Regular season hockey is back. And for the Philadelphia Flyers, it starts in the deep end.

There are few tougher ways to open a season than a visit to Sunrise to face the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers—a team built on pressure, depth, and swagger. But if there’s one thing this Flyers team has shown over the past month, it’s that they’re not wired to back down. Not anymore.

The 2025–26 Flyers are not plucky underdogs. They know exactly where they stand—a young team still carving out its identity, testing the limits of what it can be. But they also know who they’ve beaten, what they’ve survived, and how to punch above their weight when it matters. 

That’s the tone they’ll want to set again on Opening Night.

Quick Hits

• Flyers are 8-0-2 in their last 10 season openers.
• Jett Luchanko, Nikita Grebenkin and Dennis Gilbert are out for this game; Cam York is day-to-day and will not be available.
• Dan Vladar will get the start in net.

A Look at the Opponent

The Panthers have back-to-back Stanley Cup wins, but the Flyers have proven that they can beat one of the most dominant teams in recent history.

According to StatMuse, these teams have evenly split the results of their last 10 games, and with the Panthers currently being without two of their major stars (captain Sasha Barkov suffered a torn ACL and MCL in September, while Matthew Tkachuk is out with a groin injury), Florida could be just a tad more vulnerable.

However, by no means does this mean that this will be a cakewalk. The Panthers love to attack the middle of the ice. They live on contested high-danger chances; if you give them space between the faceoff dots and the crease, they’ll exploit it.

They also have a knack for turning defensive-zone pressure into offense. Their forecheck is designed to force quick or poor exits; turnovers in the neutral zone lead to clean, high-tempo chances.

Not to mention, they're proficient in the puck battles along the wall. They value possession and will cycle until opponents collapse, seeking the seam or the net-front screen.

Those are the exact areas the Flyers must make life difficult: not by trying to out-elite them, but by making the game predictable, calm, and low-event.

5 Things: Flyers Playbook

Exit decisively, but controlled. The Panthers will press. Philadelphia must escape pressure with quick, reliable reads—rims, stretch passes on the fly, and smart chip-and-chase when the seam is congested. Tocchet’s emphasis on not throwing pucks matters here: control the puck, choose the lane, and avoid panic clearances that invite pressure back.

Use speed on the wings and the seams. The Flyers have catalysts who can punish an over-committed forecheck—Zegras’ vision, Tippett’s straight-line speed and Konecny’s tenacity. Quick outlet passes into space and support for odd-man breaks will prevent the Panthers from establishing clogging cycles.

Protect the slot; traffic the net. Offensively, get pucks to the net and create screens/rebounds. Defensively, collapse smartly and force the Panthers to cycle along the boards rather than pick clean cross-ice seams. Vladar will need traffic clearers in front; the forwards have to compete on first and second rebounds.

Prune the turnovers. Against the champs, costly giveaways end up on the scoreboard. Every loose puck in the neutral zone should be contested. The Flyers’ fourth-line role players—physical, tenacious types—must be the possession-first players who win 50/50s.

Special teams attention. With York unavailable, the Flyers lose one of their best power-play manipulators; Drysdale or Sanheim will have to step into the QB role. That changes the angles and timing of entries, so expect some early reset communication between PP units and the bench. The penalty kill must pressure the puck and deny clean cross-ice feeds.

What Would Mark Success Tonight?

A close game with controlled risk: Outperforming the Panthers’ high-danger expected goals by keeping the game structure intact and limiting clean looks from the slot.

Cleaner exits and fewer neutral-zone giveaways: If Philadelphia can flip the ice efficiently and create a handful of odd-man chances, it’s a positive sign for the early season.

Dan Vladar’s comfort under pressure: If Vladar reads screens, handles traffic, and limits rebounds, the Flyers stay in the fight; if not, the scoreboard will reflect it quickly.

Projected Lines

Philadelphia Flyers

Forwards:

Christian Dvorak - Sean Couturier - Matvei Michkov

Owen Tippett - Trevor Zegras - Travis Konecny

Tyson Foerster - Noah Cates - Bobby Brink

Nic Deslauriers - Rodrigo Abols - Garnet Hathaway

Defense:

Nick Seeler - Travis Sanheim

Adam Ginning - Jamie Drysdale

Egor Zamula - Noah Juulsen

Goalies:

Dan Vladar

Sam Ersson

Florida Panthers

Forwards:

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 

Defense:

Gustav Forsling - Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola - Seth Jones

Dmitry Kulikov - Jeff Petry

Goalies:

Sergei Bobrovsky

Daniil Tarasov