PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers had little trouble with the punchless Florida Panthers. Playing much of the game with an extra skater has that effect.
Justin Williams, Michal Handzus and John LeClair scored power-play goals as the Flyers ended a three-game home winless streak against the Panthers with a 5-1 rout.
Florida is the lone Southeast Division team that has experienced success at the Wachovia Center over the last five years. But the Panthers played shorthanded for nearly 14 minutes and were beaten in Philadelphia for the first time since October 4, 2001.
"Power-play goals are such a key to a team's success," Flyers center Jeremy Roenick said. "When you can pick up one or two goals on the power play, it takes a lot of pressure off your 5-on-5 game. It is so hard to score 5-on-5. It is an extra bonus when you can chip one in on the power play."
The Flyers never trailed after rookie defenseman Joni Pitkanen darted in from the blue line, got a pass out of the right corner from Keith Primeau and wristed a shot by the right arm of goaltender Roberto Luongo just 6:29 into the opening period.
"He was jumping tonight," Philadelphia right wing Tony Amonte said of Pitkanen. "That first goal, he jumps in and it looks like a dead play. He picks up the loose puck and he puts it in. A guy like that is a great offensive presence for us."
Byron Ritchie took a cross-checking penalty just over two minutes later, giving Philadelphia its first power play. Williams cashed in at 9:08, shrugging off a hit by defenseman Branislav Mezei and sweeping in the puck to end Luongo's night.
Luongo stopped just three of five shots and said he was not surprised he was pulled.
"I didn't make the big saves early, so Mike (coach Mike Keenan) wanted to get a chance in the momentum and he took me out," Luongo said. "You never want to get pulled. It's embarrassing, but it's my own fault. I just have to be more ready to start the game."
"It set us back quite a bit and that's why I made a change for the goaltender, in an attempt to give us a bit of a break and get us off our heels," Keenan explained. "We were on our heels to start the game ... and we really never recovered from that point on."
Viktor Kozlov got Florida on the board 6:05 into the second period, but Roenick and Handzus scored on backup Steve Shields in a 59-second span to extend the Flyers' lead to 4-1.
"We got the first goal in the second period, but it wasn't enough," Panthers captain Olli Jokinen said. "We had our chances, but we couldn't bury them. They got the third and fourth goals pretty quick."
LeClair converted on one of Philadelphia's seven power plays in the final period as the Flyers remained unbeaten at home (3-0-2).
"The biggest change for us is that we are scoring goals on the power play, which is helping a lot," Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We are competing much harder in the offensive zone, which is probably helping the most."
The Panthers were denied a third straight road win and have scored just 18 goals in 10 games this season.
"We need to play harder every night, like we played in New Jersey and like we played against the Rangers," Florida defenseman Andreas Lilja said. "We can't just play hard and not win and not win. We need to win these games. You can't wait until you got 20 games to go and try to take them because you're going to be 30 points behind."
The teams combined for 22 penalties totaling 93 minutes in the third period, with Jokinen and teammate Branislav Mezei drawing game misconducts.
"It is just trying to send a message," Hitchcock said. "It is just making Donald Brashear angrier and wanting to get back (from his injury) quicker. It will be interesting when he comes back."
