Paul Maurice: Florida Panthers Raise Banner, Beat Blackhawks in Opener

Paul Maurice: Florida Panthers Raise Banner, Beat Blackhawks in Opener

to go. Well, the important parts we had boast and Greer score. We’re going to need other people to to fill in for some goals. Um there was lots of good for our first game because the a lot of these guys, you know, they didn’t get a lot of action um in exhibition to play. Did some things with the puck. I think more training camp and practice ideas on the ice. We for some things we didn’t need to. Other than that, I thought our back end was really good. Our gap was pretty good. We We gave up a couple off the rush, but I’m going to blame the forwards for that tomorrow. The PK three for three tonight. It’s kind of been in your backbone the last couple years that you right out of the gate. It’s good because the back end there’s no adjustment for those guys. We think there’s a real good pair with K and Luc Rinan coming out, but he took the penalty. So, we got to find some other things so we’re not running Marshon and Reinhardt too much on the PK, but they’ll each take a rotation. So, I think we’re I like the way it looked. Yeah. Did you what did your thoughts as a banner going up? What was going through your mind? Uh you watch the players, right? So they all kind of lock arms out there. It’s nice for them. It’s it’s nice for all of us. You live in it for you win and then you kind of have this summer where you think about it. It almost gets the point you forget how rare it is to be able to do that to be able to do that twice especially. But I I appreciated the guys uh kind of locked arms at the blue line remembering it. It was a It was a really nice 24 hours for us cuz we don’t talk about it much. And uh you know, you you win it, you have the parade and everybody leaves town, right? It’s gone. And then you come back in training camp, right? It hits you. So the last 24 hours, we got to relive it a little bit. It was very nice. Share it with the fans. Paul, you touched on Yes being getting one of the moments. We saw him in the playoffs last year where comes in the lineup when you need him to big plays there. just to see him have a moment to start the season with good has so much uncertainty, right? And that’s hard to do. And he has this consistent game in an uncertain role which is where the value is with them because he came in and played leftwing, right wing at critical times. Played him with Barkoff in the playoffs and then he comes out tonight and I I thought he was really good as well. I’m just watching their routes more than anything else, whether they score or not. How how close are they to kind of that ideal of how we play and he was he was right on El Barov milkchuck, Aaron, the second longest tenure panther. He’s the one that brings the cup off. We’ll just as you said like what does that moment mean for a guy like that that wanted to come back here? Yeah, I hope he appreciates it because there was a stretch of time I think uh you know the team was scoring a lot of goals but keeping them out of the net was a little bit of trouble. So in some ways Barky got a pass that Ekki never did right and and I and I think he took more unfair and undue scrutiny. I’m not picking ice. It’s just the nature of play it. Not much different than what Seth Jones went through in Chicago, but it was nice for him. Like Aaron Ecklad from the playoffs three years ago has been just awesome to watch Gro. His gap was fantastic tonight and he just quiet driver. So he’s an offensive guy when he came in the league and he changed his game and now he’s a hard shutdown defenseman. So I I’m glad that he got a little recognition for how important he is to our franchise. We talk about grinding out the game tonight, but how much did Spencer Knight play into that uh he Yeah, I mean he his strength is lateral and he was outstanding with that. I mean, we had some really high-end looks and some pretty good shooters in there. So, those are legit saves that he made and that’s the value to a young team in Chicago for and against tonight. It wasn’t particularly close, but he did what he needed to do to give his his chance his team a chance to win. And that’s the growing pains of a team at that age. They’ll they’ll they’ll get all they got to do now is get one goal better, right? Just a little tighter, one goal better because they got a goalender there that can stop the puck. Lendy’s line had a lot of experience together, but the top line they used tonight with Benny and Swaggy and Marshall, they hadn’t practiced much together as Marcia was saying, but it looked like that they were really on point with I think there is almost a natural fit between I should mention that Cartery was really good tonight defensively. I know he scored a goal, but he had more of a playoff defensive game than maybe any of our other forwards. He was really good. We think that Marshon and Bennett look a little bit like Kachchuck and Bennett in style of play. So, they just need some time together and we think that should be good. A couple of scares tonight with Rodri Rodriguez and I think Greer stopping with okay and like how did you feel? Felt better than AJ Greer did. I guarantee you that. Uh yeah, it’s coming. We’re we’re we’re going to have injuries, but they’re still blocking shots, right? Sam Reinard took one to the face and had a huge block there in the end of the third period. They know how to they know how to compete in that kind of pain. They’re they got to live with it and and they do it. Thank you, coach. Okay.

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice meets the media after they opened the 2025-26 NHL season with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025.

Florida raised its 2025 Stanley Cup banner before the game.

Spencer Knight made 34 saves against his old team; Sergei Bobrovsky had 17 in the win.

A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe, and Jesper Boqvist all scored for Florida.

The Panthers Have Done It Again, Repeat as Cup Champs: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-repeat-stanley-cup-champions-2025/

Panthers Get Their New Rings. Yeah, They Nice: https://floridahockeynow.com/stanley-cup-champion-florida-panthers-get-rings-yeah-they-nice/

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Video Courtesy Florida Panthers / Panther Vision