RALEIGH, N.C. - Gustav Forsling scored with 4.3 seconds remaining in overtime Tuesday to lift the Florida Panthers to a 1-0 shutout of the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL season opener, setting a new franchise record for the latest overtime goal by a defenseman in a regular-season game.

Forsling, a veteran of 558 games, ripped a slap shot from the point past Hurricanes goaltender Branon Bussi for his 60th career goal and fourth career overtime goal with the Panthers. The win made Florida just the fifth team in NHL history to shut out the reigning Stanley Cup champions in their season opener. “It feels really good,” Forsling said. “Scoring goals is not what I do very often, so it’s always nice to score. … My first try was so bad, so I had to get revenge.”

The game was a physical, grinding affair that produced a combined 84 hits and 32 blocks. “Playoff-style hockey,” Forsling said. “That felt like a playoff game to me. It was awesome.”

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom, re-acquired by the Panthers in a trade with the New Jersey Devils in the offseason, earned the 26th shutout of his career with 15 saves. His biggest stop came when he denied Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho on a shorthanded breakaway in the second period. “I thought we played a great game,” Markstrom said. “Everyone, the whole lineup, you know, all four lines and all six D played really good. They made my job a lot easier.”

The second period was defined by penalty killing, with the Panthers forced to kill off five power plays while the Hurricanes killed four. Carolina held a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:37 without scoring. “Their PK and our PK are kind of what stirs the drink for our teams,” said forward Brady Tkachuk, who logged 16:33 of ice time in his regular-season debut with Florida. “I mean, you don’t really give up chances [at either side] because there’s so much aggressiveness.”

Captain Aleksander Barkov credited patience as the key to cracking Carolina’s defense. “Just grind and wait for that one bounce,” Barkov said. “Us and Carolina, we’ve been doing a great job just waiting for those bounces and waiting for those breakdowns and that kind of stuff. I think we did a really good job today.”

Head coach Paul Maurice praised Forsling’s combination of discipline and power. “He can unleash that anytime he wants, but he’s a smart player and he doesn’t like to get shots blocked,” Maurice said. “But he is a powerful, fit man. He played an incredible game, a strong game, and then he can still get up the ice at the end [of overtime] and unleash that. So, we’re very fortunate to have him.”

Before puck drop, the Hurricanes raised their 2026 Stanley Cup championship banner at Lenovo Center. The Panthers, who won back-to-back Cups in 2024 and 2025, watched the ceremony from their bench as a team. “We think it’s really important that the teams respect each other for those achievements, whether it’s an individual player hitting a milestone or a Stanley Cup,” Maurice said. “They earned the right to have as long a ceremony as they want it, and it was well done.”

Seth Jones led all skaters with 28:59 of ice time, Sandis Vilmanis blocked a team-high three shots, and Sam Bennett recorded a team-high seven hits. The Panthers surrendered just 16 shot attempts at 5-on-5 and have now won three straight season-opening games.

Florida next faces the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET to open the California leg of its season-opening road trip.