Flyers defeat Panthers in first win under Rick Tocchet

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct 13, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers’ theme this season is brick-by-brick, and as any mason knows, it is a meticulous process that cannot be rushed.

But on Monday, as they lifted the lid on the home schedule, the Flyers laid the first brick with a “W” on it. In an impressive, gritty game against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the Flyers won 5-2.

It is the first win under former Flyer-turned-coach Rick Tocchet. A rejuvenated Sean Couturier led the way with two goals and two assists.

The captain scored the go-ahead goal with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left in regulation. As he was getting run over by Florida’s Sam Bennett in the right face-off circle, Couturier sent the puck deep. Trevor Zegras picked up the puck behind the net and with Aaron Ekblad and Bennett on him — two big bodies — the 6-foot, 185-pound forward squeezed through and sent a backhand pass across the crease to Couturier for the goal.

Bobby Brink and Christian Dvorak added empty-netters. Dvorak’s goal was his first for Philly.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by Tyson Foerster. Couturier pressured Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis deep in the Florida zone, knocking down his breakout pass intended for Bennett. Couturier then fed Foerster, who split his way through two Panthers to cut to the middle before firing the wrister home for his first goal of the year.

After coming close in the opening frame, Couturier buried the puck in the second period on a breakaway. Coming off the bench, the Flyers captain got a stretch pass from Travis Konecny at the Panthers’ blue line after Travis Sanheim broke up a Carter Verhaeghe pass attempt.

As Tocchet mentioned on Oct. 10, the goalies would “probably rotate” for a while, and Dan Vladař got the start. Vladař, who stopped 32 of 34 shots in a 2-1 loss on opening night against the Panthers last week, was once again solid in net.

In the first period, after Brink lost the puck just inside the Panthers’ blue line on a power play, Florida got a two-on-one. Sam Reinhart skated in with the puck and fed Anton Lundell, but was stopped by Vladař as he slid across.

Later in the period, Vladař made a big kick save on a shot by Florida’s Luke Kunin that appeared to go off Adam Ginning before stopping a Verhaeghe shot from the slot in the second. In the third period, he stopped Bennett, who got behind the defense.

But it was Reinhart — who entered the night with 28 points in 35 career games against Philly — that finally broke through, scoring a short-handed goal with 38 seconds left in the middle frame.

Skating on their fourth power play of the night, the Flyers had a mixed bag of results up until then. Only one of them saw sustained pressure and eight shot attempts.

No. 4 was stagnant, with the Panthers rushing up the ice, and Reinhart, after getting initially stopped by Vladař and just missing the rebound, corralled the puck behind the net before wrapping it in around the right post.

Bennett added an equalizer in the third period on the Panthers’ fifth power-play opportunity of the night.

Breakaways

The Flyers did not have a shot on goal between Couturier’s first goal with 4:13 left in the second period until Noah Cates’ wrister on a power play 15:04 into the third. The Panthers had seven shots during that time. … Defenseman Emil Andrae, who was recalled on Sunday from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League, made his season debut and played 10:22. … Forward Owen Tippett had three hits, including one big, hard hit in Lundell in the first period.

Up next

The Flyers continue a four-game homestand at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday with a visit from the Winnipeg Jets.