Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2.
Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left.
A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Photo: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images
Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Chicago. Former Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight made 34 saves for the Blackhawks.
For the Panthers, it was the sort of grind-it-out win that might be necessary with star forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk out with injuries.
“That’s what the year is,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s the building of that identity and the finding of it.”
It was the official debut for new Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill, who coached the Detroit Red Wings for seven seasons from 2015 to 2022 and was hired by Chicago in May. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2015 and have not made it past the first-round of the playoffs since.
“This is what we love to do and life goes by fast,” Blashill said. “Let’s make sure we’re enjoying it.”
Chicago scored first midway through the opening period on a breakaway from Nazar, but the Panthers — who outshot the Blackhawks 17-3 in the first 20 minutes — went into the first intermission up 2-1 after goals three minutes apart from Greer and Verhaeghe.
Teravainen scored early in the second to tie the game at 2-2 and it stayed that way until Boqvist delivered.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, it was:
‧ Kings 1, Avalanche 4
‧ Rangers 0, Penguins 3