Flyers start sloppy, drop season opener to Panthers, 2-1

The Rick Tocchet era begins in disarray.

Up against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the Flyers skated out of the gate sloppy and overmatched.

They dropped their season opener, 2-1, Thursday night down in Sunrise, Florida. They committed five penalties and were outshot heavily, 34-20.

Had it not been for Dan Vladar with the season's first start in goal, it might've ended up a lot worse, but nevertheless, the Flyers begin the 2025-26 campaign 0-1-0.

It took 44 seconds before a Flyer went to the box on Thursday night. Florida's Carter Verhaeghe turned along the wall trying to handle the puck in the offensive zone, which led to Matvei Michkov's stick getting trapped under the Panther's skate for the early tripping call as he tried to poke it away.

An Evan Rodrigues slash brought play to 4-on-4 about 16 seconds later, but the Panthers made better use of that space to keep the puck down the Flyers' end.

Vladar had to withstand an early flurry in front of the Philadelphia net, both through the 4-on-4 and throughout the first period as the Flyers were outhshot 13-6 in the opening frame, but the offseason free-agent signing looked solid in his first official game in Orange and Black.

The 6'5" goaltender cut down his angles well and was able to track down some tough shots through traffic. More often than not, if the Panthers had an open lane or look, they'd fire away, but only to see the puck quickly fly into a white jersey.

When Vladar signed with Philadelphia over the summer, the idea was to have him come in and prove that he could be a dependable tandem option with Sam Ersson in goal, but general manager Danny Brière also noted that Vladar would have a chance to compete to be a No. 1.

On Thursday night, after 32 saves and a scary moment in the first where a stop caused him to lose his mask, it seems like he made a mostly good first impression.

Ever see Darth Vladar without a mask?#PHIvsFLA | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/agUfmSAWRE

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 9, 2025

He couldn't hold off the Panthers forever, though.

Into the second period, the ice was tilting downhill in favor of Florida. Trevor Zegras went to the box for interference, which was the Flyers' third penalty of the night not even 30 minutes in.

The Philadelphia penalty kill had drained Florida's man-advantage down to its final seconds, but then Rodrigues carried the puck down along the wall in the offensive zone, the Flyers' defense was caught coasting back toward their net watching the puck, and lost track of Anton Lundell drifting in at the hashmarks.

Rodrigues slipped him the past inside, Lundell picked his corner, and Florida had the lead, 1-0, just past the five-minute mark of the second and with just eight seconds left on their power play.

Anton Lundell breaks the ice on the power play off a sweet pass from Evan Rodrigues 🐆 pic.twitter.com/fZoQpmLk3c

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 10, 2025

The Flyers did manage an equalizer late into the period, and from their most consistent and high-energy line from last season.

Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink had an offensive zone draw with just over two minutes left in the second. Cates won the draw back against Florida's Sam Bennett, Foerster wheeled around the top of the circle to put a shot on goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, and Cates crashed in toward the crease to send the puck sailing over Bobrovsky and in for the 1-1 tie, while his stick went sailing into the boards as he picked himself up to celebrate.

Need a goal? We Noah guy. #PHIvsFLA | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/Ys5sEypQc0

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 10, 2025

The Flyers otherwise struggled to generate steady or dangerous offense on Bobrovsky, though.

Travis Konecny came close when he had the puck in front by the far post in the third period, but Bobrovsky stretched across in time to kick the shot away, which kept the Panthers up after Brad Marchand snuck a shot over Vladar's shoulder from way off the wall earlier on in the final frame.

BRAD MARCHAND IS ON THE BOARD 😼 pic.twitter.com/Cask9Hc0Up

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 10, 2025

The Panthers, who won consecutive Stanley Cups on the back of smothering and draining defense, leaned on their strength from there.

The Flyers pulled Vladar as time was winding down for an extra attacker, but a late interference call from Foerster taking down Marchand on an offensive zone draw pretty much killed whatever shot the Flyers might have had left.

One game in, it's their discipline that's going to need some work.

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