Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal with 17:41 left in the third period, leading the host Florida Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night in Sunrise.
Anton Lundell also scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the Panthers, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion.
Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov suffered an apparent arm injury in the second period and did not return.
Noah Cates scored for Philadelphia, and goalie Daniel Vladar played well in his Flyers debut with 32 saves.
Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play in a scoreless first period.
Florida opened the scoring with 5:29 gone in the second period on Lundell’s power-play goal from the slot. Lundell took a centering pass from Evan Rodrigues before flipping a wrist shot that beat Vladar to his stick side.
The Panthers nearly made it 2-0 with 3:27 left in the second as Sam Reinhart stole the puck and had Vladar one-on-one. However, Reinhart shot wide.
Then, with 2:12 left in the second, Philadelphia tied the score on Cates’ goal.
The sequence started when Cates won an offensive-zone faceoff against Sam Bennett. That led to a shot by Tyson Foerster that Bobrovsky stopped. Cates slapped at the rebound and the puck floated over the goalie and into the net.
Florida surged ahead again on Marchand’s improbable shot from up against the left boards. Marchand’s rising shot snuck underneath the crossbar and over Vladar’s left shoulder.
Up next, the Panthers will conclude their season-opening three-game homestand against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Flyers visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday before they get their home opener on Monday against the Panthers.
–Field Level Media
