Panthers Can't Keep Up With Flyers In Philly, Drop First Game Of Season

The Florida Panthers opened the road portion of their 2025-26 schedule on Monday night in Philadelphia.

Unfortunately for the Cats, the game didn’t go nearly as well as the three they played on home ice, as they lost for the first time this season, 5-2 to Philly.

Playing in their home opener, it was the Flyers that got things started in the scoring department.

Sean Couturier forced a turnover off the stick of Uvis Balinskis which led to the puck on the stick of Tyson Foerster.

A couple quick moves through the slot and snapshot past the blocker of Daniil Tarasov saw the Flyers take the lead 8:54 into the game.

That’s how the score would remain for a while, thanks in part to some continued success from Florida’s penalty kill.

The unit extended its perfect start to 9-for-9 with a tough kill midway through the second period in which Eetu Luostarinen was stuck playing without a stick for a large portion of the time Florida was down a man.

A turnover by Carter Verhaeghe as Florida was entering Philly’s zone led directly to a breakaway goal by Couturier that doubled the Flyers’ lead with 4:13 to go in the middle frame.

It was a particularly frustrating goal because the Cats had just killed off another penalty and seemed to be carrying some momentum off of the PK, but instead they suddenly found themselves facing down the barrel of a two-goal deficit.

Florida was able to gain some of that momentum back thanks to a shorthanded goal by Sam Reinhart late in the period.

His initial opportunity was denied by Dan Vladar, but Reinhard found the puck again behind the net and his backhand wraparound snuck under the goaltender’s outstretched blocker.

Florida kept their foot on the pedal during the third period, eventually earning a power play that led to the game’s tying goal.

A pretty passing play saw the puck go between Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart before Bennett was fed from below the goal line by Reinhart and fired the puck into a yawning cage midway through the third period.

The tie game didn’t last long though. Philly tied the game with 4:10 to go, shortly after a power play ended, catching the Panthers with some quick puck movement and a snipe of a shot by Couturier.

The Flyers added a pair of empty-net goals, ending Florida’s hopes of a comeback win.

On to Detroit.

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Photo caption: Oct 13, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier (14) scores a goal against Florida Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) during the second period at Wells Fargo Center. (Eric Hartline-Imagn Images)