Picking up two big points right off the bat, the Panthers opened their 2022-23 campaign with an impressive 3-1 win against the New York Islanders on Thursday at UBS Arena. A brick wall in net, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 of 33 shots, with 16 of those saves coming in the first period.
"It feels good to get off on the right foot," Panthers center Sam Bennett said. "I thought that we played a pretty sound and full 60-minute game there. I think it was a great start for our team."
Providing Bobrovsky with more goals than he would need, Eetu Luostarinen, Patric Hornqvist and Matthew Tkachuk all found the back of the net on Long Island. Just the 37th player in franchise history to score in their debut, Tkachuk's late empty-net goal locked in the win for the Panthers.
Making a strong first impression, Tkachuk let loose a team-leading 16 shot attempts.
"It's nice to get the first [goal], but goal or not that's how I want to play," said Tkachuk, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Calgary Flames after reaching career-highs in goals (42) and points (104) during a breakout 2021-22 campaign. "That's the team I want to play on. The style that we played, everything was pretty amazing. I was just saying earlier how quick it's taken us to gel as a team. After one game, I feel like I've played with these guys for 10 years."
Also getting off to a 1-0-0 start, the Sabres secured a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators in their season-opening contest on Thursday at KeyBank Center. JJ Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin each lit the lamp once for Buffalo, while Victor Olofsson touched the twine on two separate occasions.
Embarking on his 20th season in the NHL, Craig Anderson, who spent three seasons manning the net in South Florida from 2006-07 through 2008-09, made 35 saves to earn first-star honors.
Appearing in his third NHL game, Peterka's goal was the first of his NHL career.
"The competition elevated, the competitive puck battles elevated, and I thought he was very determined in puck battles and showed a lot of strength," Sabres coach Don Granato said of the 2020 second-round pick. "Once he won a battle through that, he opened up and saw lots of options and plays."
Going a 4-0-0 against the Sabres last season, the Panthers won those contests by a combined scored of 22-11. Nine different players registered least four points against Buffalo, including a team-leading three goals from Lundell, who shined as one of the NHL's top rookies in 2021-22.
Taking home their first-ever Presidents' Trophy, the Panthers finished first in the Atlantic Division with a record of 58-18-6 last season, while the Sabres ended up on the outside of the playoff picture in fifth place with a record of 32-39-11.
"It's been a long summer, for sure," Lundell said. "We're just trying to improve ourselves. We've been waiting for this all summer. Now the real games have started. It's fun to be playing again."
