5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers 4, Flyers 3

Improving to 3-1-0 to start the season, the Florida Panthers opened up the home portion of their 2022-23 schedule with a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at FLA Live Arena on Wednesday.
"Everyone did a fantastic job stepping in," Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said. "Everyone was making fantastic plays, and it was nice to get the win right off the hop here."
For a quick recap of the game, click
HERE
.
To read up on five key takeaways for the Cats, continue below.

1. SWAGGY SCORES TWO

As expected, the law of averages caught up with Verhaeghe.
After lamenting that "they're sometimes just not going in" earlier in the morning, the speedy forward was finally rewarded for his strong offensive play with two goals against the Flyers.
Just 2:32 after he roofed a shot over Felix Sandstrom's glove from the right circle, he then ripped the rubber past him again on a partial breakaway to put the Panthers on top 2-0 in the first period.

Following both goals, "Turn My Swag On" by Soulja Boy blasted through the arena.
"I think it's one of the best goal songs on the team," said Verhaeghe, who goes by "Swaggy" in the locker room. "I think Lombo [Ryan Lomberg] has a good one, too. Wait until you hear that."
Picking up right where he left off last season in the scoring department, Verhaeghe netted a career-high 24 goals in 2021-22. Strong in the possession game as always, the Panthers led the Flyers 17-7 in shot attempts and 6-2 in scoring chances when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.
"We got a couple early ones," Verhaeghe said. "It was nice to get on top at home."

2. RUDY B GOOD

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!
The chants were loud in the arena when Rudolfs Balcers - better known as Rudy - netted his first goal of the season.
After Sam Bennett threaded him a sweet pass, Balcers pulled the puck to his backhand before lifting it into the top of the net to put the Cats up 3-2 in the third period.

"It feels nice," Balcers said of scoring his first goal with Florida. "A sweet pass by Benny there. I wasn't sure that it went in right away, but it was nice to see it cross the line. It was very nice."
After reaching career-highs in goals (11), assists (12) and points (23) with the San Jose Sharks last season, Balcers, who inked a one-year deal with the Panthers in free agency, has racked up a goal and an assist through his first four games of the season.
When his line was deployed against Philadelphia at 5-on-5, Florida led 5-2 in scoring chances.

3. MAHURA AND GUDAS

With Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour injured, Florida's D-men knew they had to step up.
Enter Radko Gudas and Josh Mahura.
Combing for a +6 rating, that defensive duo was one of the most-reliable for the Panthers against the Flyers. Gudas produced an assist and three blocked shots while skating 25:11 -- the second-most minutes on the team -- while Mahura ended up scoring the game-winning goal.

"They were smooth straight through," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of the pair. "They were hard on pucks and I didn't see any signs of them wearing down. They scored an awfully big goal for us. They were good tonight, and they look like they've got some chemistry with the way they're reading off each other. That's a really good sign for us."
Over 34:43 of 5-on-5 ice time this season, Mahura and Gudas own a 64.62 CF% together.
"He's such a safety net not just for me, but for the whole team here," Mahura said of Gudas. "Like I said before, you know what you're getting from him every night, and he brings it every night. Not much else to say about him. He's just one of the backbones of the team."

4. BIG GAME BOB

Bobrovsky was at his best when it mattered most for the Panthers.
Improving to 2-1-0 to start the season, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner turned aside 30 of 33 shots against the Flyers. Of those saves, 18 came in the third period. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, seven of his saves were considered high-danger.
"I can't say enough good things about Bob," Verhaeghe said. "Every game it seems like he makes a huge save. He was dialed in. He's our backbone back there. It's so much confidence for us as players to have him in net back there."
Starting three of four games for the Panthers out of the gate, Bobrovsky owns a 2.75 goals-against average with a .919 save percentage. In his career against the Flyers -- the organization he broke into the NHL with -- Bobrovsky has gone 19-5-1 with a .925 save percentage.

5. ATTACKING ON THE PK

Maurice has been liking how the Panthers have been executing on the penalty kill.
Entering the night with a 90% success rate, Florida's penalty kill went 5-for-6 against the Flyers. Most impressive, however, is the number of chances they were able to generate. Despite being down a man, the Panthers led the Flyers 7-5 in scoring chances when they were on the PK.
At 87.5%, Florida currently ranks 10th in the NHL on the penalty kill.
A shared responsibility, 12 different players skated on the penalty kill against the Flyers, including all six of the team's defensemen. Gudas led all blueliners in shorthanded time on ice with 7:39, while Anton Lundell ranked first among forwards with 4:51.
"Real happy," Maurice said. "We'd given up one [goal] coming into tonight, and we understand the goals that are given up. We're not chasing pucks around. We had some really good stands on the last kill, that 6-on-4. I'm really happy with that structure."