George Richards, NHL.com Independent Correspondent
SUNRISE– The Florida Panthers began their second straight Stanley Cup championship defense with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.
A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe and Jesper Boqvist scored, and Mackie Samoskevich had two assists for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves.
Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen each had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Bertuzzi had two assists for the Blackhawks, who were playing their first game under coach Jeff Blashill.
Spencer Knight, who was playing against Florida for the first time since being acquired by Chicago in the trade for defenseman Seth Jones on March 1, made 34 saves.
Prior to the game, Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad carried the Stanley Cup out of the tunnel and placed it near the spot where the team’s new championship banner was raised to the rafters.
Florida then carried that momentum into the first period, when it held a 17-3 advantage in shots, but it was Chicago which took the early lead.
Nazar was the one to open the scoring at 10:03 of the first. He skated into the puck in the neutral zone after Bertuzzi poked it past Niko Mikkola and beat Bobrovsky glove side on a breakaway.
Greer responded 63 seconds later to tie it 1-1. Jonah Gadjovich swatted at a loose puck in front and had it deflect right to Greer, who lifted a shot under Knight’s blocker arm.
Verhaeghe gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 14:08 of the first, scoring a power-play goal over the right shoulder of Knight, who was scrambling to get back into position after coming out of his crease to try and play the puck.
Chicago tied it 2-2 at 1:09 of the second period. Nazar skated in on a 2-on-1 and sent a feed across to Teravainen, who finished from the left circle.
Boqvist answered back for the Panthers to make it 3-2 at 9:40 of the third period. Samoskevich skated into an intentional dump-in by Evan Rodrigues and swatted the puck across to Boqvist, who batted it into the net past Knight.
