RALEIGH, N.C. -- Panthers coach Pete DeBoer kept his team's defensive pairings in a comfort zone for the season opener Friday at the Carolina Hurricanes.

Florida's top pairing was Jay Bouwmeester and Bryan Allen, who have played together quite a bit during the past two seasons. The second pairing featured Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton, each of whom came from Phoenix in the Olli Jokinen deal. Bryan McCabe and Cory Murphy were Florida's third pairing -- they played together in Monday night's exhibition game.

Murphy's insertion into the opening-night lineup was surprising, considering Florida put him on waivers earlier in the week. Murphy cleared waivers Wednesday and returned to practice Thursday.

''A lot of guys go through waivers and come back to have great seasons,'' DeBoer said.

FROLIK STAYING FOR NOW

Rookie winger Michael Frolik was on Florida's opening-night roster, and was spared a trip to the team's American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester, N.Y., for the time being. Fellow freshman Shawn Matthias was sent there Thursday.

DeBoer said because some of Florida's wingers have minor injuries, Frolik was chosen to stick around because he could fill in better than Matthias. Frolik didn't play Friday, joining Anthony Stewart and Noah Welch as healthy scratches.

SATURDAY: THRASHERS AT PANTHERS

• When: 7 p.m.

• Where: BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise.

• TV/radio: FSN; 790-AM.

• The series: Atlanta leads 27-18-5.

• The game: The Panthers and Thrashers played Friday, with Atlanta opening at home. . . . The Panthers have won seven of their past 10 games against the Thrashers, and won three of four last season in Atlanta. . . . Florida's home opener is Saturday night. The Panthers have won five of their previous nine openers at BankAtlantic Center.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@