NHL

Boston Bruins at Florida Panthers

· National Hockey League
Final
4 - 6

Bennett scores twice, Panthers open their title defense by getting past rival Bruins 6-4

Trent Frederic scores consolation goal for Bruins

Euto Luostarinen and Jonah Gadjovich also scored for Florida, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots. Florida raised its championship banner before the game.

Pavel Zacha, Charlie McAvoy, Trent Frederic and David Pastrnak scored for Boston, which had won five consecutive openers. Florida is 4-1 in its last five openers.

Takeaways Bruins: Boston went with Joonas Korpisalo in net instead of Jeremy Swayman, who got his eight-year, $66 million deal done Sunday. Korpisalo made 29 saves. When it was 5-1 midway through the second, Panthers fans serenaded the Bruins with chants of “We want Swayman.”

Panthers: Florida dealt with some chippiness against Boston, which was ousted by the Panthers the last two postseasons. Much was directed at Matthew Tkachuk — he and the Bruins have plenty of history — but even officials weren't safe. Max Jones tried to slash Rodrigues, but hit linesman Devin Berg instead to earn a 2-minute unsportsmanlike penalty.

Key moment There were two, with the Panthers scoring two quick goals on two occasions in the opening period. Bennett and Luostarinen scored 64 seconds apart for a 2-0 lead. After Boston scored, Reinhart and Bennett scored exactly 60 seconds apart to make it 4-1.

Key stat Including playoffs, this was the 22nd meeting between the Panthers and Bruins since the start of the 2022-23 season. No two teams have faced each other more in that span. The wins in those 22 games: Panthers 11, Bruins 11. The goal total: Panthers 74, Bruins 74.

Up next Boston starts a three-game homestand Thursday against Montreal. Florida goes to Ottawa to start a four-game, six-day road trip Thursday.

Regular Season Series

FLA leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 6:27 Sam Bennett Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Evan Rodrigues (1)
Goal 1st Period 7:31 Eetu Luostarinen Goal (1) Poke, assists: Anton Lundell (1), Sam Reinhart (1)
Goal 1st Period 15:33 Pavel Zacha Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Elias Lindholm (1), Andrew Peeke (1)
Goal 1st Period 18:34 Sam Reinhart Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Aleksander Barkov (1)
Goal 1st Period 19:34 Sam Bennett Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: A.J. Greer (1)
Goal 2nd Period 9:12 Jonah Gadjovich Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Jesper Boqvist (1), Uvis Balinskis (1)
Goal 2nd Period 12:32 Charlie McAvoy Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: John Beecher (1), Hampus Lindholm (1)
Goal 3rd Period 6:26 Evan Rodrigues Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Matthew Tkachuk (1), Aaron Ekblad (1)
Goal 3rd Period 16:51 Trent Frederic Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Justin Brazeau (1)
Goal 3rd Period 18:15 David Pastrnak Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Charlie McAvoy (1)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/bos.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originBOS https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/fla.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originFLA
21 Blocked Shots 8
27 Hits 26
8 Takeaways 5
28 Shots 35
1 Power Play Goals 0
4 Power Play Opportunities 6
25.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
1 Short Handed Goals 1
0 Shootout Goals 0
31 Faceoffs Won 33
48.4 Faceoff Win Percent 51.6
17 Giveaways 8
8 Total Penalties 6
19 Penalty Minutes 15

Game Information

Amerant Bank Arena

Location: Sunrise, FL
Attendance: 19,813 | Capacity:

2024-25 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Toronto 12 6 26 2
Florida 12 8 25 1
Buffalo 11 9 23 1
Boston 10 9 23 3
Tampa Bay 10 7 22 2
Detroit 8 10 18 2
Ottawa 8 11 17 1
Montreal 7 11 16 2
Full Standings