In what felt like a ‘playoff-type win,’ Panthers hold on to beat Maple Leafs in home opener
The Florida Panthers’ home opener at the newly named Amerant Bank Arena had just about everything the team could have wanted coming off its run to the Stanley Cup Final last season.
There was the sellout crowd, announced at 19,288, creating a noticeable roar and even taunting the opponent that the Panthers ousted from the playoffs just four months earlier.
There were the highlights from that magical playoff run followed by a subdued recognition of the Eastern Conference championship banner. In a similar fashion to the revealing of the Presidents Trophy banner a year earlier, it acknowledged their achievement but made it known the celebration is being reserved for a much bigger goal.
And, most importantly, there was a win.
Florida opened its home schedule with a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday in Sunrise. Both teams are now 2-2-0 to start the season.
It wasn’t perfect by any means — and it certainly wasn’t pretty at times.
“But we have no interest in playing a pretty game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We’ve kind of gotten good at [winning] ugly.”
That means desperation. That means high intensity regardless of the score. That means key production on the penalty, aggressive forechecking, gritty work in the defensive zone.
They showed that Thursday.
“It really felt like a playoff-type win,” star winger Matthew Tkachuk said.
And it was one Florida had to earn despite never trailing.
The Panthers had five penalties. Two of them negated power plays, including one that set up Toronto for its lone goal of the game. Another came with 1:09 left in regulation, with captain Aleksander Barkov going to the box for tripping to set up a 6-on-4 with the Maple Leafs going to an empty net in favor of an extra skater.
But the Panthers didn’t fold in the moment. They held the Maple Leafs without a shot on goal in that final 69 seconds, blocking a pair of shots before in the final 36 seconds before defenseman Dmitry Kulikov got the game-sealing takeaway with five seconds left to set up a Sam Reinhart buzzer-beating empty-net goal.
“At that point,” Maurice said, “it was just effort, right? Blocked shots and desperation.”
The Panthers blocked 26 shots overall on Thursday.
“That’s the kind of team we want to be,” said center Kevin Stenlund, who had three blocks. “Just give it all out there.”
The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Stenlund and Oliver Ekman-Larsson — the first goal for each in their Panthers careers — in the final three minutes of the first period.
The Maple Leafs cut the lead in half on a Mitchell Marner power-play goal 11:52 into the second period.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, meanwhile, stopped 29 of 30 shots that came his way — including all 20 at even strength — to log his 107th win with the Panthers, the second-most in franchise history behind only Roberto Luongo’s 230.
‘We want Florida’
In both the opening minutes of the game and after Stenlund’s goal, Panthers fans let out a noticeable “We want Florida!” chant. It was a trolling of the Maple Leafs after their fans did the same chant ahead of the second-round playoff matchup between the teams, which Florida won in five games on its run to the Stanley Cup Final.
They kept the energy up until the final whistle.
“First regular-season game versus Toronto, and that was a Panther crowd,” Maurice said. “It was nice. I liked it.”
Up next
The Panthers’ first homestand continues Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. After that, Florida hosts the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday and the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 28.
This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 9:43 PM.
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