Florida's kill won Raleigh, and the power play owes it one

The penalty kill won Raleigh. The power play owes it one, and Friday in San Jose is a good night to start paying it back.

Florida beat Carolina 1-0 in overtime on opening night, and it was the kind of disciplined, grinding win that tells you exactly who did the work. The kill went 6-for-6, including a 5-on-3. The power play went 0-for-7 with three shots on goal. Seven opportunities with the man advantage, and Carolina's goaltender barely had to move his feet.

The kill was a clinic

Barkov was on the first kill unit in his first NHL game in 15 months, and he looked like he'd never left. Reinhart worked with him up top.

Lundell and Luostarinen took the next shift, and Hathaway and Eller took the dirty ones. On the back end it was Ekblad, Mikkola, Jones and Forsling, with Jones eating 28:59 in all situations.

Markstrom stopped all 15 shots. When your goaltender sees that little traffic and still comes up big on the kill, the defensive structure in front of him is doing its job.

The fourth line did its job too

Eller, Hathaway and Imama didn't allow a shot on goal or a scoring chance at five-on-five. Imama played 6:03 and spent part of it fighting Deslauriers. Hathaway threw four hits in 9:37. That's a fourth line that gives Maurice a dependable shift he doesn't have to think about, and in October that reliability is worth more than a goal.

The power play needs a look

Here's where I get loud. Brady and Matthew Tkachuk on the same first unit sounds like a cheat code. On opening night it looked like two guys who want the same patch of ice.

Two high-danger chances in seven tries isn't bad luck. From here it looked like entries dying at the blue line and nobody winning the net-front battle long enough to matter.

This unit finished 19th last season, so it isn't only rust. My fix is simple: one Tkachuk lives at the net, the other runs the half-wall, and Forsling or Jones shoots from the point instead of passing it back to the flank.

Lineup watch

The real help is coming. Marchand skated for part of Wednesday's practice in San Jose, and Maurice sounded better about him than anyone expected.

"He's probably further ahead than we thought," Maurice said. "The window is still there, but he survived a Patric Hornqvist skate the other day and not too many healthy people can do that, so I think he's closer to the end of the month."

When he's healthy, Marchand is slotted back with Lundell and Luostarinen. He's also the guy who makes a power play annoying to defend, and this one could use annoying.

Pabs' read: The penalty kill and Markstrom will steal plenty of nights, but not 82 of them. Get one power-play goal in San Jose and this whole conversation goes away. Dale.