Panthers Raise 2025 Stanley Cup Banner, Defeat Blackhawks on Opening Night

SUNRISE, Fla. — Aaron Ekblad took the ice, Stanley Cup hoisted above his head,  for one final time on Tuesday. In place of injured captain Aleksander Barkov, Ekblad, Florida’s alternate captain and second longest tenured player, placed the Cup on a pedestal in front of where the team’s 2025 Stanley Cup championship banner was to be unveiled.

“That’s obviously Barky’s spot,” Ekblad said about bringing the Cup out. “I was just filling in, but it feels incredible coming out in front of our fans and be able to hoist it one more time, but we’re trying to put that feeling behind us and move on to playing hockey this year.”

“I’m glad that he got a little recognition for how important he is to our franchise,” Paul Maurice said when speaking about Ekblad’s moment.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, the back-to-back champions took one last moment — while the banner raised behind the Cup — to reflect on their triumphs from the previous season.

“I appreciated the guys kind of locked arms at the blue line,” Maurice said. “It was a really nice 24 hours for us (Panthers held their ring ceremony on Monday)… the last 24 hours we got to relieve [the win] a little bit.”

With the pre-game ceremonies out of the way, it was time for the Cup to return to the Hockey Hall of Fame and the 2025-2026 season to get underway.

The Panthers started the season off on the right foot, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 at home in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,655.

Jesper Boqvist had the game-winning goal and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky had 18 saves in the victory.

Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar scored the first goal of the 2025-26 NHL season. The 21-year-old broke free on a breakaway before placing a shot low-glove to beat Bobrovsky 10:03 into the first period.

Chicago’s lead would only last 63 seconds thanks to AJ Greer and Florida’s fourth-line. Jonah Gadjovich slipped a backhand pass to a net-front Greer, who fired a shot past his former teammate Spencer Knight — who returned to Sunrise for the first time since being traded for Seth Jones last March.

Three minutes after Greer’s equalizer, Florida took their first lead of the season after Carter Verhaeghe beat Knight from near the goal-line to put the Panthers up 2-1.

Teuvo Teravainen leveled things once again 1:09 into the second period after firing a one-timer off the rush past Bobrovsky to tie the game at 2-2.

After nearly thirty minutes of no scoring, the Panthers retook the lead with 10:20 to play in regulation.

Mackie Samoskevich flew down the wing to beat Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy to a loose puck, then chopped a backhand pass towards the front of goal. With the puck in the air, Jesper Boqvist put forth his best Vladimir Guerrero Jr. impression by batting the puck in from mid-air to give Florida a 3-2 lead.

”I saw [Boqvist] on the backside there,” Samoskevich said when talking about the lead up to the game-winning goal. “We were just buzzing down the side so I thought ‘just get it over to him’. Obviously [it wasn’t] the greatest pass but kudos to him for putting it in.”