The Panthers raised their latest banner. Now, ‘it’s time to try to get a new one up there’
The final piece of the Florida Panthers’ emotional 24-hour reflection of their latest championship run is complete.
The team raised its second Stanley Cup championship banner on Tuesday ahead of its season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena.
It was a relatively subdued pregame ceremony. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad brought the Stanley Cup to the ice and the team watched from the ice as the banner slowly made its way to the rafters. Captain Aleksander Barkov and star winger Matthew Tkachuk, both sidelined by injuries, watched from the bench along with fellow forward Tomas Nosek, who is also injured.
But the fans at a sold-out Amerant Bank Arena made their voice heard during the brief event, chanting “We want three” as the banner began to rise.
“Goosebumps,” said forward Jesper Boqvist, who scored the game-winning goal in the eventual 3-2 win.
“The building was buzzing,” added fellow forward Mackie Samoskevich, who had two assists.
It came one day after the Panthers received their championship rings in a private ceremony to commemorate their latest title run.
Now, as the puck drops and the 2025-26 season begins, the focus shifts to what’s next — specifically the chance to be the first team since the New York Islanders from 1980-1983 to win at least three consecutive titles.
“It’s a good way to kind of sum up the last season,” center Anton Lundell said. “When the banner’s up, we’re ready to go. It’s time to try to get a new one up there.”
That has always been the goal despite the many challenges that are coming the Panthers’ way. Fans certainly still feel its possible. The Amerant Bank Arena crowd chanted “We want three!” as the banner was unveiled.
Florida has the usual challenges that champions face in a repeat bid — the physical grind of potentially another long season following a short offseason, the mental grind of knowing they will get everyone’s best every night of the season, the emotional grind of wanting to live up to their own expectations and keep their budding dynasty going in the right direction.
But now they add in the losses of Barkov for at least the regular season and Tkachuk for multiple months as they each rehab surgeries.
For coach Paul Maurice, he hopes the celebration and reflection provides one final source of motivation about what they can accomplish this season.
“Last year I was more nervous about [the ring ceremony and banner raising] because it’s a quick turnaround to the game,” Maurice said after the team’s morning skate Tuesday. “This year, I thought it was really important that [the ring ceremony] happened the night before the game. We’ve, I think in general, had a quieter summer. We had a bit of an unusual camp because of the injuries. I liked the reminder of it last year, a little bit of a fun on the back end. Training camp’s not fun, right? We guys work too hard, and it’s a grind for these guys.
“Last night was a little bit of a nice reminder for them, what the payoff for all that hard work is, and it kind of lifts everybody’s spirits and get them excited about tonight.”
And now, a new season and, in the words of arena public address announcer Andrew Imber, “a new hunt” begins.
This story was originally published October 7, 2025 at 5:40 PM.
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