The Rick Tocchet era begins in disarray.

Up against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the Flyers skated out of the gate sloppy and overmatched.

They dropped their season opener, 2-1, Thursday night down in Sunrise, Florida. They committed five penalties and were outshot heavily, 34-20.

Had it not been for Dan Vladar with the season's first start in goal, it might've ended up a lot worse, but nevertheless, the Flyers begin the 2025-26 campaign 0-1-0.

It took 44 seconds before a Flyer went to the box on Thursday night. Florida's Carter Verhaeghe turned along the wall trying to handle the puck in the offensive zone, which led to Matvei Michkov's stick getting trapped under the Panther's skate for the early tripping call as he tried to poke it away.

An Evan Rodrigues sla

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