Oct 7, 2025; Dawn, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing A.J. Greer (10) celebrates after scoring in opposition to the Chicago Blackhawks in the course of the first interval at Amerant Financial institution Enviornment. Necessary Credit score: Sam Navarro-Imagn Photographs Nothing appears to trouble the Florida Panthers.
Set to host the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday evening, the Panthers are with out two of the NHL’s largest stars as a result of accidents — Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk.
Even so, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Panthers have made no excuses. In its season opener on Tuesday, Florida overcame an early deficit and defeated the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 3-2.
Two of Florida’s objectives have been from bottom-six forwards A.J. Greer and Jesper Boqvist, who mixed for simply 18 objectives final season.
Nonetheless, that is typical of the Panthers beneath coach Paul Maurice. Each participant on the roster competes exhausting and may skate, which is why the group is ready to succeed even whereas stars are sidelined.
Greer stated the hot button is remaining humble.
“It might be straightforward to take your foot off the fuel and get complacent,” Greer stated in a postgame interview with ESPN. “However we all know what the recipe is, and it is only a matter of placing in these substances.
“We’re counting on our new guys to place some spice on the group.”
These new guys embrace 37-year-old defenseman Jeff Petry, 25-year-old goalie Daniil Tarasov and 27-year-old forwards Luke Kunin and Noah Gregor.
Cole Schwindt, 24, is new to the Panthers this season but in addition performed for Florida in three video games as a rookie in 2021-22.
As Cup-winning groups usually do, the Panthers have veteran holdovers to hold the group, together with goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling and forwards Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.
In the meantime, the Flyers beneath new coach Rick Tocchet are set to make their season debut after lacking the playoffs the previous 5 seasons.
Tocchet, 61, performed 18 years within the NHL, together with 11 with the Flyers. That is his fourth cease as a head coach, beforehand working for Tampa Bay, Arizona and Vancouver, the place he gained the Jack Adams Award because the league’s greatest coach in 2024.
Defenseman Travis Sanheim stated he and his teammates really feel lucky to have Tocchet on the helm.
“Him being again in Philly and choosing us, it excites us a group,” Sanheim stated. “He is a step forward. He already is aware of the group, town and the followers, and that is going to learn us.”
Nonetheless, the Flyers clearly have some points. Their .888 save proportion 5-on-5 final season was the worst for the reason that NHL started protecting that statistic in 2009-10.
New goalie Dan Vladar, signed to a two-year contract in July, had an .898 save proportion in 30 video games for Calgary final season. He closed robust, going 6-1-1 with a .927 save proportion in his last eight video games.
Holdover Samuel Ersson, who had an .883 save proportion final season, figures to separate begins with Vladar. Ersson final season had a .904 save proportion with at the least two days of relaxation.
Offensively, ahead Owen Tippett — Florida’s first-round decide in 2017 — has scored at the least 20 objectives in every of his previous three seasons with Philadelphia.
Tippett, 26, can be considered one of simply six NHL gamers to publish at the least 75 objectives, 350 hits and 700 pictures on objective over the previous three seasons.
–Subject Degree Media
