The Florida Panthers opened the 2026-27 NHL season with a very solid road effort to come away with a 1-0 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes, spoiling banner raising night at a sold-out Lenovo Center.
Gustav Forsling one-timed Carter Verhaeghe’s pass past Brandon Bussi from just inside the blue line with 4.3 seconds left in the extra session for the game’s only goal, which came on Florida’s 20th shot.
Jacob Markström was perfect in his Panthers’ return, stopping all 15 shots faced to post his 26th career shutout. Markström’s last turn between the pipes with Florida was back on April 13, 2014. One of his best moments came when he denied Sebastian Aho on a breakaway in the second period.
The Cats were pretty stout defensively and the penalty kill went a tidy 6-for-6. If there was one disappointing takeaway from the contest it was the power play, which went a dreadful 0-for-7 and generated very few quality scoring chances.
While not the most exciting of season-openers, both teams put forth a punishing, physical effort, combining for 84 hits in a game that was a strange, but interesting, mix of both rustiness and playoff-style hockey.
The Panthers are going to California, not with an aching in their hearts, but with a big two points, where they will serve as the opponent for the home-openers of the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. One early saving grace on this trip west is there are no back-to-backs scheduled. The Revenge Tour is off and running.
The Five Hole
- In addition to his offensive heroics, First Star Gustav Forsling was credited with two shots, three hits and two shot blocks. Forsling only scored twice last season, so it was good to see him bag one in the opener.
- Brady Tkachuk was the third skater on the ice for Forsling’s game-winner. Tkachuk played 16:33, had one shot on goal and dished out five hits in his first official tilt with Florida.
- Seth Jones was a quiet force all night long, repeatedly defusing the Hurricanes attack with his strong, heady play. Jones was on the ice a game-high 28:59 and was credited with one hit and one block.
- Aleksander Barkov logged 20:32 of ice time in his return to the regular season lineup. Barkov won 10-of-20 faceoffs, registered one shot on goal and had one block.
- Niko Mikkola matched Sebastian Aho with a game-high four shots and was credited with two blocks in his 22:40 of ice time.
Stat Card
