NHL roundup: Panthers send Flyers to first loss, 4-3

SUNRISE, Fla. — Carter Verhaeghe scored twice, Rudolfs Balcers and Josh Mahura each had third-period goals and the Florida Panthers held on to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Balcers’ goal, his first after signing with Florida in the offseason, put the Panthers on top for good. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 shots for the Panthers, who have won 3 of 4 to open the season.

Travis Konency, James van Riemsdyk and Nick Seeler scored for Philadelphia, which lost for the first time after opening the season with three wins.

Kevin Hayes had two assists for the Flyers.

NOTES

PANTHERS: The Florida Panthers will be without top defenseman Aaron Ekblad until at least mid-November, and quite possibly longer, after the team put him on the long-term injured reserve list with a groin injury.

Players on the LTIR list must miss at least 10 games and 24 days; The Panthers have 11 games in that 24-day window, so Ekblad is out for at least that many. He got hurt in Florida’s loss Monday at Boston.

Ekblad missed Florida’s final 21 regular-season games last season with a knee issue and 21 games in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season with a lower-leg fracture.

AVALANCHE: Captain Gabriel Landeskog will be sidelined for about 12 weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

Coach Jared Bednar said Landeskog had the procedure performed in Minneapolis the day before. Landeskog missed the opening three games of this season with what the team described as a lower-body injury.

Landeskog sat out the final 23 regular-season games last season after undergoing knee surgery. He returned in time for the playoffs, where he had 11 goals and 11 assists to help the Avalanche win the franchise’s third Stanley Cup title.

FLAMES: The Calgary Flames and city officials said they will restart negotiations for a new arena.

Their previous deal, agreed upon in 2019, collapsed late last year when the estimated cost of the project rose and the Flames withdrew. In January, the city hired third-party negotiators to resurrect the project.

The Flames have played for 39 years in their current home, the Saddledome, the second-oldest NHL arena behind New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The city envisions building the new arena on a parcel of land north of the Saddledome as part of a revitalized commercial and residential district on the east side of downtown.

RED WINGS: Forward Jakub Vrana has entered the player assistance program of the NHL and NHL Players’ Association.

The league and the union did not specify why he entered the program.

Vrana will be paid while he is receiving treatment. The program administrators will determine when he’s cleared to compete for the Red Wings.

The 26-year-old Vrana had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s win at New Jersey. Two days later, the team said he did not play in a home game against the Los Angeles Kings due to personal reasons.

Vrana, who is from the Czech Republic, has 98 goals and 91 assists in 323 career regular-season games. He was selected by Washington with the No. 13 pick in the 2014 draft.

The Red Wings acquired Vrana in a trade with the Capitals in April 2021, along with Richard Panik, a first- and second-round pick in exchange for Anthony Mantha. A little more than a year ago, the Red Wings gave him a three-year contract worth $5.25 million per season.

The NHL and NHLPA started the player assistance program in 1996, giving players access to a confidential phone line and counselors in each city in the league. The jointly funded group assists players and their families with mental health, substance abuse and other matters.