Panthers start quest for third straight Stanley Cup with win over Blackhawks

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers received a request from their fans before beginning the 2025-26 campaign.

“We want three! We want three!” the crowd chanted after the pregame ceremonies ended.

It was not an unreasonable request. The team celebrated its second consecutive Stanley Cup title before the beginning of Tuesday’s season opener against Chicago, raising the championship banner in a pregame ceremony.

“Goosebumps,” said forward Jesper Boqvist, who scored the game-winning goal. “It’s a long way there and a lot of work, but we’ve just got to take it day-by-day and work through towards it.”

Florida opened this season the way it ended last year’s — with a victory, beating the Blackhawks 3-2 in front of a sold-out crowd at Amerant Bank Arena, kicking off the Panthers’ quest for a third consecutive Stanley Cup.

The Panthers started their preseason celebrations on Monday, receiving their championship rings. The ring features a pair of Stanley Cups, the player’s name and number and the phrase “we apologize to no one,” which Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk said at the championship parade in June.

“It was a really nice 24 hours for us because we don’t talk about a bunch,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “You win it, you have the parade, and everybody leaves town, right? It’s gone, and then you come back and training camp hits you. So the last 24 hours, we got to relive it a little bit. It was very nice.”

When they took the ice on Tuesday, the cast of characters was largely the same as the one that celebrated all over South Florida at the start of summer. Veteran goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was back in the net, and stars like Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett, Reinhart and Aaron Ekblad took their usual spots on the ice.

Brad Marchand also returned to the ice in Sunrise after opting to convert his snowbird status into full-time residency in the offseason, signing a six-year deal with Florida. A former Panther enemy with Boston, Marchand received some of the loudest cheers in pregame introductions.

“It felt great,” Marchand said. “It was a whirlwind, coming down here last year, and I really appreciate the way that fans have embraced me and kind of brought me in and supported me throughout the time here. And it’s great to come back and feel that again. I’m just as excited as they are that it’s worked out the way it has, from the moment I’ve gotten here until now, and the next six years and maybe another six years after that.”

The whole team did not return, though. Center and captain Aleksander Barkov and star winger Tkachuk started the season out of the lineup due to injuries: Barkov is recovering from knee surgery, and Tkachuk is recovering from hip surgery.

The game did not have a storybook start for Florida, as Chicago center Frank Nazar opened the scoring with a breakaway goal. But the Panthers’ luck changed quickly. Center AJ Greer scored the team’s first goal of the season just over a minute later, and Florida took the lead on a Carter Verhaeghe power-play goal later in the first period

Chicago’s Teuvo Teravainen began the second period with an equalizing goal. There were a pair of injury scares for Florida in the period as Reinhart took a puck to the face and Evan Rodrigues went down with an injury, but both returned to the ice.

Boqvist scored the game-winner after he batted a puck out of the air and past Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight — a former Panther — with 10:20 left in the third period.

“We’re going to need other people to fill in for some goals,” Maurice said. “There was lots of good for our first game.”