Fresh off a strong three-game homestand in which the Florida Panthers collected all six possible points in the standings, the Cats are hitting the pavement for an extended road trip.
The first stop for Florida will be on Monday night in the City of Brotherly Love as the Panthers will face the Philadelphia Flyers for the second time in the young season.
It was Thursday night when the Cats defeated Philly in what was the season opener for the visiting squad, a 3-2 victory that saw Florida dominate in several areas.
If not for an outstanding effort in goal by Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar, the score would have been much more lopsided.
In the time since, Philly made a stop in Carolina, dropping a 4-3 effort in overtime against the Hurricanes on Saturday night, before arriving back in Philadelphia for their home opener.
Now they’ll have to face the defending champs again.
Florida has done well in recently against their friends from Philly, with wins in four of the past five meetings.
The Cats also appeared to adjust well to their first game without defenseman Dmitry Kulokov.
Uvis Balinskis seamlessly slid into Florida’s lineup, playing on a pairing with Jeff Petry and gobbling up 17:40 of ice time that included a shift on the penalty kill.
One thing that will be interesting to keep an eye on this week, as the Cats will play four games over the next six days, is how they manage their goaltenders.
Sergei Bobrovsky has played each of Florida’s first three games, skating to a sparking 1.67 goals against average and .925 save percentage while allowing only five goals over the three wins.
At some point, and likely soon, new backup Daniil Tarasov will see his first action in a Panthers sweater, but Florida may want to hold off at least one more game.
That’s because Bobrovsky, who broke into the NHL with the Flyers all the way back in 2010, has an excellent record against his former club.
Bob owns a 21-8-1 record when facing the Flyers, along with a 2.37 goals against average and .920 save percentage.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Monday’s matchup in Philly:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Luke Kunin – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: Oct 9, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) makes a save against Philadelphia Flyers right wing Matvei Michkov (39) during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)