Less than a week into the season, the Florida Panthers are already in postseason form.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions hope to continue their undefeated start Monday when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers in an early-season rematch.
Florida opened its season Tuesday with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks before nipping Philadelphia 2-1 two days later. The Panthers concluded their season-opening homestand Saturday with a 6-2 triumph over Ottawa as Anton Lundell, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand each registered a goal and an assist.
“We’re a well-oiled machine and we feel good about our game to start,” Ekblad said. “Obviously, we have a set of rules we adhere to on a daily basis and we try to bring that to our game every day.”
The Panthers are converting 41.7 percent of their power-play attempts on the young season, second only to the Minnesota Wild (45.5).
“We’re just so deep and so close,” said Mackie Samoskevich of the power play. “The first unit is going to do their thing. They’re such good players. They jell so well. I think even our second unit, we’re pretty tight-knit and know where guys are going to be.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves against the Senators to improve to 3-0-0. He likely will be in net again versus the Flyers, the team he began his career with before finding greater success with Columbus and Florida.
“It’s a good start, a good start,” Bobrovsky said. “We’ve played good games.”
That includes the recent win against the Flyers, who had more giveaways (23) than shots (20) in the first matchup with the Panthers. Still, the young Philadelphia players were able to view the loss as a learning experience of sorts.
“Great time for us,” said Flyers forward Noah Cates. “It’s a team that’s proven that they’ve won. They play a hard style. It’s a style we’re trying to emulate. They’re a measuring stick across the league and to get started against them was great.”
More recently, the Flyers dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to Carolina on Saturday. Travis Sanheim’s goal with four minutes left sent the game to OT, helping Philadelphia earn its first point of the season.
“I thought there was really some great efforts from some guys,” said Flyers coach Rick Tocchet. “Bobby Brink was outstanding tonight. (Goaltender Sam) Ersson was great. The penalty kill hung in there. We’ve just got to stop giving freebie goals. That’s the one thing. Can’t give free goals. But other than that, I thought there was some outstanding efforts, we got (Owen Tippett) skating. There’s some guys out there that really worked hard.”
This will be the home opener for the Flyers, who will play nine of their next 10 games at the newly named Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Meanwhile, Monday marks the beginning of a five-game road trip for the Panthers, who will also visit Detroit, New Jersey, Buffalo and Boston before returning to South Florida.
“We’re excited to get on the road,” said Panthers defenseman Seth Jones. “You kind of get to hang out with the guys a little bit more. That should be a lot of fun.”
–Field Level Media
