Panthers open 2nd straight Stanley Cup defense with win against Blackhawks

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers began their second straight Stanley Cup championship defense with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.

A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe and Jesper Boqvist scored, and Mackie Samoskevich had two assists for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves.

“That’s what we wanted, right? Get those two points," Boqvist said. “Such a great night, raising the banner and all of that.”

Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen each had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Bertuzzi had two assists for the Blackhawks, who were playing their first game under coach Jeff Blashill.

“We are going to have peaks and valleys, and we need to do a better job of making sure those valleys aren’t so low," Blashill said. “We have to continue to grow and work on finding ways that we’re not giving away easy chances. They’re going to create enough on their own."

Spencer Knight, who was playing against Florida for the first time since being acquired by Chicago in the trade for defenseman Seth Jones on March 1, made 34 saves.

“Good game, good hard battle, and they are obviously a great team," Knight said. “We knew it was going to be tough. ... It was interesting being on the other side playing here, but it was fun.”

Prior to the game, Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad carried the Stanley Cup out of the tunnel and placed it near the spot where the team’s new championship banner was raised to the rafters.

“It was a great opportunity to enjoy it one last time and kind of turn the page," Florida forward Brad Marchand said. “The second that puck drops, it’s a whole new season, new opportunities and new challenges.

"It’s a pretty special feeling being able to watch it go up, and now it’s going to be up there forever. But the emotion carries over into the game and we started really well. I think you can see the guys were excited. Not obviously our best effort for 60 (minutes), but a good win for us."

Florida did carry the momentum of the ceremony into the first period, when it held a 17-3 advantage in shots, but it was Chicago which took the early lead.

Nazar was the one to open the scoring at 10:03 of the first. He skated into the puck in the neutral zone after Bertuzzi poked it past Niko Mikkola and beat Bobrovsky glove side on a breakaway.

“The first period was all right, the second period was all right, and I thought we made a good push there in the end," Nazar said. “We did some good things. We just need to figure out how to play a full 60.”

Greer responded 63 seconds later to tie it 1-1. Jonah Gadjovich knocked at a loose puck in front and had it deflect right to Greer, who lifted a shot under Knight's blocker arm.

Verhaeghe then gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 14:08 of the first, scoring a power-play goal over the right shoulder of Knight, who was scrambling to get back into position after coming out of his crease to try and play the puck.

Chicago tied it 2-2 at 1:09 of the second period. Nazar skated in on a 2-on-1 and sent a feed across to Teravainen, who finished from the left circle.

However, the Panthers were able to regain the lead, and hold on to it, after Boqvist made it 3-2 at 9:40 of the third period. Samoskevich skated into an intentional dump-in by Evan Rodrigues and swatted the puck across to Boqvist, who batted it into the net past Knight.

“There was lots of good for our first game because a lot of our guys didn’t get a lot of action in the preseason,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said.

NOTES: The Panthers are 12-0-2 in their history when opening their season at home. ... Florida extended its home winning streak against Chicago to nine games, which is tied for the longest against any team in franchise history. … Nazar, 21, is the sixth Blackhawks player age 21 or younger to record multiple points in a season-opening game in the past 40 years. Nick Schmaltz (Oct. 5, 2017) was the last to do so.