Rudolfs Balcers was left all alone in front of the net as he received the feed from Sam Bennett. The Florida Panthers winger made his way to the crease, gliding in front of Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Felix Sandstrom before backhanding the puck into the net and celebrating with his teammates.
Balcers’ first goal with the Panthers put Florida ahead for good in a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Wednesday at FLA Live Arena in the team’s home opener. Florida improves to 3-1-0 on the season. Philadelphia falls to 3-1-0.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the Panthers’ first two goals about two-and-a-half minutes apart from each other early in the first period. His first goal, a snap shot from the right circle 6:06 into the game, came on a feed from Aleksander Barkov from behind the net. He pushed Florida’s lead to 2-0 at the 8:38 mark of the period after taking a breakout pass from defenseman Gustav Forsling, skating unopposed into the Flyers’ zone and ripping a wrist shot into the net.
