"There's areas we can clean up," Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think we can be better with the puck, manage it better and put it in places where we've got a better chance of retrieving it and keep it. I think that we're getting better in our game as we progress."
Playing a complete game from start to finish, the Panthers arrived in the City of Brotherly Love fresh off a 4-1 win over the Avalanche on Thursday in Sunrise. In the win, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell scored, while Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
Earning the 300th win of his career in the process, Bobrovsky will now look to get No. 301 as he mans Florida's crease once again in Philadelphia. Off to a hot start, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner has gone 3-0-0 with an outstanding .944 save percentage through his first three starts.
In addition to scoring a franchise-record 18 goals in the first four games of the season, Florida has surrendered just seven, including giving up only one goal in each of the last three games.
"It's been great," Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. "We've been playing well. I still think there's some things we've got to clean up, but Bob and Spencer Knight**.
"I think maybe the surprise is Lundy with how well he's played," Quenneville said. "He's not just on our team, he's making an impact. He's been put in a lot of critical situations. Defensively he was responsible, but now we're starting to see him be a little more creative offensively."
On Thursday, the line of Lundell, Reinhart and Mason Marchment was one of Florida's most-effective, with the team controlling more than 60% of shot attempts when they were on the ice.
"Those guys are both really skilled players," Marchment said of his linemates. "They see the ice really well. They're both good passers and both can shoot the puck. I'm just trying to get the puck to them, get open and go to the net."
Wrapping up their four-game homestand tonight, the Flyers have earned points in each of their first three games. After losing 5-4 in a shootout to the Canucks on Opening Night, they went on to wallop both the Kraken and Bruins by a combined score of 12-4 over their next two contests.
In their latest win -- a 6-3 trouncing of Boston on Wednesday -- Cam Atkinson found the back of the net twice, Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee each had a goal and an assist, Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny each had one goal, and Martin Jones stopped 37 of 40 shots for the Flyers.
"We haven't been here in I don't even know how long," said Weegar, referencing last season's pandemic-altered schedule that kept the Panthers from playing the Flyers at all. "There's going to be some rowdy fans and a good atmosphere tonight. I think we're going to have fun with it."
Doing a lot of the heavy lifting on offense for Philadelphia, the line of Atkinson, Farabee and Derick Brassard has combined for seven goals and eight assists through the first four games.
Following this morning's skate, Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault announced that top-pairing defensemen Ryan Ellis, who has posted four points (one goal, three assists) in three games this season, will not be in the lineup tonight as he's currently dealing with an undisclosed injury.
The Flyers currently rank first in the league on offense with an average of 5.33 goals per game, but the Panthers aren't too far behind in fourth place with an average of 4.50 goals per game.
"They look like they're pressuring and skating well and working as a group," Quenneville said of Philadelphia. "I think that getting through the middle of the ice, getting in their end, spending time there is what we always try to do, and keeping possession there is going to be challenging."
Between the pipes, Carter Hart is expected to draw in against the Panthers for this third start of the season. In his first two appearances of 2021-22, the 23-year-old goaltender went 1-0-1 with a .921 save percentage. In four career head-to-head matchups against Florida, he's gone 2-2-0.
Tonight's game will also mark the first time the Panthers will face Keith Yandle since the defenseman had his contract bought out and then signed with the Flyers during the offseason.
"It'll be fun," Weegar said of playing against Yandle, who spent five seasons in South Florida. "We went out to dinner last night and had some laughs. We caught up a bit, but when we're on the ice I'm sure that there will be no friends. We'll both be trying to get the two points tonight."
