RECAP: Panthers 2, Flyers 1

SUNRISE, Fla. – Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand each scored as the Florida Panthers grinded out a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

With the win, the defending Stanley Cup champions improved to 2-0-0.

“Probably better than we usually play against Philadelphia,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “A lot of broken plays all over, not a lot of easy puck movement. They forecheck hard. … We’ll want to be a little sharper on things because we had some chances we didn’t finish.”

The first period came and went with neither team lighting the lamp.

Keeping the Flyers off the board, Sergei Bobrovsky’s biggest early stop came when he clamped his pads together to keep Matvei Michkov from pinballing the puck into the net.

On the power play, the Panthers broke the ice in the second period when Lundell ripped a lethal shot past Dan Vladar’s glove from the right circle to make it 1-0 at 5:29.

“Even if we had a short summer, I feel like I got something out of the summer,” said Lundell, who’s looking to build off a career-best 45-point campaign in 2024-25. “I feel stronger. I feel faster than last year. People will say you have to train to get better, but I just feel like the more we play and the more I play, I just can improve on things in my own game.”

Picking up his first point with Florida, Jeff Petry logged the secondary assist.

“It’s nice,” said Petry, who’s now only 17 games away from 1,000 in the NHL. “Just making the pass to Rod (Evan Rodrigues), and he and Lundy did all the work. Just making sure that when the opportunity is there to skate, skate. When you can move the puck ahead, do that.”

Despite spending much of the second period hemmed in their own zone, the Flyers still managed to even the score when Noah Cates crashed the net following an offensive-zone faceoff win and batted a rebound past Bobrovsky to make it 1-1 at 17:48.

Already down several key players to start the season, the Panthers lost Dmitry Kulikov to an injury in the second period after the veteran defenseman went into the boards awkwardly.

Diagnosed with an upper-body injury, Kulikov did not return to the game.

“We’ll get him looked at tomorrow,” Maurice said.

Picking a corner for his first goal of the season, Marchand put the Panthers on top early in the third period when he corralled a puck off the left half-wall and threaded it past Vladar’s glove for a bar-down beauty from distance to break the tie and make it 2-1 at 2:19.

With the primary assist, Luke Kunin earned his first point with Florida.

Coming up in the clutch with just over two minutes left in regulation, Bobrovsky made a save on Cates and then poked away the puck to deny Tyson Foerster a rebound attempt.

With 1:16 left, Foerster essentially ended Philadelphia’s comeback homes with an interference penalty.

From there, the Panthers held on for their second straight one-goal win.

Controlling the flow of play, Florida has allowed just 39 total shots through two games.

“I think we’re playing pretty tight,” Marchand said. “I think that’s where we excel above teams. We play really tight and don’t give up a whole lot. We have a group that played together for the most part last year, so we’re very comfortable in our system.”

THEY SAID IT

“I think we’re generating enough. That’s kind of the expectation, that we’ll probably score a little less right now and hopefully we don’t have to give up less.” – Paul Maurice

“I feel like I’ve got so much experience, and now it’s just trying to get out everything I’ve learned.” – Anton Lundell

“That’s the right way to win. It means they’re playing your game. We’re getting a lot of opportunities and we can score more goals, but I think we’re more concerned about the defensive side of it and making sure we don’t allow many.” – Brad Marchand

CATS STATS

- Evan Rodrigues has recorded an assist in each of the first two games this season.

- Four of Florida’s defensemen saw at least 22 minutes of ice time.

- The Panthers became the sixth reigning Stanley Cup champion in the past 30 years to win each of their first two games of the season.

- Anton Lundell won a team-high 12 faceoffs.

- Jeff Petry and Luke Kunin each blocked two shots.

- The Panthers led 11-3 in shot attempts when Anton Lundell was deployed at 5-on-5.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made three high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will try to keep their early-season winning streak alive when they close out their homestand against the Ottawa Senators at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

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