Panthers cap celebration, get back to work with win in season opener

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Aaron Ekblad was ready to move on.

For the Florida Panthers defenseman, watching the Stanley Cup championship banner being raised to the Amerant Bank Arena rafters for the second consecutive season was great. Bringing the Stanley Cup onto the ice during the banner ceremony as his teammates looked on was great.

“It feels incredible coming out in front of our fans and to be able to hoist it one more time,” Ekblad said after the Panthers’ 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks in the season opener for each on Tuesday. “But trying to put that feeling behind us and move on to playing hockey this year.”

The Panthers enter this season as the third team in the past 10 seasons to win the Cup in back-to-back seasons (Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 and Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021). They’d like to be the first team to win it three seasons in a row since the New York Islanders, who won it four straight times from 1980-83. It’s possible, but they’re already starting this season without two of their top players.

Forward Matthew Tkachuk is expected to be out until at least December after having surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle on Aug. 22. Center Aleksander Barkov, the team captain who would’ve brought the Cup out during the banner-raising ceremony if he were healthy, is expected to be out 7-9 months after having surgery on the ACL and MCL in his right knee on Sept. 26.

The injuries didn’t stop the Panthers from peppering the Blackhawks and goalie Spencer Knight, who Chicago acquired from Florida for defenseman Seth Jones on March 1. Knight, the No. 13 pick by the Panthers in the 2019 NHL Draft, made 34 saves on 37 shots. Seventeen of those shots came in the first period, as the Panthers came out playing their style right away, no matter the lineup changes.

“The great thing about sports is you don’t know and there’s a reason we play the games and it’s about the stories that can be generated. And this is going to be an interesting story,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said after the first period on Tuesday.

“Two of the biggest stars on the team are injured. How well they come back, how resilient the team is without them, that’s going to be a great story to see unfold. This is an organization, a team that’s been well put together. (General manager) Bill Zito deserves an enormous amount of credit, and I guess this team is going to give their all to make it happen again if they can.”

Zito’s ability to amass great depth was already coming up big on Tuesday. Forwards Jesper Boqvist and A.J. Greer, each of whom signed as free agents on July 1, 2024, scored goals. Boqvist’s was the winner.

“We had Boqvist and Greer score and we’re going to need other people to fill in for some goals. There was a lot of good for our first game, because a lot of these guys didn’t get a lot of action in exhibition,” coach Paul Maurice said. “We did some things with the puck, more training camp and practice ideas on the ice and we forced some things we didn’t need to.

“Other than that, I thought our back end was really good. Our gap was really good. We gave up a couple off the rush but I’m going to blame the forwards for that tomorrow,” Maurice said to laughs.

Brad Marchand, who the Panthers acquired from the Boston Bruins on March 7, looked right at home with left wing Carter Verhaeghe and center Sam Bennett despite the trio having little time together.

“I thought we played really well. We could’ve had 10 goals tonight, had some really good opportunities,” Marchand said. “There are definitely areas we can be a little bit better, but we’ve skated together for one practice yesterday. So, considering that, I like our game.”

As the Panthers’ celebration for winning their second Cup ended prior to Tuesday’s game, fans began to chant, “we want three.” So do the Panthers, but they know they’re going to have to take it step by step, bit by bit through another grueling 82-game season to get that opportunity.

“There’s a long road to get there and we can’t look ahead and start thinking about three. It’s not about that,” Marchand said. “It's about building what we have to make sure every time we step on the ice, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win and then hopefully get the bounces with that.

“What I love about this group is just the hard-work mentality. They want to grind and that’s what everybody wants from top to bottom. That’s just going to make us a hard team to play and hopefully everything lines up. It’s a long road ahead here.”