Panthers drop their second straight road game in overtime; lose 3-2

Exit Captain; Enter Rat King. But another tough late loss for Florida.

ANAHEIM, CA - OCTOBER 4: Sam Colangelo #12 of the Anaheim Ducks and Radko Gudas #6 of the Florida Panthers battle for position during the third period at Honda Center on October 4, 2026 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images

Just one game after losing the captain of the Florida Panthers, Aleksander Barkov to an undisclosed injury that will keep him sidelined for almost a month or more, there was a sense of relief when news broke that Brad Marchand would be playing with the team against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Panthers played with tenacity, but still lost the game in overtime. The overall discipline (too many costly penalties) to start the season is raising red flags early in the season.

It's time to get into the three takeaways of the game:

The Rat King Has Returned

A few hours before the puck dropped on Sunday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, alerts pinged that made Panthers fans rejoice: Brad Marchand was back. Following an injury that occurred back in March, he required surgery. Preliminary reports before the regular season had initially led fans to believe that he wouldn't be making his return until at least November..Sunday, he looked fresh. He looked rejuvenated. And he produced: he scored the game-tying goal in the last few minutes of regulation that sent the game to overtime.

Tenacity Is Key

Without Barkov, the Panthers must show resilience. They did Friday, even on the night the injury occurred, tying that game i the third period with back to back quick goals by Eetu Luostarinen and Matthew Tkachuk. Those two goals were scored 17 seconds apart. A similar situation occurred during Sunday night's game -- the Anaheim Ducks scored only for the Florida Panthers to come back quickly and tie the game up.

That's what it means to be part of an organization that has won two Stanley Cup championships in consecutive seasons. It hasn't been the easiest open -- not just the injuries again (already), but also the schedule, which included a brutal four-game road trip with three straight West Coast games, Even so, the Florida Panthers have earned themselves four out of six points in this road trip so far. Not bad at all, all things considered -- and team leaders lke Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Seth Jones and Marchand need to continue to lead so Florida stays in the race early.

Enough with the Careless Penalties

There's two major issues so far: the careless penalties and the weakness of the power play unit. In only three games so far, the Florida Panthers have committed a total of thirteen penalties. The penalty kill can only hold so hold, and all three of the Anaheim Ducks' goals on Sunday night all came from their strong power play unit. To counter that fact, the Florida Panthers only have two power play goals on the season, both scored by Eetu Luostarinen. This again is something that needs to be addressed. A few years ago, the Florida Panthers had lethal special teams on both sides. They need to get back to that.

The last stop on the West Coast road trip concludes Tuesday night at 10 PM with a nationally televised broadcast being shown on ESPN against the Los Angeles Kings .