SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brad Marchand broke a tie at 2:19 of the third period and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers beat Philadelphia 2-1 on Thursday night to spoil Rick Tocchet’s Flyers coaching debut.
Marchand fired a wrist shot from the left boards past goalie Dan Vladar and into the top right corner to help the Panthers win their second straight at home to open the season. Marchand missed a chance to pad the lead with 6 1/2 minutes left, sending a wrister over the crossbar on a breakaway.
Tocchet rejoined the Flyers during the offseason. The former Philadelphia player won Stanley Cups as an assistant in Pittsburgh and was a head coach in Tampa Bay, Arizona and, most recently, Vancouver.
Anton Lundell also scored for injury-depleted Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots. Florida captain Aleksander Barkov is expected to miss the entire regular season because of two torn knee ligaments, and Matthew Tkachuk is probably out until December at least while he recovers from a groin injury.
Noah Cates scored for Philadelphia. Vladar made 32 saves.
Lundell opened the scoring on a power play at 5:29 of the second period, beating Vladar with a wrist shot off a break. Cates tied it with 2:12 left in the period, chipping a loose puck over Bobrovsky.
Florida opened Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory over Chicago.
Up next
Flyers: At Carolina on Saturday night.
Panthers: Host Ottawa on Saturday night.