RECAP: Panthers 3, Blackhawks 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – One down, 81 more to go on the path back to the playoffs.

Getting off to a good start in their quest for a third straight Stanley Cup, the Florida Panthers got right back to work with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Opening Night at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.

“It’s a great way to start,” forward Brad Marchand said. “You want to start with a win.”

Prior to puck drop, the Panthers raised their second straight championship banner into the rafters.

“That was nice,” said defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who had the honor of carrying the Cup out in the absence of injured captain Aleksander Barkov. “That’s usually Barky’s spot. I was just filling in. It feels incredible coming out in front of our fans, being able to hoist it one last time. Trying to put that feeling behind us and move on to playing hockey this year.”

After standing tall on the penalty kill, the Blackhawks broke the ice when Frank Nazar fired a nifty shot past Sergei Bobrovsky on a breakaway to make it 1-0 at 10:03 of the first period.

But just 1:03 later, the fourth line answered for the Panthers and evened the score when A.J. Greer pounced on a rebound and lifted it past Spencer Knight to make it 1-1 at 11:06.

Feeding off a heated home crowd, the Panthers continued to push and took the lead when Carter Verhaeghe beat Knight with a shot from the right doorstep to make it 2-1 at 14:08.

"Carter Verhaeghe was really good tonight," head coach Paul Maurice said.

Near the end of the first period, Greer dropped the gloves with Nick Foligno.

Tying things up for the Blackhawks early in the second period, Teuvo Teravainen buried a sizzling shot on a 2-on-1 rush despite an outstanding effort from Bobrovsky to make the save.

Already missing Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, the Panthers endured two injury scares in the middle frame. First, it was Sam Reinhart racing to the locker room after taking a puck to the face. Soon after, Evan Rodrigues was hit by a shot on the inside of his knee.

Thankfully, both players returned after a trip down the tunnel.

Getting in some reps on both sides of special teams, the Panthers saw their penalty kill tested in the second period. But over two trips to the man advantage for the Blackhawks, the Panthers held their ground, surrendering three shot attempts and one shot on goal.

In the end, they finished a perfect 3-for-3 on the kill.

“Really nice,” Ekblad said of the team’s showing while shorthanded. “Bob stood tall. We found a way to make their break-ins hard. A couple blocked shots, really good sticks. Yeah, that’s the foundation of the PK.”

Sending the Panthers ahead in the third period, Jesper Boqvist crashed the net and batted a centering feed from Mackie Samoskevich past Knight and into the cage to make it 3-2 at 9:40.

“Great pass on the play,” Boqvist said.

A strong start to his sophomore season, it was Samoskevich’s second primary assist of the game.

“I liked it,” said Samoskevich, who notched 31 points as a rookie. “I liked our game. I thought our line played pretty well. Consistently through the game, I thought we were doing the right thing. We got some bounces, too. Overall, I liked it. We’re in a good spot.”

Shutting it down from there, the Panthers didn’t let the Blackhawks breathe.

Despite wanting to pull their goaltender for the extra attacker late in regulation, the Panthers ramped up their pressure and successfully pinned Chicago in their own zone.

By the time Knight finally could get to the bench, less than a minute remained.

From there, the Panthers held on to secure two big points off the bat.

“There was lots of good for our first game because they didn’t get a lot of action in exhibition to play,” Maurice said. “Did some good things with the puck. I think more training camp and practices ideas on the ice. 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.”

THEY SAID IT

"I thought we played really well. We could've had 10 goals tonight. We had some really good opportunities." – Brad Marchand on playing with Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe

"The important part is we had Boqvist and Greer score. We're going to need other people to fill in for some goals." – Paul Maurice on Florida’s depth scoring

“So much energy. Even on the bench talking -- what he sees, what he wants -- it’s easy to play with him. So fast, too. During the game, his energy is high. I love playing with him. He’s a great dude.” – Mackie Samoskevich on linemate Jesper Boqvist

“Getting points early in the season is going to be extremely important for us. We know that. We came to play.” – Aaron Ekblad on starting off the season with a win

CATS STATS

- The Panthers improved to 12-0-2 in season-opening games on home ice.

- Florida surrendered just two shots on goal over three power plays for Chicago.

- The Panthers won 60% of their faceoffs.

- A.J. Greer logged a team-high five hits.

- Anton Lundell won a team-high 14 faceoffs.

- The Panthers controlled 82.35% of 5-on-5 shot attempts with Brad Marchand on the ice.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will look to keep their winning ways going when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

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