‘We want to win it again’: After summer to celebrate, the Panthers’ Stanley Cup defense begins

It was just three-and-a-half short months ago that the Florida Panthers were celebrating history on their home ice as they won their first Stanley Cup. It kick-started a summer of celebration that began with a beach parade in the rain, continued with players, coaches and front-office members enjoying their own days with the Stanley Cup and wraps up with a private ceremony on Monday at which the team will get its championship rings.

But once the puck drops a little after 7 p.m. on Tuesday and the Stanley Cup championship banner is raised at Amerant Bank Arena, the focus shifts to the present.

The title defense officially begins.

And perhaps most appropriately, it starts against the Boston Bruins, a division opponent with whom the Panthers’ rivalry has intensified over the past two seasons after Florida knocked Boston out of the playoffs each of the past two years on its way to the Stanley Cup Final — and ultimately winning it all last season.

“I’m looking forward to the hockey really,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s great that it’s Boston, because we’ve played this team 21 times in the last few years, and they’ve been 21 amazing games in terms of intensity and physicality. The series last year [in the playoffs] was as heavy a series I’ve ever coached. It was as hard, physically demanding a series as we played in the entire playoffs. So it’s fitting.”

What’s also fitting, at least when it comes to a Maurice-coached team: The players were able to immediately shift their focus from celebration to business as soon as training camp began in mid-September. For three weeks of practices and through eight preseason games, there was no drop-off in production or intensity from the group compared to Maurice’s first two seasons leading the Panthers.

“We’re fitter than we were last year at this time,” Maurice said.

They’re also more experienced, with Florida returning the majority of its core from last season.

That includes eight of its top nine forwards, led by captain Aleksander Barkov, superstar winger Matthew Tkachuk and high-flying scorers in Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe.

That includes four of its top six defensemen, including both members of their top pairing in Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad.

And that includes goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, logged a pair of shutouts in the playoffs and made his share of highlight-worthy saves during Florida’s chase for the Cup.

Florida then rounded out its roster with a group of low-risk, high-reward players in forwards A.J. Greer, Jesper Boqvist and Tomas Nosek (the latter of whom is slated to start the season on injured reserve) as well as defensemen Adam Boqvist and Nate Schmidt. Goaltenders Spencer Knight and Chris Driedger will back up Bobrovsky, while returning forward Jonah Gadjovich and defenseman Uvis Balinskis could also see increased roles this season.

“The greatest asset you could have is experience,” Tkachuk said. “I probably wouldn’t have said that going into two years ago or even last year, but the experience that we’ve gained is honestly priceless. So where we feel like we’re in a great spot with the returning guys that we know what it takes and how hard is to get there, but we’ve done it.”

They’re also still hungry to keep the success going. A trip to the Cup Final two seasons ago whetted the palate. Winning it all last season kept the fire lit.

Deep playoff runs are now the expectation, not just the hope. Success is the norm, not just something to be desired.

“We just want to achieve more,” Barkov said. “We want to win it again, but it only happens if we only think about the next day, next prep, the next game. You can’t really think about what’s going to happen next May or next July.”

And so here the Panthers are, on the doorstep of new territory. The team’s marketing campaign for the past few years has been “Time to Hunt.” This year, though, they will be the hunted.

And they are fully embracing it.

“That’s an additional idea to how teams prep for us, right?” Maurice said. “There’s an additional motivation, perhaps, but I think based on our style of play, it’s very aggressive. Teams knew that coming into the rink. We would get that kind of game from teams almost every night last year ... It’s great for Florida fans. I love the style of hockey that we play. When you watch our team play, you don’t say that these guys are just going through the motions. You just don’t ever see that. I’ve got confidence in our style again, but nobody’s coming to the rink thinking is going to be an easy not. You get everyone’s best, which is the stone to hone the edge on the ice.”

Will Hurricane Milton impact Opening Night?

The Panthers on Sunday canceled their public ring ceremony at Amerant Bank Arena, which was scheduled for Monday night, due to lingering weather concerns ahead of Hurricane Milton, which is now a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico.

The team continues to monitor the storm, but as of now, Florida’s opening night game against Boston is still on as scheduled for Tuesday.

“We will continue preparing our arena and surrounding areas to safely welcome guests for opening night,” Panthers president and CEO Matt Caldwell said in a press release Sunday.

After the home opener Tuesday, the Panthers go on a four-game road trip to face the Ottawa Senators (Thursday), Buffalo Sabres (Saturday), Bruins (Monday) and Columbus Blue Jackets (Oct. 15).