Kucherov and Vasilevskiy, the defending Hart and Vezina Trophy winners, picked up right where they left off last season. Kucherov added a secondary assist on Maroon's goal in addition to his own tally and Vasilevskiy turned aside 35 of the 37 shots the Panthers threw his way.
With the shorthanded goal as the lone hiccup, Tampa Bay's special teams were solid in the opener. The Bolts went 1-for-4 with a man advantage and killed off all four Florida power play opportunities.
The Bolts and Cats will immediately get another look at one another, as Tampa Bay travels to Sunrise on Saturday night to face the Panthers in their home opener.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
TBL | 6:39 Nikita Kucherov (1) - Mikhail Sergachev, Mathieu Joseph
2nd Period
FLA | 2:35 Mike Hoffman (1) - Vincent Trocheck, Brett Connolly
TBL | 10:28 Kevin Shattenkirk (1) - Mikhail Sergachev, Alex Killorn
3rd Period
FLA | 8:49 Vincent Trocheck (1) - Aaron Ekblad - SHG
TBL | 9:34 Ondrej Palat (1) - Alex Killorn, Mikhail Sergachev - PPG
TBL | 13:51 Pat Maroon (1) - Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov
TBL | 19:14 Erik Cernak (1) - Anthony Cirelli - EN