S. Bobrovsky allowed 4 goals on 18 shots (0.778 SV%), giving up 1.72 more than expected. The gap between the pipes decided everything.
Both teams attacked the rush with equal precision. Philadelphia converted 3 of 23 rush chances; Florida converted 2 of 22. Efficiency on high-leverage plays kept Philadelphia alive, but it was Vladar who won the game.
Sean Couturier sealed it in the third period, tipping in a doorstep chance at 19:35 to extend Philadelphia's lead beyond reach. The Flyers' goaltending had already absorbed the Panthers' dominance; that goal simply put it away.
This was the kind of win that inflates one team's confidence while deflating another — a 4–2 scoreline that badly misrepresented who played the better game. For Philadelphia, lucky is better than dominant.
