Hathaway dealt to Panthers for pair of picks

In a pre-draft world where big moves for big hauls accompanied big sign-and-trades for long term and large AAVs, Danny Briere opted for a small rumble on Thursday.

Garnet Hathaway was shipped to the Florida Panthers along with a 6th-rounder this year in exchange for a 5th-round draft slot in tomorrow's NHL Entry Draft as well as a 4th-rounder in next year's draft.

Hathaway, who spent 3 full seasons in Orange and Black, did not have a stellar campaign in 2025-26, racking up roughly $2.4 million for every goal scored on his current 2-year contract. He posted a single goal and 3 points across 66 regular-season appearances, but added a goal and assist across 8 playoff contests.

The 34-year-old product of Brown University totaled 18 goals, 41 points and 249 penalty minutes over 215 regular-season games here. He joins a Panthers squad looking to reshape their roster in hopes of returning to the Stanley Cup finals for the 4th time in 5 seasons. 

Also included in the deal, the Flyers retained 50% (or $1.2M) for the remainder of Hathaway's contract, which expires into unrestricted free agency in July 2027. His absence leaves a gaping hole in veteran grit that will not be suitably filled by merely slotting in a younger prospect. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for the Phanatic's coverage of the first round of the draft from Buffalo tomorrow night. The Flyers currently hold the 21st overall selection.

Panthers turn back the clock, beat Flyers 2-1

by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor

Someone somewhere must have decided that Tuesday night's game at Wells Fargo Center would comprise of a bad episode of VH1's "I Love the 90s."

Most of the hallmarks of the fabled dead-puck era were present: territorial domination, a lopsided shot total, a dogpile of wasted opportunities, one goaltender made to look better than the other because of the lack of quality chances, and, inevitably, a head-scratching loss.

Ultimately, it was a timeless bugaboo which struck the Philadelphia Flyers, as Sean Bergenheim's goal off a bad bounce early in the second period proved to be the difference as Florida claimed a 2-1 victory.

"We played the way we wanted. We jumped on them early. We just couldn't score," lamented Jaromir Jagr.

The turning point in a largely somnolent contest came at the 6:23 mark of the middle stanza, when Brian Campbell's hard wraparound at the left post wound its way beyond the goal line, only to take a right turn back into play.

That's where an alert Bergenheim collected the puck and beat Ilya Bryzgalov to the short side high to give the Panthers a two-goal edge.

No matter that Eric Wellwood was the recipient of a gift tally 91 seconds later; a 36-13 shot advantage wasn't enough to overcome that bit of rotten luck.

Stephen Weiss notched the other goal for Kevin Dineen's squad, which has won five games in a row and opened up a five-point lead over idle Washington in the Southeast Division.

Scott Clemmensen, a surprise starter over Jose Theodore, acquitted himself well thanks to 35 stops.

"It's never easy coming off a long lay off there but it was a matter of getting a couple of saves under my belt and after that you kind of go from there," said Clemmensen of his first start since March 3. It's just a matter of trying to get in that comfort zone."

Bryzgalov, the First Star in the league two weeks running, ended up with only 11 saves as Philly couldn't maintain momentum from Sunday's OT win over Pittsburgh. The Penguins rolled over the Jets, 8-4, and separated themselves by four points over the Orange and Black in the race for the fourth spot in the East and home-ice in the first round.

Despite spikes in tempo and a pace which didn't reach a crescendo until late in the first, the hosts began rolling up the shot disparity early on. Still, the power play failed to click on four chances, including a 42-second 5-on-3 with under four minutes to go.

Weiss picked up the lone goal of the opening period, with 6:56 remaining, when he was able to elude capture along the right wing, moved in between the circles and beat Bryzgalov high to the far post.

Then, with the Flyers trailing by two, the shot which got them (and the restless yet less-than-capacity crowd) rolling came from the energetic 22-year-old.

He held the puck behind the goal line to the left of Clemmensen, then attempted to center for Danny Briere only to find the dish caromed off the skate of Ed Jovanovski and in.

“We started out the game with plenty of jump. I thought we came out a little bit sleepy in the second period for a few minutes,” Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette said. “They caught a really nice break off the carom off the glass. After that, I think we got back to work.”

The remaining 32:06 of regulation was an exercise in frustration as countless close calls that gave way to missed open shots eventually led to crashing the net that was a step behind the opposing goaltender.

It was a grim repeat of Flyers-Panthers games of a generation ago, which usually saw the latter come up with one more successful finish than the former who was kept to low percentage shots.

Notes: Clemmensen improved to 4-1-1 against Philadelphia in his career...The loss deprived the Flyers of their chance to sweep the Panthers for the first time since going 4-0-0 in the 2005-06 season...Bergenheim scored just his third goal in his last 11 games...The win snapped Florida's five game losing streak in the Quaker City...The 11 saves tied a season-low for Bryzgalov in a full contest, after he recorded the same amount in a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay on December 27...Campbell led all players in ice time at 25:16 and assisted on both scores...Pavel Kubina returned to the lineup for the first time since March 6, while Max Talbot and Andreas Lilja both came back after one-game absences...To make room on the roster, Philly sent defensemen Eric Gustafsson and Brandon Marshall to Adirondack of the AHL.

Blank Expression: Bryzgalov's play fuels Flyers win over Panthers

by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor

Given the twists and turns through the first three-quarters of the season, it's difficult to say with any certainty that Ilya Bryzgalov has turned a corner, or has shown us all what he's capable of doing.

Nonetheless, it's hard to argue with results. Bryzgalov notched his second shutout in three starts on Thursday, stopping 28 shots in all as the Philadelphia Flyers exacted a bit of poetic justice and took down the Florida Panthers by a 5-0 count.

Bryzgalov improved to 7-2-1 with three blankings over his last 11 starts, and recorded his 27th career shutout. He's also 1-0 since silencing CSN's John Boruk for Boruk's Tuesday post-game attempt at once again trying to assess the Russian's confidence.

"He seems pretty locked in right now. He’s preparing, he’s going out there, he’s executing, and then he gets ready for the next one," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette.

It was a more impressive feat given the state of the defense, decimated (or so it seemed) with the absences of Kimmo Timonen, Pavel Kubina and Andrej Meszaros. Jakub Voracek also missed the game with an upper-body injury and Jaromir Jagr was limited with lingering groin issues.

Speaking of silencing, there were a few landmarks reached.

Thursday's victory marked Philadelphia's first home shutout of Florida since a 2-0 win on October 24, 1999 -- when John Vanbiesbrouck bested Sean Burke with a 33-save performance -- and proved to be the club's first regular-season regulation shutout at home since a 2-0 decision over the Rangers on January 21, 2010.

Brayden Schenn, Matt Read, Scott Hartnell, Jagr and Eric Wellwood all lit the lamp for the Flyers, who have won four in a row and six of eight.

Jose Theodore allowed five goals on 35 shots for the Panthers, who have lost three of four.

The Flyers got on the board with 9:25 to play in the opening period, thanks to a bit of unexpected luck. Claude Giroux's pass from the left wing near the boards into the slot was intended for Hartnell, and though he totally fanned on the shot, Schenn was there in the right circle to sweep it home.

Read doubled the advantage when his poke through a goalmouth scramble slid home at 3:06 of the second period. Wayne Simmonds did his usual damage and disruption from atop the crease, and got in a few whacks of his own before Read picked up his rookie-leading 19th goal of the season.

Hartnell finally atoned for his earlier gaffe and made it 3-0 on a breakaway down the left wing culminating in a wrister just under the crossbar with 7:11 to play in the second. The point was also his 60th of the season, tying his career best from 2008-09.

"I think a lot of things are coming together on the ice," Hartnell admitted. "Even though we've had some injuries and stuff, it seems like we're playing tighter defensively, not doing too many fancy plays and we're scoring some goals as well."

Despite starting the game on the fourth line with the seldom-used Jody Shelley and playing just over 10 minutes, Jagr managed to crank up some offense when he beat Theodore from between the circles on a power play at the 2:35 mark of the third.

Wellwood capped the scoring when he broke free up the middle off an Erik Gustafsson dish for a 5-0 game with 1:27 to play.

The final was an appropriate tally given Florida's 5-0 embarrassment of the Flyers last year in the club's final home game before Christmas.

"We have to find a way to score goals. We can sit there and diddle around and try and find words, but we have to have a concerted effort to go and score goals," said Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen, whose club suffered its second sizeable shutout loss in four games. "It's tough. Our special teams didn't play well early on."

Notes: Michael Leighton posted the last home regulation shutout, turning aside the Montreal Canadiens for a second straight time in a 3-0 win on May 18, 2010 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals...It was also the club's first regular-season regulation shutout victory since a 2-0 decision over the Rangers on January 21, 2010...Philadelphia forward Danny Briere played in his 800th NHL contest, but despite his two-assist night, his goal drought extended to 21 games...Flyers GM Paul Holmgren revealed before the game that winger James van Riemsdyk's foot surgery was successful and that the timeline of 4-6 weeks is still accurate...To offset some of the injury issues, the Flyers recalled forward Harry Zolnierczyk and defenseman Brandon Manning from Adirondack (AHL)...The Panthers scratched forward Kris Versteeg.