SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Bennett scored twice, Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist, and the Florida Panthers opened defense of their Stanley Cup championship by topping the Boston Bruins 6-4 on Tuesday in the opener for both teams.
Euto Luostarinen and Jonah Gadjovich also scored for Florida, and 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
Boston went with Joonas Korpisalo in net instead of newly re-signed 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.”
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