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3 Florida Panthers takeaways after defending Stanley Cup champs' thumping 6-4 win over Boston Bruins
The Florida Panthers enjoyed an exciting start to their Stanley Cup title defense, taking down the division rival Boston Bruins by a 6-4 final score and beginning the 2024-25 regular season on the right foot with two points.
History was made at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, as the Panthers lifted their Stanley Cup championship banner to the rafters to commemorate the first title in franchise history.
And while several members of the squad who lifted the Stanley Cup on home ice in June have since moved on to other clubs, many players from that historic run are still with the Panthers.
Here are three big takeaways from Florida's Tuesday night's victory over the Bruins.
3 takeaways from Florida Panthers' 6-4 win over Boston Bruins
#1. Sam Bennett tormented the Bruins
The Panthers forward, who tallied seven goals in 19 postseason games as part of Florida's title run, scored twice in the first period for his first pair of tallies of the new season.
He also drew the ire of Bruins fans everywhere for what they felt should have been a clear-cut cross-checking penalty to the back of Morgan Geekie:
And as if that weren't enough, he ran over Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo during the third period immediately following Florida's sixth goal:
#2. The Panthers are clearly in Boston's heads
Boston's defeat on Tuesday to Florida was just the latest in the wake of two consecutive seasons in which the latter ended the former's championship hopes in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Multiple skirmishes broke out throughout the night as the Bruins' frustrations began to boil over. Afterward, forward Trent Frederic called out the Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk for what he felt was a "disrespectful" move on his part, while later admitting that the Bruins were still thinking about last spring's postseason defeat (via MassLive.com):
“He actually asked me [to fight] and then he didn’t," Frederic said. "I didn’t know people did that. I think that’s a little disrespectful to the game,” Frederic said. “I don’t if I can quote him, but he said, ‘Let’s go.’ I guess he wasn’t talking about fighting.
“My mind was probably not in the greatest place for a first-game hockey game. “We’ll get them next week or so," he added.
#3. Panthers fans helped make Amerant Bank Arena an intimidating environment
While the Panthers have been the butt-end of jokes throughout their history for lack of fan support at home games, that's a notion now officially in the past. For the first time, the Panthers have sold out all season tickets, and the fans in attendance had fun at the expense of the Bruins and their struggling goaltending:
The Panthers will take on the Ottawa Senators next at Canadian Tire Center on the road on Thursday night.
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