The home opener is always a special event for the Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-1). They welcomed the reigning and defending back-to-back NHL Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers (3-1-0), to the newly minted Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Before the opening faceoff, the Flyers honored Bernie Parent. The retired #1 was stitched on the shoulders of the sweaters worn by the Philadelphia players. Below is the ceremony display ahead of the home opener:
At the beginning of the season, the Flyers lost to the Panthers, 2-1. Both teams expected a closely contested battle, especially this close together at the start of the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season. Special teams played a crucial role in Florida’s win on October 9th. In another disjointed game, Philadelphia needed to overcome a lack of team discipline.
Rick Tocchet sent Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, Nick Seeler, and Travis Sanheim to center ice to start this rematch versus the Panthers, with Dan Vladař in the crease. Jett Luchanko and Nikita Grebenkin remained in the lineup. Emil Andrae made his 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season debut, replacing Egor Zamula. Tocchet provided his third different lineup of the season. Would it be enough for the Flyers to earn their first victory?
Here’s how it all went down from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Xfinity Mobile Arena:
First Period
Shots: 8-5, Flyers
Score: 1-0, Flyers
Aaron Ekblad served a minor penalty for slashing. Brink and Matvei Michkov each recorded shots on goal during the power play, but Philadelphia couldn’t convert. Florida hadn’t allowed a power play goal entering their first road trip of the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season. Before the power play expired, Vladař stopped Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell on a two-on-one shorthanded rush, with Sanheim caught in the middle. The Flyers would finish 0/5 (0%) on the power play.
Owen Tippett served a minor penalty for slashing. Seeler, Cates, Sean Couturier, and Garnet Hathaway helped clear the defensive zone, keeping Florida away from Vladař.
After the power play, the Panthers continued to pressure Vladař. Mackie Samoskevich entered on the attack, passed around Seeler and Sanheim to Carter Verhaeghe, but Vladař flashed the pad again. While Philadelphia paced the shot totals in the first period, Florida created some high-danger scoring chances on a handful of shots.
“I was happy with the game plan first period. We executed what we wanted to do. Then, we got off-kilter in the second. Obviously, five penalties; I mean, it’s five every game. We’ve got to figure something out. I’m not going to judge the calls, but we can’t give up fifteen penalties in three games. I got to credit the penalty kill, the goaltending of Vladdy [Dan Vladař], Ersson [Sam Ersson] the other night. We’re getting good goaltending. It looked bad when they had the puck outside, but actually, I don’t mind that because I saw some guys hold. We weren’t running, we weren’t diving all over the place, we weren’t leaving our feet; I thought we held the front of that half decent. When we didn’t, Vladdy made some saves. That’s why you got to have that resolve when things aren’t going our way; to hold. You can’t get out of structure. I thought we did a really nice job. It’s a good learning lesson for us.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/13/2025
Uvis Balinskis didn’t maintain control of the puck, and the Flyers pounced. Couturier collected the puck along the boards, then quickly found Foerster with a pass. From the slot, Foerster ripped a wrist shot from the slot, 1-0, with 11:06 remaining in the first period.
Before the end of the period, Couturier almost scored two more times on Daniil Tarasov from the left post. One sequence featured a shot on goal from Andrae, and on the rebound, Couturier just couldn’t smoothly field the puck. However, his night was just starting.
“That’s a tough situation for him [Emil Andrae] to come in. First game on the minors come up, I thought he did a really nice job. Give the kid a lot of credit.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/13/2025
Second Period
Shots: 19-18, Panthers
Score: 2-1, Flyers
Couturier served a minor penalty for hooking. This time, Philadelphia went on a shorthanded rush. Cates got his pass through to Sanheim, but Tarasov stuffed the scoring chance. Vladař remained very busy, moving from post to post. The Panthers had Vladař moving in the crease, and it seemed like he was working a lot harder than the nine shots he faced at this point.
Sanheim had an active stick on defense, poking the puck away from Verhaeghe. Travis Konecny recovered the puck and found Couturier on a breakaway. Couturier fired a wrist shot past Tarasov, 2-0, with 4:13 remaining in the second period. That made for a multi-point evening.
Seth Jones served a minor penalty for delaying the game. He attempted to flip the puck down the ice, but it angled out of play. This would be the fourth power play for the Flyers, but instead of converting, Philadelphia surrendered a shorthanded goal. Sam Reinhart stuck with his rebound, finally beating Vladař, who was on his stomach, 2-1, with 0:36 remaining in the second period.
Third Period
Shots: 26-22, Panthers
Score: 5-2, Flyers
Michkov served a minor penalty for hooking. Adam Ginning and Cates cleared the defensive zone, minimizing the shots against Vladař.
Tippett served a minor penalty for tripping. The Flyers had tired players, particularly Ginning and Seeler, on the ice while Florida extended their possession from even-strength to six-on-five, pulling Tarasov for the extra attacker. Bennett scored the equalizer with Vladař lying on the ice, 2-2, with 9:45 remaining in the third period. Vladař committed to Reinhart, and after he made the first move, Reinhart dished to Bennett for the easy power play goal. Philadelphia finished 4/5 (80%) on the penalty kill.
“Obviously, we didn’t like that shorthanded goal. Those things can’t happen. I just saw a lot of guys do a lot of digging. I didn’t see a lot of guys heads dropping. They tied two-two. These guys, for three years now, this team [Florida Panthers] plays hard after nine months. I have a lot of credit for Paul Maurice and that team. They’re a hard team to play against. So, to hang in there against that team: Can we build confidence? Can we build an identity? A little bit of swagger; hopefully, this can help us catapult to the next level.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/13/2025
Trevor Zegras had a highlight reel assist to help with a game-winning scoring play. Stationed behind Tarasov, it looked like Zegras would be stapled to the boards by Ekblad and Bennett, but instead, Zegras centered the puck to Couturier. Couturier scored his second goal, 3-2, with 4:10 remaining in the third period.
Tarasov would be pulled for the extra attacker, but the Flyers added another to the scoreboard. Brink scored an empty-net goal, 4-2, with 2:17 remaining in the third period.
Lastly, Couturier passed up a hat trick while Tarasov was pulled again. Sanheim took the shot, but the puck was deflected by Christian Dvorak for the empty-net goal, 5-2, with 1:27 remaining in the third period. Philadelphia secured its first victory of the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season, handing the Panthers their first loss.
Up Next
Next, the Philadelphia Flyers host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, October 16th. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 7pm/ET.
