Preview: Panthers still searching for season's 1st victory as road trip begins against Flyers

Preview: Panthers still searching for season's 1st victory as road trip begins against Flyers

Published Oct. 16, 2018 11:19 p.m. ET

TV: FOX Sports Florida


TIME: Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m.


STREAM IT LIVE ON THE FOX SPORTS APP

The Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night host a Florida Panthers team still in search of their first win in the young season.

The Panthers (0-2-1) have led in each of their games thus far before losing each by one goal.

"Every time we take the lead, it's tough when the momentum changes and the other team ties it up right after. It's a pattern so far in the first three games," Panthers coach Bob Boughner told the team's website. "It' something that's got to change."

Florida's latest defeat came at home Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks. The Panthers led 2-1 in the second period before the Canucks tied the game on a penalty shot. Vancouver took the lead early in the third period and the Panthers fell 3-2.



Florida generated 62 shot attempts in the loss. The Panthers failed to cash in on any of their five power plays -- and are now 0-for-12 on the season -- while the Canucks were 1-for-3.

"I think there's a lot of things we can be positive about and we're playing pretty good hockey, but we're kind of beating ourselves," forward Vincent Trocheck said. "We're giving teams just a few chances, but the chances we're giving up are Grade-A quality opportunities that we can't be giving up."

Panthers goalie James Reimer, who stopped 27 shots against Vancouver, is 0-2-1 with a 3.62 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage.

The Flyers (2-3) played one of their strongest games of the season on Saturday but came away with a 1-0 loss to the visiting Vegas Golden Knights. The Flyers outshot the Knights 26-21 but couldn't put a puck past goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

"We needed to be (better defensively). We got scored on a lot (in the first four games)," Jakub Voracek told the Courier Post. "We wanted to tidy it up a bit, which we did. The positive thing is that we didn't take anything out of the offensive side. Obviously, we had a lot of chances and didn't score. Another tough game (Tuesday)."

The Flyers had surrendered 19 goals in their first four games.

Coach Dave Hakstol was pleased with Saturday's effort but would like to see the Flyers generate more offensive chances.

"We can shoot the puck a little more, especially early in the hockey game, to establish a little more in the offensive zone," he told Philly.com. "We can have a couple individual players play better."

Philadelphia -- already missing forwards James van Riemsdyk (knee) and Nolan Patrick (upper body) got some good news Monday when winger Oskar Lindblom practiced and said he'll be in the lineup against the Panthers.

Lindblom was hit face-first into the boards Saturday by Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb and left the game.

"After the hard hit, I felt a little shaky, but I got a good day off and I felt like I came back to normal pretty quick," Lindblom told Philly.com after Monday's practice.

Brian Elliott has a 6-3-0 career record against the Panthers with a 2.41 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. Reimer is 4-4-3 with a 2.51 GAA and a .918 save percentage versus Philadelphia.


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