3 Takeaways From The Florida Panthers vs. Philadelphia Flyers Game 10/13/2025

Florida dropped their first game of the season, and just like last year, the first loss came on their first road game. The Panthers’ games against Philly are typically grinding, low-event games, and Monday night was no different. The Flyers are consistently one of the teams that are able to outwork the Panthers. Despite Florida not giving up much in the final period, pretty much every shot ended up as a goal, although two of them were empty netters. Overall, it wasn’t a disastrous game, but the Cats didn’t look as sharp as they did last week. Two late empty net goals made the score look worse than the game was as the Flyers walked away with a 2-5 win. 

Slow Road Period:

The opening period was all Philly as Florida struggled to string together passes or gain any significant zone time. It was just one of those games you could tell that Florida didn’t have it. Given that they started last season 1-2 in their first three games, I’ll take them being 3-1 in their first four this season. Giveaways were the name of the game in the opening twenty minutes as the Cats had 10 of them, one of which led to the Foerster goal to give the Flyers the 0-1 lead.  The penalty kill continued its string of excellence and killed off the Philly man advantage off an Ekblad slashing call. It was simply a sloppy period for the Panthers from start to finish. While things would improve further into the game, it unfortunately set the tone for a rather frustrating game. HC Paul Maurice said after the game, “We’ll look back at the game and it won’t be a lot of defensive breakdowns. It’s what we did with the puck and why. A lot of standing with the puck when we moved it. A slow-puck game.”

Daniil Tarasov Debut:

The box score numbers aren’t going to do Tarasov justice and tell you just how good he played. Despite the loss, Tarasov was probably Florida’s best player on the ice and got both the good and the bad Florida Panther experience. Daniil was a huge part of keeping the Cats’ penalty kill perfect on the year. Especially in the second period, he had some outstanding saves, but the box score will say he only had an .850 SV%, allowing 3 goals on 17 SOG. He was locked in from puck drop and bailed out Florida’s defense on more than one occasion during the penalty kill. Panther fans should be pleased with his debut performance, as he showed some flashes of brilliance and an ability to deal with the long stretches of time where opponents don’t get any shots on net or time in Florida’s zone. He even made a few saves for the highlight reel, too, especially during the PK when Luostarinen didn’t have a stick. On a better night from the team in front of him, he can walk away with a win for the Cats. 

Sam’s Club:

Tough night for Florida’s offense, where they struggled to solve Vladar, an issue they’ve had playing against him since last season. Special teams was once again one of the best parts of Florida’s game. I don’t think anyone would’ve foreseen that the Panthers would be perfect on the PK through four games with no Barkov available, nor that the power play would be clicking at around 40% with him and Tkachuk out. After generating a few short-handed chances in the last couple of games, it was Reinhart who buried home the team’s first shorty. Samson has two goals in two games and an assist. His short-handed goal came at the end of the second period to cut the lead to one heading into the second intermission. Lundell took the initial shot that gave up a rebound that Reinhart got to, but was stopped by Vladar. More chaos in front of the net eventually got the puck free, which Reinhart picked up and took behind the net before stuffing it home with Vladar out of position. Bennett scored his first goal of the season on the man advantage to tie the game in the third period. Reinhart had the puck behind the net and saw Vladar out of position and Bennett open. Making the pass to Sam, Bennett put it home into the empty net to make the game 2-2. Bennett gave credit to the Flyers in his post-game media availability, saying that Philly had a lot of jump to start the game and that they capitalized on their chances, while Florida played well in the third, but couldn’t convert their opportunities. 

Florida continues their road trip with a back-to-back against Detroit and New Jersey on Wednesday and Thursday.