Barkov missed all of last season after a severe knee injury during training camp, and to lose the heart and soul of the franchise early again is certainly unfortunate. As the saying goes however, “the show must go on”. <\/p>\n
The Panthers play their first full game<\/a> without Barkov Sunday evening when they visit the Anaheim Ducks to continue their California portion of the road trip.<\/p>\n Dueling the Ducks \u2694\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/b7e40BeGMc<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Revenge should be on the mind<\/a> of the Panthers in Anaheim as the Ducks swept Florida in two meetings last season, including a 7-3 loss at the Honda Center in a penalty-filled affair.<\/p>\n Paul Maurice rolled out a new combination in the first line during Saturday’s practice, while leaving the second and third lines as they have been for the opening two games.<\/p>\n Here’s how the top-9 looks in today’s practice \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n B. Tkachuk – Eller – Reinhart \u2014 Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) October 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The Panthers will once again be the home opener for an opponent and the Ducks are coming off a 4-3 win at Vegas. Anaheim jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first two periods before Vegas scored three times in the final period to make things interesting.<\/p>\n Anaheim struggled to put pucks on the net in their season opener at Vegas. The Ducks spent just 36.8% of the time in the offensive zone per NHL EDGE stats<\/a>, which is below the early season average league-wide of 40.3%.<\/p>\n Meanwhile the Panthers have spent 44.3 percent of their time in the offensive zone through two games, and bounced back to steal a point in a tough overtime loss Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n Expect a wide open, physical game for the Panthers and Ducks Sunday, in the last meeting the teams combined for 27 penalty minutes in the third period alone. <\/p>\n Coach updates the media after today’s practice \u2935\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/qWj9KY312m<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The Ducks scored two power plays in that game, but in the first two games the penalty kill for the Panthers has been excellent. The Panthers have only allowed one power play goals in ten shorthanded situations so far. <\/p>\n Florida should have some extra jump in Anaheim with an extra day off since their last game on Sunday. The Panthers are wounded after losing their captain and will look to take out some anger against a Ducks team that handled them last season. <\/p>\n
Verhaeghe – Bennett – M. Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Lundell – Vilmanis<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\"){kind=icon}
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