Florida Panthers
Flyers Will Be Ready for Panthers in Philadelphia Rematch
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers will help the Flyers celebrate their home opener tonight and one would expect the usual raucous Philadelphia crowd.
The Flyers are in the unenviable position of starting their season with two of the first three games against the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Panthers.
Despite their 0-1-1 record to start, the improved Flyers with new coach Rick Tocchet have displayed that as a team they are worthy of their mascot’s nickname.
Yes, these Flyers are Gritty.
Their first two games of the season drew two of the league’s toughest opponents and the Flyers were up to the challenge.
In Saturday’s overtime loss in Carolina, they came from behind to tie the score on a late goal by Travis Sanheim, only to lose in OT on a goal by Seth Jarvis.
Just seconds earlier, the Flyers appeared to win the game on a Sanheim goal, but it was overturned after video review confirmed goalie interference.
The Florida game could have gone either way.
The Latest on the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers
Subscribe to Florida Hockey Now, Today!
Brad Marchand’s third period winning goal game on a flick of the wrist shot from outside the faceoff circle which found its way past goalie Dan Vladar.
“Bobrovsky was one save better than me,’’ Vladar said. “That’s why we lost.”
Vladar, a free agent acquisition, spent the past four seasons with the Calgary Flames.
Goaltending had been a weakness in recent years in Philly and Flyers’ brass are hopeful that Vladar and Samuel Ersson, along with Tocchet’s defensive system, will tighten things up.
On offense, the Flyers expect the acquisition of Trevor Zegras, who has been hobbled by injuries the past few years, and Christian Dvorak, likewise with below par seasons, will return to early career form in new surroundings.
Second year man Malvei Michkov potted 26 goals as a rookie last year and should be an offensive factor.
Travis Konecny, Tyson Foerster, and ex-Panther Owen Tippett were the only other 20-goal men last season.
Under Tocchet, who spent 10 plus seasons in Philadelphia as a player, the Flyers look forward to an improvement to their 24th ranked offense and 28th ranked defense in the NHL last season.
Back to business immediately at hand, the matchups against Florida.
Tocchet said he saw “pockets of good stuff” in Thursday’s effort against the Panthers. He added that he was not happy about the penalties his team took which took players out of the game for a significant time.
He then added a familiar comment of visiting coaches.
“One thing with Florida is they believe in what they do,’’ Tocchet said. “They dump a lot of pucks, they’re great forecheckers.”
In reference to the next game, he added, “We’ve got to make sure we believe in what we’re doing, 60 minutes. Puck turnovers and things like that we’ve got to clean up but for the most part the effort was there.”
Noah Cates is an under-the-radar potential future star with Philadelphia.
He had the honor of scoring the first goal of the season for the Flyers and winning 9 of 15 faceoffs in the losing effort in Florida.
His words could be echoed by almost every visiting player after a tight game in Sunrise.
“They’re the defending champs. A good measuring stick. You see how mature their game is. They don’t have lapses,’’ Cates said. “I think we had a couple of lapses for a couple of shifts, long shifts not changing, little details. They always have their details with them. It’s not always pretty for them but they get it done. Grind it out.”
Paul Maurice never takes any team lightly, as evidenced by narrow one goal victories over non-playoff teams, Chicago and Philadelphia, to start the season.
He was generally satisfied with his team’s effort against the Flyers Thursday but did acknowledge a few areas which needed work.
“We will want to be a little sharper on some things because we did have some chances we didn’t finish,’’ Maurice said. “They got a couple of breaks there that they missed on but overall (the team’s performance was) pretty good.”
Gritty and the Philly faithful will be at their best tonight.
The Panthers will have to be at their best, too.
Florida is 3-0 to start this season, but with the next five on the road, the Panthers should be put to the test.
That starts tonight.
ON DECK: GAME 4
FLORIDA PANTHERS at PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
- When: Monday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Xfinity Center, Philadelphia
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WPTV 5/WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL/Panthers App
- Last Season: Florida won 2-1
- This Season (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Florida: Panthers 2, Flyers 1 (Oct. 9); Nov. 26; At Philadelphia: Oct 13.
- All-time Regular Season Series: Philadelphia leads 60-40-7, 7 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Wednesday at Detroit Red Wings, 7 (Local TV)
