Special teams giving Panthers a major boost, as is their depth scoring

It was a good opening week of the season for the Florida Panthers.

After picking up a pair of one-goal victories over the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers to kick off their 2025-26 campaign, Florida welcomed the Ottawa Senators to Sunrise on Saturday and earned a resounding 6-2 victory over their divisional rivals.

Despite going into the season without several key players due to injury, the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions have continued humming along, playing their physically challenging brand of hockey while receiving contributions from up and down the lineup.

Florida has also gotten off to an excellent start on special teams. Weâ€ll see if all this success can continue once they hit the road next week. 

For now, letâ€s get to the takeaways from Florida capping off a perfect 3-0-0 homestand:

POWER PLAY SUCCESS

The Panthers have scored power play goals in all three of their games so far this season.

Overall, theyâ€ve cashed in five times out of 12 opportunities, good for a 41.7% success rate that will be incredibly difficult to sustain over the course of an entire season.

All kidding aside, there are several reasons why Floridaâ€s power play has been so formidable, as they can throw two very unique units at you that each feature some potent offensive players.

They’re also keeping things relatively simple and leaning on the foundational pieces they began installing early in training camp. 

“Weâ€re not overcomplicating it,†said Panthers defenseman Seth Jones. “Obviously we have new units this year, so we did a lot of work in the preseason to try to get everyone in the right spots and everyone understand what the plays are, and just being direct. It really ties into our five-on-five game, there’s nothing crazy about it.â€

STEADY ON PK

Just as Floridaâ€s power play has been a major source of strength, their penalty kill has been equally reliable.

Through three games, the Panthers†PK has killed off each of the seven power plays its been called upon to extinguish, allowing only seven total shots against while down a man. 

As Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice pointed out, this yearâ€s killers have done well to replicate the success they found last season and, similarly to what Jones said about the power play, are doing so by keeping things simple.

“I don’t think that they’ve changed much,†Maurice said. “We look a little different on it because of the personnel that’s out, but the structure of it (looks the same). Those defensemen have done a really fine job of being able to play off of different forwards, and we’ve run a lot of different combinations. The D have done a nice job in that structure.â€

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALL OVER

Florida has scored 11 goals over their three wins, with nine different players lighting the lamp.

The overall points have been spread evenly throughout the lineup as well.

Four of Floridaâ€s defenseman have multiple points (Seth Jones, Jeff Petry and Gus Forsling each have two assists), and representatives from all four of the Panthers forward lines have scored goals.

“It’s going to be the critical piece,†Maurice said of the teamâ€s depth scoring. “We going to have more nights of two and three (goals), like the first two games, than we will like tonight, so you need to have as many people as you can coming to the rink believing they can get score, that they have that positive feel. I think each line has generated enough that they’re feeling positive about their game, so they don’t really need to change it.â€

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Photo caption: Oct 11, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (11) scores a goal past Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)

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