LAS VEGAS — It was fun, and it was exciting, but mostly, it felt normal. Maybe not familiar, but something they felt they were capable of.

The Panthers moved the ball. They got some stops. They played complementary football on special teams to augment it.

And they won.

The Panthers put a lot of bad feelings in the rearview mirror — for a week at least — with a 36-22 win over the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium to improve to 1-2.

Quarterback Andy Dalton entered the lineup with a flourish, throwing for 212 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone. It was the first time they threw for three scores in a half since 2015, and they had only passed for 245 yards in the first two games combined.

Dalton finished the game with 319 yards on 26-of-37 passing, for a passer rating of 123.6.

There was a sense of equilibrium restored with the win because having a passing game that worked set up the other stuff and allowed them to show the progress that head coach Dave Canales talked about seeing in other areas.

They gained 437 total yards, after gaining 359 combined in the first two games of the season (193 in New Orleans, 159 last week at home against the Chargers).

Chuba Hubbard ran for 114 yards on 21 carries, and caught one of the first-half touchdown passes from Dalton (finishing with 169 yards from scrimmage). He also passed Stephen Davis for seventh on the franchise's all-time rushing list during the game.

Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen had the other two receiving touchdowns in the first half, as the Panthers added the downfield element to the passing game. They had five passes of 20 yards or more in the first half alone (they had none in the first two games).

Johnson finished with eight catches for 122 yards and the score, the kind of lead-receiver production they were hoping for when they acquired the former Steelers wideout in a March trade.

It was one game, to be sure. But it was one they very much needed.

— Thielen was helped off the field just before halftime after his touchdown.

The veteran wideout went down hard, and teammates quickly called the athletic training staff onto the field.

He got up and walked slowly off the field on his own but didn't return in the second half.

— The Panthers had a 27-7 lead at the end of the third quarter, allowing them to do something they hadn't done in a long time.

They hadn't held the lead in the fourth quarter for a single second in their last 20 games.

Last year's two wins came on last-second field goals by Eddy Piñeiro, so being able to nurse a lead for a win is something they didn't have much experience with.

They got a touchdown run from running back Miles Sanders in the fourth (matching his scoring output from last season), and tried for a two-point conversion to push the margin to 28, but Xavier Legette couldn't get his second foot in bounds.

— The Panthers won the turnover battle, with a Mike Jackson interception in the fourth quarter, to go with a no-turnover day of their own.

They also stopped the Raiders on downs twice.

— The Panthers had some injuries stack up in addition to Thielen.

Safety Jordan Fuller (hamstring) and special teamer Lonnie Johnson (groin) left in the second half.

Left guard Damien Lewis (elbow) wasn't able to finish the game, with Chandler Zavala finishing the game.